The Indigenous community-owned Chalalán Ecolodge offers family adventures and rare wildlife encounters in the Bolivian Amazon.
We heard the snorts first, echoing like gunshots through the sauna-thick air. Then eight heads jack-in-the-boxed out of the lake near our dugout canoe. “Wow, giant otters!” whispered Gilder Macuapa, our guide at Chalalán Ecolodge in Bolivia’s Amazon jungle.
He stealthily manoeuvred the canoe behind a curtain of branches so we could watch the world’s largest otters hunt for fish. While my five-year-old daughter snorted back at the endangered 2m-long mammals, Macuapa explained why he was so excited. “We have never seen this many here before. It means our conservation is working.”
Macuapa was born in San José de Uchupiamonas, the Qhecua-Tacana community that owns and manages Chalalán Ecolodge, located on the Tuichi River in Madidi National Park. His mother, Emerécia Nabia, was one of the lodge’s founders in 1997. He and other Josesanos (as the community members call themselves) are able to earn income through eco-tourism, which helps sustain their community and the jungle they love.
“Chalalán has been a school for everyone,” Macuapa said. “Many people from other communities also came to work here and saw how important it was to conserve the trees and the animals.”
Madidi National Park is one of the most biodiverse places on the planet, in part because it bridges a range of biomes, from snowy 6,000m peaks in the Andes to low-lying wetlands, pampas, dry forests and rainforests. Created in 1995, the park covers 1,895,750 hectares and is home to more than 12,000 types of plants, 1,200 kinds of birds, 120,000 insect species and charismatic mammals like tapir, jaguars, monkeys and giant otters.
Our family booked a five-day stay at the ecolodge in hopes of catching a glimpse of some of the park’s bounty. We also wanted to experience the unique cultural diversity in the Bolivian Amazon, which is why we chose the community-run Chalalán.