The Pampas, Bolivia

But we also saw spider monkeys, pink river dolphins, an anteater, capybara, alligator and porcupine. And loads of birds. The sloth was so active, and gave us a mini acrobatic show as it moved across to another tree. Adorable. …

English girl: “Rambo, what’s the machete for?” Rambo: “For… killing English” maniacal laughter Group: stunned silence Our guide was a real jungle man. Born in the Amazon, Rambo worked for 8 months as a UN peacekeeper in the Congo, which basically makes him hard as nails. We set off traipsing through the swamp, looking for an anaconda. The water gets almost to butt-level, so the gumboots are more to prevent snake bites than getting your clothes wet. …

Visiting Pampas is like going to a zoo. There are animals everywhere, and they’re easily spotted from the river boat. There are also more mosquitos than I ever thought was possible. Clouds of them, swarming around and attacking through clothes and sucking blood from any exposed un-DEETed skin. We stayed in a lodge far down into the natural park, with our guide and many other tourists. Weather was great, and we got lucky in spotting all the animals we wanted to see. …