The Amazon jungle is a dream destination for most birders, full of stunning exotic birds and animals!  Nowhere else on earth can you have such amazing adventures, even on a low budget.  Just don’t practice the false economy of going there without a guide.  It may be tempting to take a bus to a village on the Amazon, think you can hire a boat and go off in search of that one endemic on your “Lifer List” but don’t do it without a LOCAL guide, even if you are strong, fit and think you know what you are doing like Kevin Gale!  Their biggest mistake was ignoring the advice of the locals and heading off anyway and trusting Karl to know what he was doing when he was basically full of hot air.  Who survives?  Who doesn’t?  Here’s what happened to these young adventurers in Bolivia!