Chuchini Eco Lodge

Chuchini is a privately owned, family run ecological and archaeological visitor sanctuary (Eco Reserve & Lodge), located 14 km north of Trinidad in Beni, in the Amazon region of Bolivia. The reserve makes a great day out in Bolivia.

Chuchini was founded in 1973 by Efrem Hinojosa Hieber and Rosario Garnica Suarez.  They discovered that the area was of huge biological significance, supporting more than 300 species of birds, 100 mammals, and many important endemic species that do not occur anywhere else in the world.  Furthermore they discovered that it is also a site of huge archaeological significance. Lying on one of 30,000 artificial hills that was created by a mysterious hydraulic civilization (known as the ancient earth movers of the Amazon) who were advanced at using water for agriculture, fish farming and preventing floods. Many important artefacts have been discovered here which provide an insight into the history of this ancient civilization that once inhabited this land – how they lived, ate and socialized.

The area still is under threat from deforestation due to logging, fishing, poaching, agriculture and other illegal activities; vast areas surrounding Trinidad have already suffered this fate. That is why the family Hinojosa decided to dedicate their lives to preserving and protecting the area.

The area is called ‘Chuchini’ which in the old Trinitarian language means ‘house of the jaguar’. To this day the sanctuary is still owned and protected by the very same family who founded it.