Top Bolivia Outdoor Activities

Jiwaki really made our Bolivia experience what it was which is incredible. They made pretty great food 5000m, they took such good care of us, and they gave us the necessary training in mountaineering! I could not recommend Jiwaki enough for any trip you may want.The highlight of our trip though was our guide José. He took such amazing care of us to the point of even taking our water bottles out of our bags when we were thirsty so we could preserve that energy. He is literally the best guide and an incredible person. 100/10 experience!!!

I am very satisfied with the ascent of Hyana Potosi organized from May 2 to 4. I chose a personal guide and the transport of my backpack between the two camps. The guide was very patient: at 64 years old, this greatly helped me reach the summit. I thank Jiwaki for his meticulous organization.

Fantastic full day tour organised by Banjo Tours. Our guide, Nadia Ponce Inturias, picked us up off our flight from La Paz and with the help of Zenon, our driver, dropped us off for the fabulous Todo Tourismo overnight bus back to La Paz. Nadia possessed an excellent command of English and was extremely knowledgeable regarding the geological history that formed the flats, the wildlife and vegetation. A red wine and cold meat surprise over sunset on the flats capped a memorable day. Thanks Nadia, Zenon, and Yanet in the Banjo Office for providing us with one of our best ever tourist experiences!!

A great day out on the Salt Flats. Guide was super friendly and helped take some of the great photos our group got.

It was just amazing. I went there in April and we were lucky to see both the mirroring effect and the white salt flat. Our guide Aida was great, she explained really well about the flat and took amazing pictures and videos for us. The lunch was really good too. I'd go there again going on this same tour.

Our guide was super knowledgeable of the Salt Flats area and took us to dry zones as well as wet zones. The experience is very different in dry or wet zone, so this was very important. His name was Jorge Luis.

It is worth it! The tour is well organized, with regular meals and many guides on summit day (we go in a rope team: 1 guide, 2 participants). Unfortunately, I had some altitude issues on summit day, which is why I was separated from my partner, who was then added to another group (since it wasn’t clear whether I might have to turn back). My guide, Juan Cruz, took excellent care of me the whole time, so I even made it all the way to the top. He is a very experienced guide and is always helpful and friendly. I can recommend this tour to anyone; even though it is very strenuous, it is a once-in-a-lifetime experience.It’s worth it! The tour is well organized, with regular meals, and plenty of guides on summit day (we hike in a rope team: 1 guide, 2 participants). Unfortunately, I had some altitude issues on summit day, which is why I was separated from my partner, who was then added to another group (since it wasn’t clear whether I might have to turn back). My guide, Juan Cruz, took excellent care of me the whole time, so I even made it all the way to the top. He is a very experienced guide and is always helpful and friendly. I can recommend this tour to anyone; even though it is very strenuous, it is a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

I can’t put into words how amazing this experience was… we did the 3 day tour and throughout the trip we had amazing food every day, lovely people that we met and so many moments we will remember for the rest of our lives. The training day was so fun, the rest day and trek to the next camp was necessary (I wouldn’t recommend the 2 day because of the altitude) then summit day… just wow. Our guide was Celestino and he was amazing, he encouraged us every step of the way, made our summit day as flexible as possible even leaving early so we could make it in time, and looked after us every step of the way. He even look more photos for us and sent it to us the next day, he’s a legend and we couldn’t be more grateful for him. Overall, this company looked after us so well and encouraged us so much that I don’t think we could’ve done it without them! In other words, book the trip!! 🙌💪😊

Had a very knowledgeable guide that can tell you everything you want to know and more about the history of the area. Had some red wine and chips at sun down and got to see a great sunset with a reflection! Our guide refused to stop searching until we found the perfect spot to catch the sunset with a reflection which you don't always get to see due to rain and wind conditions being unfavorable.

Words cannot describe how magical this day was! George the guide was absolutely amazing and we got the memories and photos of a lifetime!!!We do not speak Spanish but happened to have a car full of English speakers. We made friends and had an absolute blast!I don’t want to spoil this for you but we had great food, local music, and extremely accommodating driver who actually understood and spoke some English. But really, the magic is visual and at extremely good price.So don’t hesitate! These guys are punctual and professional we cannot be more grateful!

This was amazing! Well planned and never a dull moment! Our tour guide was amazing and was able to have us capture amazing views. I will definitely recommend going with this group. Memories of a lifetime.

Salt Flats were amazing. If you have the time, 3 day tour would be great to do with Red Planet. I only had time for the one day tour and the guides were awesome. Really fun and knowledgeable. The guide took us to a secluded area on the salt flats so we would be the only one in our pictures and spent so much time taking photos and had different ideas as to what we should do and try. Great day.

At 8 am we left our beloved little hotel and headed with our large backpack to the Jiwaki office where we had booked our trek to the top of Huayna Potosi. We had been there twice in the past few days because we had seen that the weather hadn't been great in the past few days and there was even a possibility of snow on the mountain. But "no problem" assured all Jiwaki employees us. Getting to the top was certainly possible. All trust in the organization, which had already brought us safely to Pico Austria, so we went for it.First we had to fit our equipment in the little office; we got an extra fleece sweater and jogging bottoms, a puffer jacket, and waterproof jacket and trousers, and "crevetten" (those are shin guards to prevent snow from getting into your shoes). After an hour on the bus, we stopped at a warehouse for our snow boots, crampons (those hooks for under your shoes), and axe - it was serious here. In the van, we met two Belgian couples who were also aiming for the summit, although they were going to make it a three-day trip to acclimatize even more, we would ride together to the Basecamp at 4700m altitude.While trying on the snow boots, the weather outside suddenly changed, a rain shower was followed by one or two hailstorms. Exciting, but it would turn out well, right? The whiter the landscape became as we drove further with the van. Until we were really driving through the snow. When we saw the bus slip in the snow, we all prudently fastened our seatbelts. And we stood still. Further on for us, a whole bus was stuck in the snow, our guide went to help, while the two buses from Jiwaki put on their snow chains. We had to stop twice more because the tires of the van slipped on the snow in front of us. Until there was nothing else on it, then: get out, pack all the stuff (bags full of our equipment, backpacks, food...), all on our backs and walk further to base camp. That the drivers and guides started filming and photographing everything meanwhile showed us that this was not normal and not foreseen.When we arrived at the simple base camp after a 20-minute walk with soaking wet feet, the guides started the midday meal while we received our briefing. With our tweets, we booked a two-day trip and were going to hike 2.5 hours to "High camp" after lunch, to sleep there and get up at 1 o'clock to hike to the top at 6 o'clock. With all the delays, we were only ready for our journey at 3 pm, everyone else looked at us with awe and wished us good luck. It was snowing heavily outside in the meantime.But our guide Ismaël was completely convinced, "let's try"! With our plastic snow boots on, our helmet on, and all the other equipment in our heavy backpack (I had put Marijk's crampons in mine because her bag was heavier than mine), we set off. The first kilometer was still effectively via a path, as if someone had made a little road with a snow shovel, which was reasonably easy to follow. But also on this path we sank easily about 20cm in the snow. Due to the snowfall and our regular sunglasses, we really couldn't see well, and when the word "avalanches" came up, Marijke got a little scared, she is not a skier and had never been in the snow like that before. I gave her a pep talk and shared my enthusiasm, because actually I thought this was super cool and assured her that it was too flat here for an avalanche (which was also effective) and after digging through the snow a bit more, she also got into the fun.So we went on, even though the wind was blowing and the snow sometimes cut our faces, we enjoyed the snow and the crazy experience. Regularly we had to stop so that Ismaël could contact guide "José" who caught up with us 10 minutes after departure and turned out to be the "explorer," who constantly confirmed whether we could continue (or not). The many stops combined with the snow in which we sometimes sank up to our hips caused us to make slow progress. At a certain point, another guide came towards us from above, shook his head at Ismaël and pointed to his body that the snow in High camp reached below his armpits! We started to doubt the feasibility of our trip. We asked Ismaël, who could barely speak English, no matter where we were, "oh a quart maybe". We asked him again if it was safe and feasible to continue: "let's try" was the answer.After plowing for a few hundred more meters in the snow, it was suddenly already 5 p.m. We knew it would be dark within an hour and asked Ismaël again about the feasibility: "Almost halfway, behind that peak is high camp," was the answer. We further understood that we could still try to go to High camp, but: the wind would increase, we had already been traveling for two hours and were only halfway on a route that normally takes 2.5 hours, would only arrive around 8-9 o'clock and thus have to walk in the dark with our headlamps...? Marijke and I looked at each other for a moment and discussed the situation. No matter how cool it was, climbing in the dark in this snow and even more wind and that peak... No, that is too dangerous and too heavy. Ismaël finally agreed and said "I would recommend go back to basecamp."And we did that too, luckily it went downhill now and thus a bit faster, but only snow had fallen. At a certain point, Marijke asked, "are we going a different way?" But no, it was the same "path" that was buried under 20-30cm of snow in two hours! When Marijke stumbled and fell off the ridge and luckily landed a meter lower in the deep snow, we knew 200% for sure that we had made the right choice. Enough adventure for us.Back at the base camp, we shared our adventures, photos, and videos with the other travelers and guides, for whom this was clearly not normal either. We were just in time for dinner and changed our wet clothes for something warmer. The briefing for the others for the next day was briefly summarized: "it will still snow all night, we can try to reach high camp, but the summit is impossible, maybe in 5 days." The others had many questions and asked for solutions, but for us it was okay, we had enjoyed the snow hike, but it wasn't worth taking so much risk.We ended the evening with a board game with one of the two Belgian couples and went to bed around 10 pm. A little disappointed, we really wanted to reach that peak of +6000, but especially also with a proud and satisfied feeling about our adventure in the snow, that we went off on our own three. It was really exciting and cool!

The trek itself was an absolutely incredible experience! We were fully equipped with all the extra warm outer layers we needed, solid sturdy boots, good crampons and ice axes. The food was simple but perfect for what we needed to hike. We were well informed on what the following days would look like and the guides were all lovely.My only comment would be towards the higher up admin. The guides were so clearly overworked! Some having been on the mountain for 10 days straight. This may be by choice for some but I know it wasn’t for other guides who were told the day he was supposed to return to his family he had to stay for another trek. This is unfair but also unsafe. The nature of the trip means very little sleep for everyone and the guides doing this repeatedly in a row puts the clients at risk as well. This is a moral thing to consider when booking through this highly popular company who have no restrictions on client numbers, at the cost of the guides.

The ascent of Potosí was an incredible experience. The guides were very friendly and supported us perfectly throughout the three days. We especially recommend José, who was always in a good mood and knew how to motivate us to reach the summit. He also took photos of us regularly, and it was a real pleasure to discover them after the climb. The equipment provided was of good quality and the meals were good. We highly recommend Jiwaki (and the guide José!)

The organisation with Jiwaki ran smoothly, from organizing via Whatsapp until the day of the start. The equipment is in good condition, and especially the hardware (axes, …) from renowned brands. Our guide Ivan is very competent and accompanied us through the whole trip perfectly. The camps are in good shape, obviously dont offer any luxury, but we felt comfortable and were very happy with the food, which was delicious. Unfortunately, we couldn‘t try the summit due to bad weather, but especially in situations like this you see the professionalism from agencies. The way how single people like Ivan handled the situation was great, he always was honest, explained the situation and made us aware of risks and chances. We couldn‘t think of a better agency in this regards and can highly recommend the company for everyone, who seeks for safety as first priority.