Footprint's twenty-one ways to get off the beaten track in South America

In the vastness of South America, escape from the Gringo Trail is never more than a stone's throw away. On the practical side, many of the continent's seldom visited areas can be reached economically: all you need is curiousity and the desire to pack your bags and go. Listening to the shriek of macaws echoing through the stillness of the forest or the howl of the glacial wind over the high mountain passes, you'll wonder if the office really existed. Footprint has the following suggestions:

Mountains
Cordillera Apolobamba in Bolivia offer sanctuary for traditional cultures and rare Andean fauna. These mountains possess some of the best climbing and trekking in the Andes.

Nevado Sajama and Lauca National Park in Bolivia offer awesome opportunities for climbing Bolivia's highest peak or exploring the park's pristine mountain habitats.

Sangay National Park in Ecuador is the Andes at its most elemental.

Sierra Nevado de Cocuy in Colombia offer tremendous views across Los Llanos, the great plains of the Orinoco.

Wildlife
Guyana is one of the final frontiers of Latin America, with few visitors. The Iwokrama Rainforest Program is a pioneering project for research and sustainable development, one of the best places to catch a glimpse of the elusive jaguar.

Emas National Park in Brazil presents excellent wildlife viewing opportunities and remains a stronghold of the seldom seen maned wolf and giant anteater.

Central Suriname Game Reserve covers ten per cent of Suriname, deep in the country's green heart.

Ilha do Bananal is one of the world's greatest river islands. In this transition zone between Amazonian forests and the cerrado of Central Brazil, ecotourism opportunities abound.

Noel Kempff Mercado National Park in Bolivia, waterfalls cascade from the cliffs of the ancient Huanchaca Plateau.

Esteros do Ibera in Argentina is a wildlife haven of marshes, forests and palm savanna.

Islands and beaches
Tayrona National Park in Colombia offers good diving and beautiful beaches divided by rocky headlands.

Providencia, a far flung Colombian caribbean island, boasts gorgeous coral reefs and a distinctive English speaking caribbean culture.

Rio Grande de Norte and Ceara in Brazil is where you can blast along hundreds of kilometres of undeveloped beaches in an open-topped buggy.

Lost worlds and ancient cultures
San Agustin in Colombia, set in flowering valleys and canyons of the upper Rio Magdalena, was once home to a great, but enigmatic civilization.

Vilcabamba Mountains in Peru were the last refuge of Manco Inca's rebellion against the Conquistadors.

Jesuit Missions Circuit in Bolivia is a reminder of an idealistic past.

Argentine badlands contain some of the richest dinosaur fossil deposits on the planet.

Rivers/white water
Rio Tuichi in Bolivia combines jungle exploration with some adrenaline pumping white water on this roller-coaster ride from the Andes to the Amazon.

Rio Cotahuasi has carved a canyon over three kilometres deep through the arid mountains of southern Peru.

Roads to nowhere
Carreterra Austral in chile is the South's wild road, passing snow capped volcanoes, raging rivers, glacial fjords and isolated communities.

Gran Chaco in Paraguay is one of the least travelled roads into Bolivia.

Reproduced by kind permission of Footprint Books.

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