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Focus on Brazil


Brazil is a vast country with several distinctly different biomes. Discover them all with Focus Tours: Brazil

Focus on Argentina

The 8th largest country in the world, Argentina offers a wealth of experiences. From the subtropical rain forests of Iguazú Falls to the high Andes. Discover more with Focus Tours: Argentina 

Focus on Bolivia

Bolivia, nestled between Brazil, Peru, Chile and Paraguay, is the poorest and least developed country in South America, but also biologically and culturally the richest, safest and friendliest. Discover more with Focus Tours: Bolivia

Focus on Chile

Chile is the only truly temperate country in the Neotropics, and occupies more degrees of latitude than any other nation worldwide. Perhaps it is not surprising that Chile offers several extremes of the natural world. Discover more with Focus Tours: Chile

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Jaguar Tours

The northern Pantanal is the richest area in the world for spotting Jaguars in the wild and, our naturalist guides are some of the best. Together with our boatmen we can take you into the best areas for jaguars and many other creatures. Read more about Jaguar Tours.

Bird Watching Tours

Douglas Trent is a scientist, bird watcher and wildlife photographer and his be operating Bird Watcing Tours for around two decades now. The tour possibilities in South America are many. Read more about Bird Watching Tours.

Wildlife Photography Tours

Douglas Trent is a wildlife photographer and guides groups of professional, or enthusiastc amateur, photographers and film crews on focused wildlife tours. Read more about Wildlife Photography Tours 

Funding Conservation

 

A percentage of our profits has been funding in-country conservation projects since 1981. They directly benefit the local communities we visit and, when possible, are self-sustable, generating benefits long after our initial donation. Your visit will benefit you, the environment and your hosts.

TOROTORO NATIONAL PARK: Remote and Incredible, for Small Groups Only

 

This remote park and city of the same name is both a paleontologist's dream and geographer's puzzle. It is also a naturalist's treasure. The rare, gaudy and endemic Red-fronted Macaw occurs in a nearby river valley in perhaps its highest concentrations. Numerous biped and quadruped dinosaur tracks from the Cretaceous Period can be seen, along with some three-toed tracks about 10" long. The largest tracks are about 14" wide, 20" long and 8" deep; the reptile had a gait of nearly 6 feet.

Dinosaur bone fragments may be seen in the red soils. Another puzzle of Torotoro is that almost all the tracks lead uphill. At just under four miles northwest of town the stream running through the park disappears into the 1.25-mile Umajalanta Cave. Stalagmites and stalactites abound, along with blind catfish, a waterfall, and even more dinosaur tracks. Flashlights with extra batteries, as well as being in good shape, are required for the hike and strenuous cave exploring. Twisting and turning through tight squeezes is to be expected, and those with an interest in cave exploring will rate this as a tour highlight.

In other areas, incredible red rock canyons are worth exploring, along with an Incan fortress rarely visited, which requires camping out in order to see. This provides a great opportunity for adventure off the beaten path.

Access to Torotoro is by chartered plane or a long, rough ride standing in the back of a large truck with many other people. We think the plane ride, with the incredible scenery, is the way to go. Why only small groups? The town has precious little in the way of accommodation, almost no contact with the outside world for making reservations and no electricity. We usually sleep in rooms attached to a church, and enjoy excellent vegetarian meals in the house of the minister. Well worth a three-night stay, in our opinion, and birders will enjoy the endemic Bolivian Blackbirds and other avifauna. Torotoro is also a town where a lot of weavings come from, and may be purchased directly from the towns' people.