SanMiguelDelBala.com provides information on touring the Eco friendly resort

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Welcome to San Miguel del Bala. Gateway to Madidi National Park. Bolivia

San Miguel del Bala Community Eco-Tourism

Description

San Miguel del Bala is a Community Eco-Lodge owned and operated by the indigenous community of San Miguel del Bala.

San Miguel del Bala is a little community in the Bolivian Amazon rainforest on the banks of the Beni River, near Rurrenabaque. Bolivia.

Page with an introduction: [1]

Address

Our office's address:

Calle Comercio (between Calle Vaca Diez and Santa Cruz),

Rurrenabaque, Beni, Bolivia.

Phone/Fax: (+591-3) 892-2394

Contact

E-mails:

info at sanmigueldelbala dot com

reservas at sanmigueldelbala dot com

Phone/Fax: (+591-3) 892-2394

More information: For information, itineraries, photos, and videos, please visit our homepage: www.sanmigueldelbala.com

Additional Information

Our location can be seen on the map in WikiMapia: Location of San Miguel del Bala Eco-Lodge

Pictures from San Miguel del Bala: picasaweb.google.com/SanMiguelDelBala

San Miguel del Bala is a Community Eco-Lodge in the Bolivian Amazon built, owned, and operated by the indigenous Tacana community San Miguel.

San Miguel del Bala offers a wide variety of eco-tourism packages for you to discover our rain forest environment and Tacana culture while comfortably lodged in a quiet cabin. We have several different programs from 1 to 4 days/3 nights. Special expeditions can also be arranged to meet your needs and allow you to live out your dreams, whether they are about a tranquil rain forest hide-away where you can rest and find peace of mind; about an adventure filled with exciting activities such as trekking through the forest, animal watching, mountain climbing or canoeing; about appreciating culture and participating in the daily life of our Tacana community, visiting a family in their house made of palm leaves and bamboo, processing sugar cane juice, working in the fields, making handicrafts or playing with the children.

The lodge.

The lodge has 7 comfortable huts each with 3 beds, electricity, and private bathroom, and a nice dormitory of 8 beds with shared bathroom. There is also a bar / restaurant serving typical, international and vegetarian cuisine, and an interpretation center (in a traditional round-house) with an exhibition about the Tacana culture and with local handicrafts for sale. The complex can accommodate seminars and conferences of up to 50 persons, in which case camping facilities are provided.

The circuits.

With the lodge as the main point of departure many trails lead through the rain forest allowing visitors good chances to see wild life. The paths are designed to teach visitors about ancient hunting techniques, medicinal plants and ecological processes in the primary and secondary forest. Other paths take visitors to a 'salitral' - a cave with mineral earth that attracts all kinds of animals, a refreshing natural pool fed by a beautiful waterfall, and through a 150-meter-long canyon, whose darkness, coolness, and humidity is perfect for the hummingbirds' nests.

Our guides are all native Tacanas, born and raised in the rain forest. In addition to our traditional knowledge of our natural surroundings, we've been trained in many different fields such as flora, fauna, and eco-systems. Also, we've learned presentation techniques and first aid.

Who are we?

San Miguel is a small community of 32 families. We are Tacana Indians who have historically lived along the shores of the Beni and Tuichi rivers and within the boundaries of the famous Madidi National Park. We live in harmony with our environment and from various small commercial ventures such as handicrafts, fishing and agriculture. Now we also live from visits to our eco-tourism lodge that we have built and run ourselves with the financial and technical help of local authorities and several NGOs: CARE, Conservation International, the United Nations Development Fund, and the Wildlife Conservation Society.

Why go to San Miguel del Bala? We use the income from this community-based project to better our lives - education, health, and such - and to preserve the incredibly rich biodiversity in and around the Madidi National Park. When Madidi was created it was our biggest enemy, but tourism's many advantages to the community have completely changed our opinion. Instead of hating the national park we are now among its fiercest protectors and are proud to be nominated as honorary park rangers by the national park itself. Our way of living and the way we manage our lodge is completely sustainable and will allow our children and grandchildren to live maybe even better than we are living.

How to get to San Miguel? San Miguel is located three kilometers from the entrance to the Madidi National Park, and only 40 minutes by boat along the Beni River from the town of Rurrenabaque, within the La Paz Department, Bolivia. This means that you can go straight to San Miguel del Bala as soon as you reach Rurrenabaque, whether by bus or plane. And you're always close to hospitals, the internet, a bank and other things that you find in a town.

When to go San Miguel del Bala? The lodge and the national park are accessible all year round.

We are happy to be able to invite you to visit us and try for yourself to live our dream in the rain forest.

Testimonials and journals from our visitors

The Suijker family from the Netherlands visited Rurrenabaque, San Miguel del Bala and the jungle for 5 days in July, 2005. Their travel blog in Dutch can be read at [2] A translation into English: [3] Paul Suijker writes with such empathy and excitement about their experiences in Bolivia, that you see it all for you. Colourful first-hand impressions spiced up with peculiar anecdotes and useful background information.

Nancy from Brooklyn, New York City, USA, visited Rurrenabaque and San Miguel del Bala in mid-September 2006. She has written several comprehensive journals with many useful details: [4]