Arcoiris Falls
An 88-metre drop.
Javierhurtadovaca — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Maral Hurtado Miranda — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Javierhurtadovaca — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Estefania PlazaPonte — CC0 · Gabriela Villanueva — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Estefania PlazaPonte — CC0
Noel Kempff Mercado National Park is a vast reserve in the north-east of Santa Cruz Department, on the border with Brazil. It covers 1,523,446 hectares and joined UNESCO's World Heritage list in 2000. It is where Amazon rainforest meets cerrado savanna, with a tableland and striking waterfalls. Percy Fawcett explored the area in 1908 on a frontier survey and showed photographs in London to Arthur Conan Doyle, firing his imagination for the novel The Lost World. The park was founded on 28 June 1979 as Huanchaca, and renamed in 1988 after the Bolivian biologist Noel Kempff Mercado, who worked here and was killed in the area. The Huanchaca Plateau rises in cliffs up to 300 metres, with waterfalls such as the 88-metre Arcoiris and the 25 to 45-metre Federico Ahlfeld. Habitats range from evergreen forest to wetlands and savanna. The park records 620 bird species and 139 mammal species, among them jaguar, tapir and maned wolf, though sightings are not guaranteed. The park is 453.8 km in a straight line north-east of Santa Cruz and one of the most remote parts of Bolivia, so go only with advance arrangements through an approved operator. The dry season runs from June to September, when temperatures can sometimes drop to 10 °C. Ask your doctor about vaccinations and bring repellent. British advice mentions a state of emergency and road blockades, so check your government's advice.
An 88-metre drop.
Cliffs of up to 300 m.
Still water and forest on the border.
North-east Santa Cruz Department, on the Brazilian border
Fawcett's photographs of this area inspired Arthur Conan Doyle when writing the novel.
It is not advised, as the area is very remote and needs advance arrangements.