General Tour Information
ENTERING AND LEAVING BOLIVIA: Bolivian authorities require a passport that is valid for at least six months after the date of your arrival in Bolivia. Visas are not required for U.S. citizens. Tourist cards are prepared by your arriving airline. Currently, there is a USD$25 departure tax, paid in the airport terminal immediately after checking in for your departure flight. Citizens of other countries should check with their Bolivian embassy or consulate for entry requirements. Note: It is a good idea to take a photocopy of your passport and air ticket with you when traveling abroad. Copies can prove invaluable in helping you get replacements if your originals are lost or stolen. It is a good idea to pack the photocopies separately from the originals.
BOLIVIA MAP AND COUNTRY INFORMATION: You can view maps of Bolivia in the University of Texas series here. Click in the lower right corner of the map to adjust the size. You can review the U.S. State Department notes on Bolivia here.
HEALTH: Although cases of malaria are rare where we’re going, a malaria prophylaxis is recommended. For malaria prevention, please talk to your doctor or public health or travel health clinic about which drug is best for you. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) currently recommends one of the following antimalarial drugs: mefloquine (Lariam®), doxycycline, or Malarone®. Please remember that many anti-malarial drugs must be initiated one or more weeks before the period of exposure, and continued for several weeks after it concludes.
Certification of yellow fever vaccination is not required unless you are entering Bolivia from a country where yellow fever is present; if you are entering Bolivia from the U.S., this is not required. The CDC, however, is currently recommending yellow fever vaccination for travelers to Bolivia who plan to be outside of urban areas.
Further, the CDC currently recommend the following vaccines: Hepatitis A or immune globulin (IG); typhoid; as needed, booster doses for tetanus-diphtheria and measles. See your doctor at least 4—6 weeks before your trip to allow time for immunizations to take effect.. You can review the current CDC traveler’s advisories here
Please note that Chalalán is an isolated lodge (3 hours by boat to the nearest town). There are no local doctors and emergency evacuation procedures are certain to be slow and expensive. Please be sure you are in good physical condition before scheduling this trip
El Alto international airport, where we may have to wait a few hours, is at about 13,000 feet elevation, and we will also be spending an afternoon at the slightly lower elevations in the city of La Paz. We will not have any scheduled outings at this elevation, but most people still feel at least lightheadedness and even some nausea. On the flight between El Alto and Rurrenabaque the non-pressurized airplane crosses the Andes at 18,000 feet for several minutes; oxygen is available for those who request it..
PACE OF THE TOUR: As travel to and from the lodge is by motorized canoe, getting in and out of the boat requires a reasonably good sense of balance (although there will be assistance as necessary). Early mornings will be the rule, returning for lunch at the lodge followed by a siesta. We’ll spend most of our time birding on well-maintained and mostly level forest trails, though some parts of the trails do briefly ascend hills. Most days we’ll be relatively close to the lodge hotel, covering perhaps no more than 1.5 miles during a morning’s birding but on other we may travel as much as three miles before lunch. Some evenings we’ll take night walks in search of owls, nightjars, and other creatures, not venturing more than about 1/2 mile from the lodge on the longest walk.
It’s perhaps worth noting that this tour involves birding almost entirely in the understory of tropical rainforest, though we’ll certainly be spending some time birding the edges around the lodge grounds and lake. This means one must be prepared for the challenge of spotting movement in the dark understory and peering through many layers of foliage and into tall trees overhead.
CLIMATE: The climate at Chalalán Lodge is tropical and humid. Temperatures usually remain between 75-85ºF, with it being cooler within the forest and warmer on the river shore and in the lodge clearing. We’ll be at the end of the rainy season but we could still see a few days with some unpredictable rain showers, more typically in the afternoon.
ACCOMMODATION: Chalalán Lodge is simple but offers clean double rooms in stilted wood buildings with thatch palm roofs, screened windows and mosquito netting for each bed (though there are almost never insects in the rooms). Bathrooms and non-heated showers are in a nearby separate building for most cabins.
SMOKING: We request that you do not smoke in the vehicles or when the group is gathered for meals, checklists, etc. If you are sharing a room with a non-smoker, please do not smoke in the room. If you smoke in the field, we ask that you do so well away and downwind from the group, if possible.
GENERAL INFORMATION & CONDITIONS OF WINGS TOURS: Please take a moment to read the General Information & Conditions here. This section contains important information about how we conduct tours, e.g., what is included in the tour price, refund and cancellation policies, pace of the tours and other information that will help you prepare for the tour.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: A more detailed General Information for Tours to Amazon Bolivia will be mailed to each registrant on receipt of their booking. Final information with instructions for meeting the group, hotel addresses, etc., will be mailed about three weeks before trip departure. Other news will be communicated as necessary. If you have any questions, please contact us.