Hello! Here’s a quick post to give you the low-down on visiting Torotoro National Park, Bolivia.

We did a 3-day tour over the 6 de agosto public holiday, and what I’ll say is this: never before have rocks looked so fabulous.

Day 1: Cascada de Golondrinas
2015-08-06 Torotoro Cascada de Golondrinas 242015-08-06 Torotoro Cascada de Golondrinas 41Day 2: Umajalanta

2015-08-07 Torotoro Umajalanta 12
Dinosaurs walked here!

2015-08-07 Torotoro Umajalanta 42

2015-08-07 Torotoro Umajalanta 47
Looking out through the mouth of the cave.

Day 2: Ciudad de Itas
2015-08-07 Torotoro Ciudad de Itas 362015-08-07 Torotoro Ciudad de Itas 692015-08-07 Torotoro Ciudad de Itas 96

2015-08-07 Torotoro Ciudad de Itas 98
He was begging to be photographed, such a poser.

Day 3: Cerro Waylas

2015-08-08 Torotoro El Vergel 18
They told us it’s the biggest dinosaur footprint in all of Torotoro …

Day 3: El Vergel
2015-08-08 Torotoro El Vergel 39

2015-08-08 Torotoro El Vergel 66
Pretty close to paradise.

2015-08-08 Torotoro El Vergel 75

General advice for visiting Torotoro

Getting there and around. Bus La Paz-Cochabamba: 11pm-7am, 100bs/USD15 bus cama. Flight Cocha-La Paz: 30 minutes, 252bs/USD36. The bus ride from Cocha to the Torotoro area is about 4 hours long; note the roads are not great.

Accommodation. We stayed at Hotel El Molino, a 15-minute walk from the village of Torotoro. They also organised the tour (Spanish only), which starts and begins in Cocha and cost us 750bs/USD110 each, all inclusive. 2-day tours are available on weekends. You can do this trip independently if you have an off-road vehicle, and camp instead of staying at a hotel – though you’ll still need a guide for the Umajalanta cave.

Difficulty level. The activities were not too intense, but satisfyingly challenging. There’s a lot of walking, including a significant amount of uphill/downhill. The caving can be quite intense – prepare to get down and dirty and use ropes to scale down the rocks. That said, there were some older people on the tour and they did fine with most of it 🙂

Climate. Warm and super sunny – bring plenty of sunblock. It gets pretty chilly at night, so make sure you have a jumper. The different locations we visited ranged from about 1500m to 3500m above sea level. If you’ve spent time in La Paz, you’ll be fine.

What to bring. Sunblock; sunglasses; jumper; swimming gear; camera (with a case you can attach to yourself if you want to shoot inside the cave – no backpacks allowed); good hiking shoes; small backpack; insect repellant.

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