Screaming Flight into the Jungle

After new year we decided to head to the jungle of Rurrenabaque to check out some of the wildlife. Unfortunately the bus to Rurrenabaque takes 24 hours and takes a pretty dangerous road so we decided to opt for a flight. As it is rainy season the flights to Rurrenabaque are often delayed or cancelled as the airport is closed due to the weather. This is because of Rurrenabaque´s grass runway.

Due to the weather we spent a day at the airport in La Paz waiting for news on the flight before being told it was cancelled. We spent an extra night in La Paz and tried again the following day.

After a second day of uncertainty we finally got the call to board our tiny 18 seater propeller driven plane. From the terminal sat on the runway the tiny plane looks like a toy against the huge airliners along side. Walking towards the plane I take a few photos along with two or three other passengers who equally find the planes size a novelty. It is the second smallest plane I have ever taken before after the one I sky dived out of. The cabin consists of a seat on either side and a passage down the middle, the cockpit upfront is visible to all.

I climb aboard bending down to get into the cabin and I choose a random free seat whilst taking note of the emergency exits. The take off is relatively smooth as I flick through a leaflet about tourism in Bolivia. It feels extremely strange to be sat in such a small aeroplane without an instructor and a parachute on my back.

I can sense a degree of nervousness amongst my fellow passengers as I glance around the claustrophobic cabin. On girl opposite looks like she is praying with her eyes closed and her head back against the head rest, Matt is uncharacteristically flicking through a South American guide book like a man possessed. Staring out of the window on to the wing complete with spinning propeller I wonder what would happen if some of the local jungle wildlife, perhaps a large bird flew into it. Having exhausted all the reading material on board I close my eyes and drift into a shallow day dream.

Suddenly I wake to the sound of a high pitch piercing scream from one of the seats behind me, the cabin shakes and throws us up and down in our seats, passengers hold on to anything around them. A second scream comes from in front of me and a man tries to calm his distraught lady friend down. My heart starts to thump as the screams convince me that this situation is scary. I stare down the cabin to the open cockpit to see the pilot struggling on the juddering wheel of the aeroplanes controls like he´s riding a rodeo bull. The copilot is gesticulating furiously. I close my eyes and attempt to think of being anywhere but here.

As I open my eyes and glance out of the window we cruise through the thick jungle cloud and the panic is over. Clear skies ahead, brown winding rivers and dense jungle below. The ground suddenly becomes closer and closer until the plane bumbles onto the grass dirt runway and shudders to a halt, the cabin errupts with applause around me and I let out a huge sigh of relief.