diff --git a/bob/devtools/bootstrap.py b/bob/devtools/bootstrap.py
index 5e0f06d7c802289f48986c14874ae6c885a00344..0ef25adb8a344cfa5e5372d131cdc5546464c004 100644
--- a/bob/devtools/bootstrap.py
+++ b/bob/devtools/bootstrap.py
@@ -518,6 +518,9 @@ if __name__ == "__main__":
 
     elif args.command == "channel":
 
+        # update conda first
+        run_cmdline([conda_bin, "update", "conda"])
+
         # installs from channel
         channels = get_channels(
             public=True,