World's biggest snake threatened by backpackers

[Judi Lynn]

World's biggest snake threatened by backpackers
The lure of seeing the anaconda in its natural habitat is bringing thousands of British backpackers to a small corner of the Amazon that has become one of the continent's biggest eco-tourism destinations.

By Michael Howie, La Paz 4:47PM GMT 21 Dec 2010

But for the anacondas that live in the swamps surrounding the Yacuma River in northern Bolivia, this invasion of gap year travellers and other hardy tourists is proving disastrous.

Biologists say the entire population of anacondas in one of the jewels of the Amazon basin will be wiped out within three years because of the deadly effect on the snakes of the insect repellant used by most backpackers to help protect against malaria.

The number of tourists going on tours of the pampas that snake there way through jungle and grasslands 250 miles north of La Paz has exploded from a few hundred to nearly 12,000 a year in the past decade.

Travellers are enticed by the promise of getting up close and personal with the world's largest snake - sometimes picking them up and hlding them - as well as swimming with river dolphins, catching pirhanas, and spotting monkeys, sloths and an array of other flora and fauna.

More:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/southamerica/bolivia/8216528/Worlds-biggest-snake-threatened-by-backpackers.html