TAWA’S ORIGINS.

TAWA was born from the love of a French citizen, Pierre Vernay, for a lake in the Amazon region of Bolivia, currently known as Santa Rosa Camp, in the heart of the Madidi National Park, the prettiest and richest Amazon area in flora and fauna at the feet of the Andes.

The native Frenchman, born into a family of adventurers, first travelled around the Indian Ocean going by Morocco and the former Indochina, and in 1976 founded a travel agency in La Paz named TAWA, the first agency offering adventure tourism in Bolivia.

Behind the name of Tawa was a driving ambition to provide the unique experience of covering the whole area of the expanded Incan empire, called the Tawantinsuyo (the four provinces, in Quechua). In seven years Tawa achieved its first objective.

TAWA’S BASIC EXPERIENCE

TAWA, in its initial phase, consolidates adventure tourism, the highest category of tourism. It became well-known in Europe, the United States and Australia owing to its numerous tour innovations: in Bolivia, crossing the Salt Flats of Uyuni on foot in 1978; opening the Rurrenabaque region to tourism in 1973; the first tourist crossing of the Sierra Nevada, 1983, in Colombia; the first crossing of the Continental Ice, the denominated 3rd pole, Argentina in 1984; the entire Inca trail, the Capac Nan, from Colombia down to Argentina. And to provide the Tawa founding guides with more ample experience, crossing of Borneo from Samarinda to Pontianac, the mahakam of the Kapuas, opening tourist routes in Guinea Conakry, siphons exploration from the Urals to Turkmenistan, 1991; overland travel, in the Andes Express, all terrain vehicles, from La Paz to Ushuaia, round trip, 1994.

TAWA’S GROWTH

Tawa, like nature itself, responds to the demands of all types of travellers, providing journeys ranging from easy adventure to classic/conventional trips, and from thematic or personnalised trips to the "extreme."

Tawa has not tried to increase its volume, Tawa has diversified the range of its tourist services.

Tawa, with the professionalism of its guides and administrators, throughout this phase gathered, in the field, immense knowledge, and created ties, contacts, friendships, from Cartagena to Ushuaia, and, in the international fairs in Berlin, Milan, SMTV, Mitcar of Paris, Deauville, and, of course FITUR in Madrid which from now on is a world host for South America.

Solid, friendly and lasting relationships were created, in a climate of entirely professional trust.

TAWA’S CURRENT ORGANIZATION

Since 1989 Tawa has had two headquarters. One operations centre is located in La Paz, under the direction of Roxana Córdova, associate manager, quadrilingual, with 27 years experience with the agency (she began working when very young). The other centre is located in MULHOUSE, a city in the Rhine basin, close to Brussels and Milan. This sales centre is under the direction of Jacqueline Milcamps, associate manager, doctorate in geography. An untiring traveller, she has organized trips to Russia, China, Taiwan, Morocco, Egypt, Vietnam, and has worked for 25 years with the agency (she also started very young).

Every company ages, says the founder of Tawa. A company cannot be rejuvenated by simply replacing its acquired experience and knowledge with young blood, no matter how brilliant. We have to mix the energy of youth with the wisdom of experience. Renovation does not necessarily signify progress.

TAWA, thanks to its position as a locally based operation, has the advantage of being able to employ Bolivian guides. Bolivian guides are uniquely qualified as they have a multicultural background, and are naturally pan-american because of Bolivia´s geographical position. Tawa´s guides have worked for years as coordinators in Bolivia and in the other countries where Tawa operates. Now based in the La Paz operations centre, Tawa guides coordinate every group with native local guides, who work on a regional basis but still receive coordination in the field from a member of Tawa, an experienced tour conductor who has worked in this region. In Argentina, for example, Tawa has happily emerged after difficult times; however throughout the difficulties our formula helped to overcome all unexpected situations. An operations centre cannot make step of the moment decisions with a group. A local guide, neither. A Tour Conductor still less. A person is needed on the spot, in the precise moment, with all the authority and the knowledge to take the necessary action with charisma and decisiveness.

Then, why Tawa ?

See you soon. And you won´t ask why anymore.