The best place in Bolivia to spot a jaguar
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Bolivia is a beautiful country for spotting animals. The chance that you will see a jaguar is very likely if you go to the right places. At 180 kilometers from Santa Cruz de la Sierra is the San Miguelito Cattle Station, one of Bolivia's best kept secrets. This ecotourism project is virtually unheard of. It is a ranch which is located in an area of agriculture and is the only ranch that is still surrounded by a large piece of natural forest. Because the area has been deforested to make way for soybean fields, the animals are forced to move to other areas. Fortunately, the Cattle Station preserves 90% of the forest where the animals can survive. The area is used for research by the San Miguelito Jaguar Conservation Project, what a gift.
Money collected from wildlife tours goes directly to replacing cattle eaten by big cats, which therefore discourages local farmers from shooting them. The staff also tell the local people about the importance of the jaguar and the other big cats for the region and the residents are trained to become guides so that they too can benefit from tourism.
Camera traps were placed to measure the amount of jaguars and the results turned out to be amazing. With 11 jaguars per 100 kilometers, this area has the highest jaguar density in all of Latin America. In total, 6 different wild cat species live in the San Miguelito Jaguar Range.
A visit to this area can therefore help the jaguars. Do you want to help the jaguar too? Then see the three-day tour on Nick’s Adventures.
Best time to visit
During the month of June and July you are most likely to experience good weather with pleasant average temperatures that fall between 20 degrees Celsius (68°F) and 25 degrees Celsius (77°F). Rainfall occurs mainly during the summer months, between November and March. Click here for more average weather details in Santa Cruz (3 hours from the San Miguelito Jaguar Range).