Day 1

We had decided to do a 3 day pampas tour, which takes you into the Amazon Basin...so we set off on a very bumpy 5 hour ride to Santa Rosa in our 4*4. Once we purchased our park entrance tickets we took a further 15 mins to the river for the start of the wildlife excitement.

It was another three hours by boat to our lodgings, but on the boat we saw tons of wildlife including; loads of Eagles, Pink river dolphins, Jabiru stork, Whatsin (strange looking bird) and the extremely cute looking squirrel monkeys. Once we arrived at the lodge, we made ourselves at home and when night fell, we went in search of Caimens and Alligators. We managed to see a couple of glimpses of Alligator eyes but not quite as many as i would have hoped for.

Day 2

7am start to search for some Anacondas.

We went into the marshland with knee high wellies and clothing covering us from head to toe for fear of the mossies (and tics). We had to peel back the reeds to look for the snakes sleeping. Part of me was wanting to find an anaconder whilst the other part was wishing someone else would fall across one.

We spent about an hour and a half looking and we found nothing! By this time we were all extremely hot and pis**d off with the millions mossies around us.

We returned to the lodge for some relaxation time in the hammocks and lunch. Our lodge was situated in the middle of the Pampas, next to the river - it was in a great location as we got to see squirrel monkeys swinging in the trees, a beautiful toucan and the resident alligator called Frederico.

Next was swimming with the Pink River Dolphins. We were out on the boat for about 30 mins before we spotted our first set of dolphins. It was a mother, father and their baby and our guide told us to jump straight in. So, i though it best to get in there before they swan away. It was quite a strange experience because the water was murky and brown in colour, which meant you could only see the dolphins when they came up for air. The rest of the time you were left in limbo, and they would bump into you, scaring the living daylights out of you and I accidently kicked one of them! Oops. Unfortunately, they only stayed for a short while, but this would not be our only chance to swim with them on this trip.

After the Dolphin swim, we went to watch the sunset at the sunset bar (aptly named). We had a deserved beer and watched the colours emerge. No alligator hunting that night, so an early night for a 5.30 start the next morning.

Day 3

Watching the sunrise on the river was well worth the early rise and almost as spectacular as the sunset. After this we returned to the hostel to get ready for Piranha fishing. As we were getting ready we saw a woodpecker building its nest in the trees. It was the spitting image of 'woody the woodpecker' with a lovely red main.

It took us about 45 mins to get to the site for Piranha fishing. We had to duck and dive our way throught the pampas. Once we were at the site, which was a very murky creek type place, our guide handed us something similar to a crab fishing implement and some small pieces of beef.

So, in went the line and I waited for a big tug, but all I got were some tiny little fish pecking at my meat, quite annoying. However, it was quite funny watching Becky get caught up in the trees four or five times. After an hour we hadn´t got a single bite apart from our guide who caught two red Piranhas. They are quite an attractive fish wish razzor sharp teeth.

Once our fishing was over it was time to head back to Rurrenabaque. But, there was one last chance to swim with the dolphins. There were two babys in the Harbour, where we picked up our 4*4 to take us back to the town. Becky and I jumped in and had a brilliant swim with them. We took a plastic bottle in with us and if you throw it in the air it makes a splash and the dolphins come along and try and bite the bottle.

The pampas tour was one of the best things Becky and I have done on our trip. We went with a company called Indigena, who were great and very eco-friendly. If you want to go on this trip, I recommend going in August when the water is at its lowest point, this will give you your best chance of seeing loads of wildlife!