IT’S A JUNGLE OUT THERE

This ecolodge is an animal lover’s dream, even if the night noises are alarming, writes Megan Sheehan

MADIDI National Park in Bolivian Amazonia is where the wild things are. The 18,958sq km park in the upper Amazon basin boasts at least 272 recorded species of mammals, 1254 species of birds and 204 species of reptiles within a variety of microclimates.

There are a number of tour operators to choose from, but we settled on the Madidi Jungle Ecolodge for its low environmental impact approach and the fact that it is an indigenous community-owned and run venture. Turns out ecofriendly can also be romantic; think candlelight, canopies of diaphanous mosquito netting, fringed hammocks and the sounds of the forest floating through a thatched-roof. OK, so admittedly the sounds of the forest are not always calming – at least not until you learn what’s responsible for some of the strange noises. We were soon able to pick out familiar voices.

We were fortunate enough to share the lush surroundings with tapir, capybara, armadillo, six species of monkey, two species of squirrel, caiman, deer, fishing bats, macaws, toucans, peccary and piranha to name a few.

The animals are certainly a big drawcard, but at the ecolodge we also got acquainted with the fruits of the forest and learnt how to cook some of the local dishes that were prepared by the on-site cook.

There’s no need to carry snacks on a hike when you can pluck wild guava, palm fruits or cacao straight off the trees – the kind of organic, hand-picked, single-origin “chocolate’’ that even the most discerning hipsters would approve of.