San Miguel del Bala Community Eco-Tourism. Bolivia. Information in English

Menu, Main pages: About us - Our location - The Eco-Lodge - The Madidi National Park - Tacana Community - Volunteer - FAQ - Programmes - Contact

Menu, Additional pages: Introduction - Testimonials, page 1 and page 2 - Ethics - Links - Contact form - Volunteer English teaching - Equator Prize

Welcome to our San Miguel del Bala homepage, English version.

This page is an introduction. Please scroll down to read about us.

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New video about San Miguel del Bala at YouTube:

youtube.com/user/SanMiguelDelBala

The film/video is from November 2007. Edited with subtitles and uploaded December 2008.

Shot in San Miguel del Bala and Rurrenabaque by Thomas Hansen from 'Nature TV'. Running time 9 minutes.

San Miguel del Bala Community Eco-Tourism

Owned and operated by the indigenous community of San Miguel

The Amazon Basin, Bolivia

What is San Miguel del Bala Eco-lodge ? 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 private, local style cabins. 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.

Best regards

Constantino Nay

General Manager of San Miguel Del Bala Eco-Tourism Lodge.

More information:

For more information please send us an e-mail or fax, phone us, or use our contact form:

E-mail: info at sanmigueldelbala dot com (Please insert the proper signs instead of ‘at’ and ‘dot’)

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

Contact form: Contact us

Our office’s address:

Oficina San Miguel del Bala

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

Rurrenabaque, Beni, Bolivia.

Please note: All visits to and stays in San Miguel del Bala must be arranged with our office in Rurrenabaque.

How to use the menus on the ‘Next Page’:

When you go on to the ‘Next Page’ (www.sanmigueldelbala.com/quienesi1.html) here on our website, you have the main menu to the left.

Please note the sub menus

at the top:

The sub menu ‘Objectives’: Our Vision + Our Mission.

Our Mission: 1. Improve our standard of living. 2. Preserve the environment. 3. Generate revenues

and manage natural resources in a sustainable way. 4. Revalorize the Tacana culture.

Note: The points 3 and 4 appear when clicking on the triangle:

The sub menu ‘The Project’: General text + Officials and technical staff. Collaborators. Etc.

Note: ‘Officials and technical staff’ appear when clicking on the triangle:

The sub menu ‘Tacanas’: The San Miguel Tacana community.

External links: Please come back to our homepage soon: www.sanmigueldelbala.com

Our pictures from San Miguel del Bala:

http://picasaweb.google.com/SanMiguelDelBala

Our location on the map in WikiMapia:

Location of San Miguel del Bala Eco-Lodge

Reviews/journals/diaries written by our visitors:

1. The Suijker family from the Netherlands travelled in Bolivia from 3^rd to 31^st of July, 2005. Their travel blog “Suijker in Bolivia” in Dutch can be read at http://suijkerinbolivia.blogspot.com For 5 days they visited San Miguel del Bala:

“We enjoyed San Miguel del Bala very much”. The visit to the Madidi National Park: “Brilliant trip”.

Read translations of this journal: From Dutch into English: www.sanmigueldelbala.com/SuijkerEn.html

From Dutch into Danish: www.sanmigueldelbala.com/SuijkerDa.html

2. Michelle from South Africa / United Kingdom visited San Miguel del Bala for 3 days in January 2007:

“What an amazing time I had!”

“I felt really sad as we were heading back to Rurrenabaque...it had been such a wonderful experience out here! I really felt like I had been a priveledged visitor to another world, home of things that are greater than ourselves...loved it!”

Read Michelle’s testimonial at our page: www.sanmigueldelbala.com/Michelle.html (Diary entry “Out of this World...”)

3. 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:

http://www.nancychuang.com/journals/rurrenabaque_jungle_fever

4. Katherine A. and Katrina Q. K. from USA visited San Miguel del Bala for 3 days from 30^th of July to 1^st of August, 2007:

“... Kat [Katherine] has said multiple times that it was the best decision of our lives to go to San Miguel. It is certainly a very peaceful and beautiful place. There aren’t enough words or time to describe the great experiences, wonderful people, delicious food, and amazing biodiversity that filled our time in San Miguel, but I will share a few highlights of our trip.”

You can read the full story of the two Kat’s at their blog “The adventures of two Kats” at “DosGatas” (= “Two cats” in Spanish):

http://dosgatas.blogspot.com/2007/08/rurrenabaque.html

The Lonely Planet ‘Bolivia’ guide book recommends “Community-based ecotourism” and - among others - San Miguel del Bala:

In ‘Bolivia’, 6th Edition / April 2007, on page 342 the authors writes about “Community-based ecotourism”:

“ This is what many hope the future of Amazonian tourism will look like: responsible operators and customers; respect for culture, environment and wildlife; and benefits for local communities. [..] ”

On page 343 about San Miguel del Bala:

“ San Miguel del Bala (Map p337 [..] ) is a glorious community ecolodge in its own patch of paradise [..] cabins with mahogany wood floors, separate bathrooms and beds covered by silky mosquito nets. [..] community consists of around 230 inhabitants who’ll be happy to show you their traditional agricultural methods or weaving and wood-carving. [..] What the guides lack in English, they make up for in their enthusiasm and knowledge. [..] ”

Because of copyright we cannot quote the full text, you will have to buy the book or the downloadable individual chapter 'Amazon Basin'.

Book title: Bolivia. Publishers: Lonely Planet Publications. Authors: Kate Armstrong, Vesna Maric and Andy Symington

6th Edition/April 2007. ISBN: 9781741045574. 432 pp/16 pp colour/79 maps. Online shop: ‘Bolivia’

View our separate page about Bolivia Guide Books / Travel Guides: www.sanmigueldelbala.com/GuideBooksBolivia.html

Guidebooks from 6 publishers are mentioned: Lonely Planet, Bradt Travel Guides, Footprint books, Rough Guides, Hunter Pocket Adventure Guides. Plus “An Insider's Guide to Bolivia” by Peter McFarren, Quipus Cultural Foundation.

San Miguel del Bala was nominated to the UNDP Equator Prize in 2006/2007.

Read more at our separate page about the nomination: www.sanmigueldelbala.com/EquatorPrizeNom06.html

If you go on to the ‘Next Pages’ with menus, you can come back here via the Start Page.

New video about San Miguel del Bala at YouTube:

The film/video is from November 2007. Edited with subtitles and uploaded December 2008.

The Amazon Basin, Bolivia

Other links:

More links: Go to our separate Link Page here on our homepage: www.sanmigueldelbala.com/Links.html