The New Zealand Embassy in Chile said today they may revise the travel advisory for Bolivia after a New Zealand woman and her partner were murdered on a climbing holiday.
Wellington woman Vanessa Claire Johnson, 31, and her partner were shot dead about August 15.
The pair were apparently shotby poachers who then robbed them in Ulla Ulla National Park, on the border of Bolivia and Peru.
Their bodies were not discovered until August 26.
The name of Ms Johnson's partner, a foreign national also living in Wellington, has not yet been released because his family has not been informed.
Embassy spokesman Guy Lewis said tramping in national parks in Bolivia had always been considered safe.
"Our travel advice on the website has mentioned problems and some risks involved with civil unrest and demonstrations and perhaps travellers getting caught up in that in the cities.
"But this type of thing that happened -- particularly in the area it happened -- was something that we wouldn't have expected, and it's generally considered a safe area.
"But that's something that we'll need to look at, given what's happened."
Mr Lewis said the New Zealand did not have an Embassy in Bolivia, so the British Embassy there was assisting with repatriating Ms Johnson's body back to New Zealand.
Mr Lewis said he was not sure how long it would take for the body to be returned.
The Bolivian police would not need to retain the bodies of Ms Johnson and her partner to continue their investigation, he said.
"The investigation is underway, we're staying in very close contact with Bolivian police.
"We want to ensure that the perpetrators of these murders are brought to justice, of course, so we will be monitoring the developments every step of the way," Mr Lewis said.
Ms Johnson's father Paul, of Bannockburn, near Cromwell, said the couple, who had been together for about a year, had met through a shared interest in climbing.
"Climbing was a great passion and the mountains were one of her loves," Mr Johnson said.
They had been due to return to New Zealand at the end of September.
