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Title image - BAI takes you to:  Ecuador's Amazon Basin

Ecuador's Amazon Basin Adventure Dispatch

December 16, 2008 – Off to Yasuni National Park

Ecuador is a country of amazing geographical diversity. For such a small place it packs exceptional contrasts into its borders.

After saying goodbye to our climbing companions of the past two weeks, a great team with whom who we have shared high adventures on four of Ecuador’s massive high altitude peaks along the famous “Avenue of Volcanoes," we set off to travel a short distance to a different world: the jungles of Ecuador’s Amazon Basin.

A short ride by taxi from our five-star hotel in downtown Quito brought us to the small friendly departure office for “VIP Airlines," an operator of small domestic flights within Ecuador. It took less than 30 minutes to fly from Quito in the highlands, east to the small city of Francisco de Oreliana, more commonly known as Coca. Coca is on the Napo River, one of the major source tributaries of the massive Amazon. We are now deep in the rainforest.

A nice relaxing canoe ride along the Napo River to our lodge

A nice relaxing canoe ride along the Napo River to our lodge

It was from the Napo River that the 16th Century Spanish explorer Oreliana made the first descent of the world’s largest river system. Quite by accident he and his men began a journey that would eventually take them all the way across the continent to the Atlantic Ocean. Along the way the adventures and mishaps they experienced would establish the existence and the mystique of the earth’s wildest wilderness. On route they were sure they were being attacked by fierce women warriors, who shot poison arrows at them from along the banks of the river, hence the greatest river in the world was named ‘Amazon’ for the feared female fighters of Greek Mythology.

We saw no warriors of any sort as we began our trip on the Napo River, but we soon saw one of the striking visible features of this vast maze of water. The Napo is a “white” Amazon River, with water that is milk-white from the mountain sediments of the high Andes. After 2 ½ hours by motor canoe we transferred to a paddle boat and continued up a tributary of “black” Amazon water. The organic sediment from the largest and most diverse biosphere known to man makes the tributary we are now on dark.

We arrived at our home for the next five days, a resort that is entirely owned by natives, on a cold, deep freshwater lake deep in the forest. We are in the northern section of Yasuni National Park. The team “eco-tourism” is one that creates suspicion because it is overused to the point of being trite. But during our orientation to the lodge we were impressed by the account of a small group of natives who have stopped the trade in animals from the forest and instead turned to seeking a sustainable economy based on showing people from the outside the wonders of their natural world.

Leila steps off the plane as she arrives in Francisco de Oreliana, more commonly known as Coca

Leila steps off the plane as she arrives in Francisco de Oreliana, more commonly known as Coca

Along our way we pass another group viewing the magnificent wildlife along the shores

Along our way we pass another group viewing the magnificent wildlife along the shores

An Iguana climbs a tree along the banks of the river

An Iguana climbs a tree along the banks of the river

A toucan checks us out from the tree

A toucan checks us out from the tree

Back at our lodge we have a spectacular room equipped with a hammock on the porch for some afternoon relaxing

Back at our lodge we have a spectacular room equipped with a hammock on the porch for some afternoon relaxing