Sadiri is a derivation of the Tacana word S’hadiri which means: “the old resting place”, which clearly makes reference to its location, the top of a mountain which can only be reached after a five kilometer uphill climb, and on the other side an even longer uphill trip from the Indigenous Community San José de Uchupiamonas, making it the ideal and almost obligatory rest stop.
The area of Sadiri is located in the department of La Paz, in the Madidi Integrated Management Natural Area and National Park and in Touristic Refuge Zone 1 of the Indigenous Community San José de Uchupiamona’s Territory, according to the zoning established in ” San José de Uchupiamonas’s Territorial Management and Development Plan” (PDGTI), which has defined the area of approximately 34,000 ha as “Zone 1 Touristic Refuge”, which aims to create opportunities for ecotourism with the participation and benefit of the local population and to protect natural resources and freshwater springs.
Sadiri Lodge is near the top of the Sadiri Mountain, which at its highest point reaches an altitude of 1,100 meters. It is the very beginning of the Andes Mountains, and it’s the first mountain range to receive the prevailing winds from the north. It’s part of a chain of land that is the first movement towards the mountains, where the highest peak reaches the summit of 5,000 m near La Paz. Northern winds that pass through thousands of miles of tropical rain forest reach the first mountain range of the Andes and with the climb they leave their load of water in the form of heavy rains. At the top of the Sierra the difference is well marked, the north side is a semi-arid forest, but the south side is a wet forest with abundance of epiphytes.
In tropical forests, the equation is very simple, diversity and abundance are directly related to the level of precipitation, and the Sadiri Mountain has a doubled level of precipitation in comparison to its surrounding areas. The area teems with species, flora and fauna adapted to micro-changes in the foothill forest habitat. The Sadiri Mountain is an ideal place to protect foothill dependent species. But also, some miles south of the Sadiri Mountain, you can find a tropical rainforest with a high level of diversity at the area with the highest level of rainfall. The result is a rich foothill forest with a mix of tropical species with adapted species, and other who only live in the thin range of the low altitude forest.
Also, because of Sadiri Mountain’s location, its north side is close to the Beni plains (the Pampas), and therefore has an area influenced by grassland species and migrants from the Bolivian winter pastures.