El Oso Andino

The Death Road — from 4,650 m to the jungle in one descent

The Yungas Road — known worldwide as the Death Road — descends 64 km from La Cumbre pass (4,650 m) to Coroico (1,760 m), losing 3,000 m of altitude in a single morning. Built in the 1930s by Paraguayan prisoners of war, it was Bolivia's only road linking La Paz to the Yungas lowlands until a new highway opened in 2006. During its years as an active road, up to 300 drivers, passengers, and pedestrians died annually on its narrow, unpaved surface cut into sheer cliff faces above a river canyon. Today the old road is closed to through-traffic and used almost exclusively for mountain biking tourism. With modern full-face helmets, purpose-built gravity bikes, and a support van that follows every descent, the Death Road is safe for any competent cyclist — the thrill comes from the history, the exposure, and the unparalleled descent through cloud and canyon.

The Yungas cloud forest — 300 orchid species on one hillside

Coroico, the base town of the Oso Andino route, sits at the precise ecological boundary where the Andean highlands collapse into subtropical cloud forest. The transition is visible from the road: high-altitude scrub gives way within minutes to dense canopy dripping with bromeliads, ferns, and orchids. The Bolivian Yungas support more than 300 orchid species per hillside — a density matched by almost nowhere else on earth. The cloud forest is also a critical refuge for the spectacled bear (Tremarctos ornatus), Bolivia's only bear species and the last surviving member of the short-faced bear family that once dominated South America. The Yungas are also home to 400+ bird species, including the cock-of-the-rock (Rupicola peruvianus), the Yungas pygmy owl, and the grey-breasted mountain toucan. The altitude transition from 4,650 m to 1,760 m in a single day produces a temperature shift of 20°C — one of the most dramatic climate transitions on earth.

The Taquesi Inca Trail — 500 years of stone paving intact

The Taquesi trail is a pre-Columbian road built by the Inca empire to connect the Andean highlands with the coca-producing Yungas valleys below. The 15 km section walked on this route — from Estancia Mina (4,600 m) to Kakapi (1,900 m) — uses the original stone paving almost in its entirety: wide, flat stones laid by Inca engineers five centuries ago and still walkable today. Unlike the Inca Trail in Peru, the Taquesi carries almost no international tourist traffic — most walkers are Bolivian school groups or local trekkers. The trail crosses a 4,650 m pass before descending steeply through cloud forest, with views expanding from Andean snowfields to tropical valley as the altitude drops. The walk takes a full day and requires good hiking boots and basic fitness; there are no technical sections, but the descent is steep and sustained.

The spectacled bear — Bolivia's only native bear

Tremarctos ornatus — the spectacled bear, or Andean bear — is the last surviving member of the short-faced bear lineage that evolved in South America 3–4 million years ago. It takes its name from the cream or white facial markings around the eyes that resemble spectacles, though the pattern is unique to each individual. Adults weigh 70–200 kg and are highly adaptable — found from Venezuela to Argentina at elevations from 500 m to 4,400 m. In Bolivia, the Yungas cloud forests around Coroico hold a confirmed spectacled bear population. The bear is shy, largely nocturnal, and primarily vegetarian (fruits, bromeliads, cacti, and sometimes small vertebrates). Direct sightings are rare, but tracks, claw marks on tree trunks at 2–3 m height, and torn bromeliads are frequently found by our guides in the active zones around Coroico. Camera trap footage confirms regular bear activity in the forest above the town.

— Itinerary

Day by day

6 carefully designed stages. Every itinerary adapts to your group and dates.

"The Death Road was terrifying and brilliant in equal measure. But the cloud forest day after was the real surprise — we had no idea Bolivia had forests like that."