Noel Kempff Mercado National Park is an undiscovered gem. It’s not the easiest place to visit or the cheapest, but there will be abundant wildlife and virtually no tourists. Sounds like our kind of place. The southern section of the park is accessible by road, but the northern section can only be reached by air. And as there are no regular flights, Ruta Verde Tours charters a tiny 6-seater Cessna (and its pilot, Greg) to take us there. We leave from a private airstrip where not only our backpacks, but each of us is individually weighed before we board the plane. Le (shaved head, long, straggly beard) is the only other passenger; he’s from Vietnam. As we rumble down the grass airstrip, the plane is buffeted by side winds and the take-off is rather nerve-wracking. Once airborne we have great views over Santa Cruz and then we head north to Noel Kempff Mercado National Park (NKMNP); it’s a 2.5-hour, 600 km flight. Down below we see extensive farming and cultivation in the lowland tropics with occasional islands of jungle vegetation. Some of the cultivation gives rise to interesting geometric patterns. The further north we go, the more sparse the human influence until all we see is tree upon tree so tightly packed that the ground is obscured (except for oases of open space). Two hours after leaving Santa Cruz, we finally reach the iconic Huanchaca Plateau (150 km long, 50 km wide, and 300m high). The plateau, which separates the northern and southern sections of the park, features a series of huge waterfalls that remind me of Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe.
We land rather bumpily 30 minutes later at Flor de Oro airstrip and resort. The resort is run by a Brazilian guy, Fernando, and his family. Apparently, the complex owes its existence to drug traffickers who built the airstrip decades ago to transport cocaine from their clandestine laboratories. The resort has definitely seen better days and only a minority of the guest rooms are habitable. Having said that, our room is clean and there are towels, soap, toilet paper, and a fan (which is wonderful as long as the generator is on). Food is plentiful and tasty (fried catfish, rice, potato salad for lunch). Our arrival coincides with an amazing tropical thunderstorm that lashes the complex, curtailing our first planned hike. But at least the rain cools the temperature and removes some of the oppressive mugginess that smothers NKMNP. Flor de Oro is located on the mighty Itenez River and as night descends bats flutter by while frogs serenade us and tarantulas scamper in the shadows – and that’s just in the guest rooms.
Blog post by Roderick Phillips, author of Weary Heart – a gut-wrenching tale of love and test tubes.
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