Explore Bolivia’s National Parks

Set at the geographic heart of South America, Bolivia packs a continent’s worth of biodiversity into its relatively compact borders and spectacular national parks.

Around La Paz, Bolivia’s administrative capital, towering Andean peaks rise to 6000m (19,685ft). As you head east, the landscape drops to the Yungas cloud forests, which eventually flatten out into steamy jungles in the Amazon Basin.

In the far east are the semi-arid forests of the Gran Chaco, spilling over into neighboring Paraguay and Argentina. Here, big cats lord over herbaceous, cactus-studded scrublands. In the southwest is the cloud-hugging altiplano, a wild, almost treeless plateau, home to desiccated salt flats, tempestuous volcanoes, and prismatic flamingo-filled lagoons.

No matter which way you turn in Bolivia, you’re sure to find a national park with the kind of blockbuster nature that few places on earth can top. Consequently, low-level ecotourism may be the best way to keep these parks as raw and wild as you find them right now.

Madidi National Park

Best national park for an Amazon adventure

Bolivia’s Madidi National Park offers incredible biodiversity. In June 2015, a team of scientists began a three-year mission to survey this 18,958 sq km (7320 sq miles) reserve, identifying an astonishing number of species from its high-altitude cloud forests and steamy lowland jungles. They added a staggering 1382 plant and animal species to the park’s list of inhabitants, including 124 species that were completely new to science.

As of 2022, the number of species documented in Madidi stands at 8524, making it perhaps the most biodiverse protected area on earth. Travelers hoping to get a peek at this kaleidoscopic ecosystem typically base themselves at one of the community-based jungle camps near Rurrenabaque, such as community-run Chalalán Ecolodge. From here, you can boat out to remote stretches of the Amazon Basin.

Sajama National Park

Best national park for breathtaking volcano views

Bolivia’s oldest national park protects the nation’s highest peak, 6542m (21,463ft) Nevado Sajama, an extinct stratovolcano that attracts climbers from around the globe. Gnarled queñua trees, an endemic and ancient altiplano species, climb its slopes to 5000m (16,400 ft), making this the planet’s highest forest.

However, most of the park is covered in puna grasslands, mowed by resident guanacos and vicuñas (wild relatives of domesticated llamas and alpacas). There are also lagoons speckled pink with flamingos, ancient cave paintings, steamy hot springs, and small villages inhabited by indigenous Aymara herders, many of whom work part-time in ecotourism.

Noel Kempff Mercado National Park

Best national park to escape from civilization

Remote and rarely explored, Noel Kempff Mercado National Park lies on the border with Brazil in one of the most pristine patches of forest still left in the Amazon Basin. It encompasses more than 1.5 million hectares of rainforest, cerrado (savanna), and craggy escarpments.

With minimal infrastructure, almost all visits are arranged by adventure outfits in Santa Cruz. Adventurers who make the journey often carry a copy of Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic 1912 novel, The Lost World, which is believed to have been inspired by these primeval landscapes.

Toro Toro National Park

Best national park to walk in the footsteps of dinosaurs

In Bolivia, Toro Toro is synonymous with paleontology. Approximately 2500 fossilized dinosaur footprints are etched into this semi-arid plateau, most dating from the Cretaceous period about 120 million years ago. Visitors typically explore the tracks at Cerro Huayllas as part of a hike to the plunging Cańon de Torotoro, home to critically endangered red-fronted macaws.

The bottom of this canyon holds crystalline swimming holes and sparkling waterfalls ideal for cooling off before the trek back up to the canyon rim.

Amboró National Park

Best national park for a quick city escape

Amboró may be just 40km (25 miles) from the city of Santa Cruz, but its virgin forests feel lightyears away from the city hubbub. This shapeshifting 4425 sq km (1709 sq miles) park lies at the union of three spectacular biomes: the Andean foothills, the Amazon Basin, and the dry Gran Chaco forest.

This means visitors can admire a rainbow of flora and fauna, from giant anteaters to spectacled bears. By law, hiring a guide to visit the park is required, but tour operators in Santa Cruz can arrange everything from half-day excursions to multi-day adventures.

Eduardo Avaroa Andean Fauna National Reserve

Best national park for surreal moonscapes

Although it’s not technically a national park, Eduardo Avaroa Andean Fauna National Reserve is easily the country’s most visited protected area and the site of some of the most spectacular high-altitude landscapes on earth.

Many tourists visit on the crossing between the Salar de Uyuni salt flats and the town of San Pedro de Atacama in Chile’s Atacama Desert, traveling down bumpy roads to view puffing volcanoes, gurgling geysers, and gem-colored lagoons filled with three species of endemic flamingos. Laguna Colorada, a rusty red lake at nearly 4300m in altitude, is one of the reserve’s highlights and includes a small visitor center.

Kaa-Iya del Gran Chaco National Park

Best national park for wildlife-watching

The Gran Chaco offers some of the best wildlife viewing anywhere on the continent. Kaa-Iya, located in the heart of the Gran Chaco wilderness, is one of South America’s largest reserves, with a surface area greater than Belgium.

This is one of the best places to spy jaguars in the wild, with an estimated 1000 big cats recorded inside its boundaries. Other rare wildlife species include maned wolves and giant armadillos, as well as more than 300 species of birds. The only way to visit is with a certified guide, making it essential for most visitors to turn to tour companies in Santa Cruz to arrange all the details.