San Miguelito ranch, Bolivia

Toco Toucan (Source: own photo)

To reach the San Miguelito ranch, take the highway heading east north-east from Santa Cruz. The journey takes four and half hours. Two hours into the journey, you turn off the tarmac and onto a red dirt road, which takes you through soybean fields so vast they stretch all the way to the horizon.

Soy farm (Source: own photo) 

This is country, where once were endless swathes of hot and arid subtropical Chaco forest, but then the soybean industry arrived and the forest had to give way. Fortunately, the farmers have kept wide bands of original forest on either side of the fields to shield the fragile plants from the wind and these stretches of forest remain rich in wildlife, particularly jaguars, rheas, peccaries, and bird life.

Early morning over the low hills around San Miguelito (Source: own photo) 

As you continue, the flat soybean fields finally give rise to low hill territory and this is when you know you have arrived at San Miguelito, because the ranch is perched on top of the first hill you encounter, with spectacular views over the surrounding country side.

View over cliff and wetland (Source: own photo)  

Two things make San Miguelito truly unique and distinct from other nature destinations in Bolivia. One is that the property is surrounded by soy fields, which means that much of the game that used to roam in these parts has had to flee to the pristine San Miguelito property.

Yellow-collared Macaw (Source: own photo)

The other thing that makes San Miguelito special is that the ranch spans five distinct eco systems, giving rise to truly extraordinary biodiversity. ⁠Here, seasonally flooded savannah, ⁠Chiquitano dry forest, Chaco forest, riparian (gallery) forest along the rivers, with large, old-growth trees, and wetland and natural lagoons overlap within a single continuous property to produce some of the most insane diversity of birds, mammals, reptiles, and plant life I have ever seen.

Palm trees under water (Source: own photo)

In addition, a nature-loving Mennonite on the neighbouring 4,000 hectares soy farm has opened his property to visits from San Miguelito's guests, which counts as a sixth ecosystem. There is simply nothing like this anywhere else.

Gray-lined Hawk (Source: own photo)

Given San Miguelito's extraordinary endowment of nature, it is difficult to exaggerate the quality of the outdoor experiences on offer here. This visit was in December, which coincides with the arrival of late-season heavy rains. The river that runs through the property had broken its banks and water had spilled into the surrounding forest.

Great Black Hawk (Source: own photo)

San Miguelito was therefore especially green and lush, with very rich bird life, abundant reptiles, and billions of insects in addition to the 'regular' game. The softer ground also exposed animal prints more readily than in the dry period, making tracking of cats and other game particularly exciting.

Fresh jaguar print (Source: own photo) 

And so it was that in the course of just two nights and three days, we spotted more than 130 species of birds (!) and 21 species of animals, including the extremely rare and elusive Geoffroy's Cat, a sloth with young, several snakes, and the tayra. For some unknown but happy reason the bugs, though abundant due to the rains did not bite much.  

Sloth with young (Source: own video)

We saw an extra-ordinary number of hawks, including Roadside Hawks, Savannah Hawk, and the large Great Black Hawk among other raptors, including the rarely seen Gray-lined Hawk. Tiger Herons were also abundant. We had a spectacular viewing of South America's largest stork, the Jabiru stork, on a rocky precipice overlooking a valley. The Yellow-collared Macaws were also a highlight.

The Jabiru stork is the largest stork in South America (Source: own photos) 

A third sloth showed up and we had plenty of attention from white-eared titi monkeys and capuchins. Aggressive as always, the capuchins threw nuts and fruits at us from the tree tops.

Tree-climbing animals (Source: own photos)

Down on the ground we encountered a tayra, which is part of the honey badger family as well as larger number of coati. Capibaras were also abundant in the swamps on the property.

Land lubbers (Source: own photos)

Among the critters, we saw several species of snakes, three and nine-banded armadillos, bees, wasps, and a very large number of caimans.

Critters and other nice things (Source: own photos)

Still, this is no zoo. You get the raw nature, which is so rare these days, but you have to work for it! The ranch organises two extensive activities each day, one that starts early in the morning and another that begins after lunch and typically last all afternoon and sometimes merges into a night game drive in the evening. You drive or hike depending on the location and the conditions. Each trip can last up to 6 hours and often ends at some elevated spot with spectacular views. Throughout, you are accompanied by specialist bird and reptile guides as well as amazing local spotters.

Undersigned with guides (Source: own photo) 

In between nature activities, you get to chill at the ranch, or, if you wish, you can explore the area on your own, including paying a visit to the elevated sunrise platform for great views over the entire area.

San Miguelito ranch (Source: own photo) 

Accommodation is basic but good. The rooms are large and comfortable with ensuite bathrooms and drinking water supply. Aracely, the cook, makes wickedly delicious and generous meals, bakes fresh bread and cakes, conjures up irresistible chilli sauces, and squeezes fresh fruit into sumptuous juice.

All meals are taken in the ranch's living room, whose walls are adorned with photographs of the animals that have been spotted on the property over the years. There is also a little museum with interesting relics from the forest, such as an armadillo shell with jaguar bite marks. You eat together with Duston Larsen, the owner, who is Bolivian of American and Danish descent, and the guides join you at mealtime too, which is one of the great ways San Miguelito distinguishes itself from other safari establishments; you soon feel completely part of the team. Besides, Duston and the guides, being hugely committed naturalists, are inspiring and fun to hang out with.

The ranch is largely self-sufficient. Solar power provides all electricity, while rainwater is collected for use in showers and toilets. There is a vegetable garden for fresh produce and the ranch has 400 Indian buffalos, which provide milk and meat. The ranch even makes its own buffalo mozzarella of extremely high quality, which is sold in specialist shops in Santa Cruz. Buffalo ranching has proven far more compatible with wildlife conservation than normal cattle ranching, since buffalos are smarter than cows and do not get taken by the jaguars. San Miguelito has not lost a single buffalo to the big cats.

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Let me end with an interesting anecdote. Remember the nature-loving Mennonite I mentioned earlier? Well, I happen to be curious about cults, so I asked the driver if we could take a detour through the nearby Mennonite colony on the way back to Santa Cruz. He told me the Mennonite colonies are usually closed to outsiders, but he would make a call to our nature-loving Mennonite to see if he would give us permission. He was amenable and so we were able to enter the Chihuahua Mennonite Colony, which is close to San Miguelito.

A word about Mennonites. They originate from Russian Mennonites, who themselves are descendants of Dutch, Frisian, and Prussian groups who settled in Russia. They migrated from Russia to Mexico and Canada to escape persecution and then moved to Bolivia in large numbers in the 1960s. As a cult, they are extremely insular. To this day, they do not mix with Bolivians and speak their own language, Plautdietsch, which is a low German dialect. They practice an very conservative faith, which eschews materialism, wherefore they don traditional plain dress and refuse to adopt new technology.

But here is the funny bit! Bolivia, it seems, offered too much temptation even for the Mennonites. They specifically came to Bolivia, because the government here offered them unlimited and completely free land in exchange for a commitment to develop the land. By the early 2000s, the Mennonites had gobbled up so much land and become so ridiculously rich on the back of the soy boom that it began to raise eyebrows. Eventually, Evo Morales, the then president of Bolivia, decided to put an end the free land deal.

By the time the offer of free land was withdrawn, the Mennonites had, it seems, developed a very modern love of money. It is far far easier to make money from soy when you use modern technology than horse-drawn carts and an old fashioned plough. And so it came to pass that Bolivia's Mennonites today drive 4WD vehicles, watch satellite TV, and use mobile phones!

Indeed, the Bolivian Mennonites have taken their new-found love of money and technology to a whole new level. On the second evening at San Miguelito, we did a night-time game drive on the neighbouring soy farm, the one owned by our nature-loving Mennonite. After a few hours of driving, we stopped by a waterhole to stretch our legs and take some refreshment. To our complete surprise, our Mennonite friend produced a cool-box from the back of his truck and proceeded to distribute delicious ice cream to all of us! I asked him where on earth he had found ice cream this far from civilisation. He smiled and told me he had picked them up just before our game drive at the nearby supermarket. Where was that, I asked. It turned out the nearby supermarket was 75 kilometres away and he had flown there and back in his private plane! Needs must, it seems, even for Mennonites.

The End