VENEZUELA

Tucupita is the capital of the state of Delta Amacuro, you find there a real incredible heat and it’s not an attractive city. We went there because it is the city from where all the trips to the Orinoco Delta leave, but this river port do not offer anything else.
http://tucupita-deltaamacuro.gob.ve/portal-alcaldias/
http://www.a-venezuela.com/cities/deltaamacuro/index.shtml
How to arriveIn Ciudad Bolívar we took a taxi to the bus terminal, for 5.0000Bs. There we took the first bus from Los Nuevos Horizontes that left for San Félix. They are leaving very often, every 20 minutes, we paid 4.600Bs for one tour and thrirty minutes drive time. Additional 500Bs for leaving fee. The ticket is not bought in an office but directly on the bus, and it is a bus just in front of the “arepera y ponchera” and of Yuruvani Travel.

In San Félix the buses to Tucupita leave at 7,30 or at 2pm, they cost 8.100Bs and they take 5 hours. We decided to catch a “por puesto” for 20.000Bs to Tucupita. Just leaving San Félix, we inmeditely crossed the Orinoco by ferry, with the car “por puesto” included and it takes around 15 minutes. Around 2 more hours we arrived to the bus terminal in Tucupita, and there we took a taxi to the centre paying 4.000Bs.
Sleeping & EatingIn the city centre of Tucupita there are no nice hotels that we could recommend. After checking some of them, we stayed at Hotel Amacuro (Street Bolívar nº23, Z.P. 2001, Tel. 0058-287 7210404, [email protected]) which is the most expensive of all the posadas/hotels we stayed in and the worst one.

The hotel is about to fall and its owner, a nice Lebanese woman, seems to believe that it’s a 4 star hotel. In fact, we checked other 2 options but they were even worse. For a double room with air condition, bad smell and very noisy we paid 66.000Bs without breakfast. Moreover we had an electricity cut, which seems to happen often.

The best option to sleep in/around Tucupita is out of the centre, at the hotel Saxxi (Zona industrial Paloma, carretera nacional Tucupita, Tel. 0058-287 7211733, Fax 0058-0287 7212112 http://www.deltaorinocomispalafitos.com/saxxi/html/navega.htm, [email protected]) where the double room costs 60.000 Bs. This hotel also belongs to the Greek also owner of the travel agency and camp Mis Palafitos with whom we went to the Orinoco Delta.

For lunch and dinner we ate several times in the same restaurantes we liked the quality and the price: Mi Tasca (Street Dalla Cuesta nº 53), you can find it just straight ahead of the plaza Bolívar. Big portions, delicious and at a reasonable price.
What to seeTucupita is not an atractive city, it has nothing to see and nothing special. When it gets dark in the evening, there is nobody in the street, absolutely nobody.

To visit the Orinoco Delta it’s possible to do it in only one day, but you must organize it with a little group or it’s not worthwhile moneywise.

We decided to buy the trip to Orinoco Delta at Mis Palafitos (Centro Comercial Delta Center, office nº 16, in front of Plaza Bolívar, Tel. 0058-287 7211733, or 0058-414 7652863, www.deltaorinocomispalafitos.com, [email protected]). One day and  one night costed 110U$ per person, two days and one night cost 170U$, 3 days and 2 nights 210U$. After September 2006 this agency will open a second camp at Orinoco Delta.

The trip is to take a boat until the camp, it is longer than two hours up the river, but in a very modern boat, pretty confortable. The camps are small huts on the river with private bath and a common eating room, everything surrounded by wild animals (tucans, monkeys, parrots, etc).

From there we left by boat until the “real” rainforest and we walked for a while around with the explanations of the guide. At the camp they gave us rain boats, which are real convenient as the rainforest is full of pools.

After we went by boat to a native village to see how they live and to buy some hand made souvenirs to help them. We enjoyed the sunset from the boat in the river, really nice.
Finally after dinner there is another boat trip to see the animals nightlife. Though in the paper we were given when buying the whole trip, it said “everything included”, the boat trip was strangely not included and we paid 10U$. So it’s worth to really check it when contracting the trip in Tucupita.
I consider that one day and one night is more than enough, but basically because the trip is very similar to the one we made at the rainforest at Amazonas.