Santa Cruz de la Sierra

Nowhere else on Earth do three major ecosystems collide quite like they do around Santa Cruz. To the west, Amboró National Park marks where the Andes descend into lowland jungle; to the east, the Gran Chaco’s dry forests stretch toward Paraguay; and threading between them, the Amazon basin’s influence brings moisture and life. This convergence creates biological diversity that staggers even seasoned naturalists—Amboró alone harbors 912 bird species, more than the United States and Canada combined, within 4,425 square kilometers.

The region’s centerpiece for wildlife is Kaa-Iya del Gran Chaco National Park—at 3.4 million hectares, it’s Bolivia’s largest protected area and the world’s largest remaining tract of intact dry forest. Founded in 1995 through the initiative of the indigenous Guaraní-Isoceño people, Kaa-Iya protects over 1,000 jaguars—one of the densest populations anywhere. Here, pumas, tapirs, giant anteaters, and the rare Chacoan peccary (once thought extinct) share habitat with 350 bird species and the endangered maned wolf.