Inti Wara Yassi Community — Attraction in Villa Tunari

I was looking for an orgnisation to volunteer with, that fights against the extinction of species as that's a very, very sad fact.

So I found IntiWaraYassi, that says:"To defend the environment and conserve biodiversity." and I thought,I´m right here.

It turned out, that this was just to attract paying volunteers. They do not the least attempt to Conserve Biodiversity. They have for example 65 capuchin monkeys, they are not endangered at all. Same as about 97% of the animals at Parque Machia are not endangered.

So their info"work with endangered species" is not totally wrong, but is same for attracting attention. Also their quote: "La extinction es por siempre haga su soporte " being placed at the entrance is of course truth, but they are not doing anything against it. The few endangered animals they have, are not attempted to be brought back to the wild. So there are some wild cats or a bear and a lot of birds, that will spend their whole life(decades) in this parks.

With this effort of work and money there could be soo much more done for the species than giving one individual a (maybe) better life(e.g. reforestation, education)

The administrator just easily said "they don't have the facilities to reintroduce the animals to the wild". As there are always about 15 paying volunteers(400$ per month), it seems obvious, that they don't do any try to bring some of the animals back to the wild.

I personally worked with birds and read for example:"Many species of birds can be seen, their once cropped feathers slowly growing back." I thought that´s a good developpment from birds, that should be pets would be back in the nature soon - knowing that there are critically endangered species in Bolivia. The CareTaker of the birds(a very nice bolivian woman, that unfortunately will receive an ear damage soon with this work) explained me, that the feathers needs to be cut every now and then, otherwise the birds could escape (WTF?!).

....maybe I just should have drank the cheapest rum same as most of the other volunteers(not all) and see the sense in putting nice animal - pictures on facebook. And just follow the instructions in the folder that explains, to sing and dance with the birds, as they would be pets just being saved from being someone elses pets.

Knowing that, the extinctions silently takes place out there, makes me sad. Can´t beleive, that they confuse fight extinction with entertainment, the priority should be totally obvious.

From all the volunteering I did in all the countries it was the first time I paid for it and it was the first time, that I didn´t see a big sense in it - I got the impression, that this organisation was set up for making profit, I quit after 3 days so at least I don´t spend time with this.

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The park is quite small,and reasonably priced. Unfortunately the day we visited we didn't see any monkeys at all,so there's no guarantee that you'll see any wildlife. The views from the viewpoint are very good,with extensive views of Villa Tunari and the surround area. Apart from the viewpoint and the monkeys (if you see any),there isn't a...

Nice little trek but no animals. Maybe because it’s the rainy season but I think - according to what others experience- they are just not here anymore. Shame given was was promised:( also, the end of trial is the mirador… with the city view! I really don’t want hike the jungle just to see that. Generally the place also...