Red howler monkeys roam the high branches of the Bolivian jungle

There are stories told of early explorers who while looking for El Dorado, the lost Inca city of gold, in the jungles of Peru, walked on the treetops because the canopy was so thick.

The Bolivian jungle is much the same. It’s a sweating mesh of lush vegetation which casts a spell on most visitors and is well worth a visit.

The Noel Kempff Mercado National Park, approximately 400 kilometres from Santa Cruz, is extremely remote and therefore pulsing with rare wildlife including jaguars, pumas, pink dolphins, alligators, monkeys and giant otters. A web of rivers weave through the park feeding spectacular waterfalls. Multiple day hikes with local guides can be booked in Santa Cruz.

The Carrasco National Park is slightly higher and more mountainous. It’s crowned with temperate rainforest. Towering trees provide shelter for over 200 species of orchid and 800 species of bird. If you do a walk in this forest you’ll spend a lot of time looking up as monkeys call to each other in the high branches. Tours with local guides can be booked in outlying town Cochabamba. You need an entry permit to enter the park which is usually included in the cost of the tour.

The parks are wet year round, so pack a rain jacket, a couple of pairs of dry socks and some seriously potent insect repellent. The slight discomfort of being damp all the time is more than rewarded by the throbbing sense of life which embraces you as you enter the green tangle.