Bolivien

Bolivia 09/2022

Bolivia 09/2022

Bolivia – Tsimane

In search of Golden Dorado by Helicopter

During the sixties and seventies my father’s brother travelled to Bolivia and the Amazon region working as a development aid volunteer. In Cochabamba, for example, he set up the first school in the Andes and helped the indigenous people in the Bolivian lowlands to build wells and develop agriculture. In my eyes when I was a young boy, my uncle (Toni Kreupl) was THE adventurer and my absolute hero. I always wanted to be like him… 50 years were to pass before I actually got to see the endless expanses of Bolivian jungle through which he had travelled, on horseback back then.

I flew from Frankfurt to Santa Cruz via Bogota. Unfortunately, our travel fly rods packed in our hand luggage were confiscated by Columbian security officials – how annoying. We tried everything but to no avail. Eventually our 8 rods were seized and (according to the official version) “destroyed” later!!!!

Fortunately, our lodge lent es a couple of rods for the week which enabled us to go fishing.

The helicopter programme is new and absolutely recommendable. We went fishing in places far away from human civilisation in pristine natural surroundings.

The helicopter programme has been organised in such a way that a maximum of 4 anglers a week can participate. This trip is in great demand worldwide and the waiting list for a free space is a long one. In my case two spaces had become available due to a cancellation at short notice. The helicopter only has seats for four people (pilot, guide and 2 anglers). Our trip was organized by Helmut Zaderer. He was fishing with his cameraman Vaidas Uselis and I was paired with Alfredo de la Torre (USA) which right from day one turned out to be a stroke of good luck. Alfredo and I were a super team.

The weather stayed settled for the first 3 days and we enjoyed some excellent fishing. We caught plenty of fish in all sizes that had certainly never been in contact with human beings before – absolute wilderness and indescribably beautiful.

A bad weather front moved in during the afternoon of the third day and it poured with rain solidly for 2 days. Additionally, it became uncomfortably cold. The thermometer dropped to 13°C. You can imagine what it feels like when you are soaked to the skin all day long at such low temperatures – no fun at all but it didn’t seem to worry the fish in the least.

It warmed up on our last day and the trip finished tremendously well with some really big fish.

It was a mind-boggling time and I am more than happy that I went on this trip. However, at this point it is only fair to point out that it is not suitable for everybody. You need to be fit and have plenty of stamina. Walking through almost impassable jungle, swimming for several hundred yards and crossing rapids over slippery stones are indeed very demanding. At the end of the day, we retired to our beds completely exhausted and worn out.