How to Visit the Ecuadorian Amazon
Tourism in the Ecuadorian Amazon
Tourism to the Ecuadorian Amazon is relatively new, but has emerged as a way for communities to prosper while protecting the rainforest, rather than hunting and farming or working for oil companies drilling nearby. The original hotel in the area is the Napo Wildlife Center, where Ian and I stayed. It is completely owned and operated by members of the Añangu Kichwa tribe, who have lived in this part of the rainforest for many generations. Following their success, other communities have started up their own tourist operations. It’s great for the communities, for whom the revenue contributes to more and better schooling, better medical care, more clean water, and other extremely significant quality of life improvements. And boy is it an incredible experience for visitors!
This post is mostly about our time at Napo Wildlife Center (NWC), and we couldn’t recommend it more highly. At the bottom, I’ve also included the names of other reputable places to consider that will provide roughly similar experiences.
Napo Wildlife Center
(L) View of the hotel and lake from its observation tower; (R) Mist visible across the lake from NWC’s observation tower.
Our experience at Napo Wildlife Center was nothing short of incredible, on every axis - from the accommodations to the staff to the scenery to the most astounding piece: the wildlife spotting tours.
As a lodge, NWC is extremely well designed, beautiful, comfortable, and functional. Meals at NWC, served in a communal dining pavilion, are delicious and bountiful, and the chefs will happily accommodate any dietary restrictions. Whereas in most of Ecuador, it’s necessary to avoid raw foods washed in tap water, NWC’s kitchen uses fully purified water, so you can eat and drink without constantly worrying. There is also a bar open 24/7 with cocktails such as Pisco Sours, Mojitos, Blue Morphos, and Black Caymans, as well as beer and wine.
Each thatch-roofed cabin is outfitted with a modern private bathroom, a ceiling fan, and a bed with mosquito netting. Showers in the cabins are modern - much nicer than our NYC shower! - with great pressure and temperature range. Towels, biodegradable shampoo and soap, and slippers are provided, along with a potable water jug that is replenished every day. The higher end cabins come with a jetted jacuzzi on the back patio from which you can watch butterflies, birds, and possibly caymans, as well as a glass floored living room area that sits above the lake, enabling further wildlife spotting. The only modern amenity lacking is air conditioning. Pack the lightest PJs you own for warmer nights. I wound up wearing my short sleeve linen shirt intended for day time to bed.
The dining hall is the lowest floor of a very tall observation tower, upper floors of which feature couches, a small shop, tables, and observation platforms. The view is astounding.
But while the accommodations are luxurious, especially considering the utterly remote location of the lodge, it is the lodge staff and guides in particular who make a visit to Napo a bucket list experience. Guests are divided into groups of 5-6, and each group is assigned a guide and paddler for the week. Tours are available in English and Spanish; some guides may speak other languages too in addition to their native Kichwa. Napo Wildlife Center is owned and operated entirely by the Añagu Kichwa community, and the lodge and cultural center employ the entire working population of this community of 250 people. There are also a couple of guides and staff who are free lancers from neighboring Kichwa communities or other indigenous tribes of the area. This means that every guide grew up in and is intimately familiar with the rainforest - flora, fauna, weather patterns, how weather affects the likelihood of seeing specific animals, species interactions, and more. Standing at the top of an observation tower staring down at the rainforest canopy, we could only spot a handful of weavers, while our guide picked out rare eagles miles away with his ears and naked eye, and then showed them to us on his sporting scope.
Your guide will spot wildlife you would never in a million years find on your own. Our guide Remi could pick out and imitate hundreds of animal calls, ranging from howler monkey to trumpeter bird to peccary. We saw far more wildlife than I could enumerate in a few lines, but highlights included macaws, parrots and parakeets at a clay lick, a family of giant river otters swimming across the lake, a Harpy eagle and 2 crested eagles, a black cayman, and four (4) anacondas - 3 sleeping next to each other in the sun - check out my pictures!
This is a completely uncompensated post - I have no social media or blog following - I just absolutely loved the experience and wanted to write about it.
How do I sign up?
Head to NWC’s website and inquire about booking! And make sure you ask for Remi as your guide, and tell him we sent you.
What do I need to plan and what is planned by the lodge/cruise?
Once you’ve signed up with a lodge or a cruise and booked your travel to Quito, you’re pretty much set! All you need to do is get yourself to Quito, Ecuador, and meet a representative from your tour at the airport for your flight to Coca. NWC books your flights between Quito and Coca and arranges your boat travel to the lodge. All activities and meals while at the lodge are included, with the exception of alcohol and souvenirs.
Who should visit the Ecuadorian Amazon?
People who definitely should visit the Ecuadorian Amazon include:
Birders
Wildlife lovers
Adventurers
Things that should not deter you from visiting:
Dietary restrictions: the lodges can accommodate virtually any diet. You just have to let them know in advance. I ate really well at NWC!
“All inclusive-ness”: I honestly tend to veer away from vacations at all inclusive resorts. It tends to be a lot of sitting on a beach and some included mediocre food, with a strong disincentive to see anything else in the area. Don’t let that dissuade you here - this could not be more different from your average all inclusive vacation! First of all, there Is nothing else you could possibly be doing: you’ll be 4 hours away by boat from the nearest road. There are no “other restaurants” you could pop by. It’s your lodge or bust! Secondly, staying at one of these lodges or going on a cruise are the only ways to see this extremely remote part of the world. You better hope they’ve got everything taken care of, from food to activities to accommodations! Third, the services are absolutely top notch.
Mosquito-borne illness: Napo Wildlife Center in particular sits on a black water lake, which is acidic, and therefore not a good breeding ground for mosquitos. While you should absolutely take malaria pills, get the yellow fever vaccine, and make sure you’re up to date on other routine vaccines, there is actually more mosquito-borne illness in Guayaquil than near the resort. Check out my packing list for all the ways we protected ourselves from mosquitos.
Ultra early wake up times: If you want to see the wildlife, you have to get to where they are at the time when they’re active. This meant a wakeup 5:30am or earlier every day we were in Napo. Ian and I are the latest sleepers in the world, but it was 100% worth it to adjust (and drink lots of coffee in the dining hall) to have this experience.
Physical ability: There is not much exertion required on this trip (though you’ll be sweating even when sedentary!). One of the excursions involves walking around in the rainforest, but there is no elevation gain and it’s very easy walking. That being said, if you have a physical disability that prevents you from getting in and out of boats, walking medium distances, or climbing stairs, you’ll have to inquire with your lodge to see if your needs can be accommodated.
Spanish proficiency: While it was fun to speak (beginner) Spanish with some of the staff, the guides’ English was amazing, including about really niche, techincal knowledge around the wildlife. It is honestly more useful to speak Spanish in the rest of Ecuador than it was on this particular part of the trip. Spanish use is actually mixed in the Kichwa community - the younger generation is bilingual, but many of the community elders only speak Kichwa. Younger and middle aged people seem to mostly speak Kichwa to each other, with some Spanish words woven in.
Some considerations
Price: This is an expensive trip. You are 100% getting value for money, but there is no real way to do this trip on a budget.
Heat and humidity: If you’re someone who easily collapses in hot, humid weather, think through some ways to keep yourself cool before signing up for this trip. We bought some cool towels meant to hold water for long periods of time and help cool you off. Carry water with you all the time. Sleeping at night is hot; be prepared.
Boats: NWC is not accessible by anything other than paddle canoe. You will get on a motorized long canoe in Coca, and you will then be in paddle canoes to reach most of the wildlife spotting locations. If you have major issues with seasickness, you might want to bring meds.
If you are scared to death of spiders, cockroaches, giant ants, or other creepy crawlies, you may find a way to hate this trip.
What other lodges should I consider since Napo isn’t available for my dates?
These are the other 4 places I considered when booking our trip to the Amazon:
Sacha Lodge
La Selva Lodge
Anakonda Cruises (they have two boats, Manatee and Anaconda)
Sani Lodge
