The DUALL Jungle Tour
Adventure and Educational
Tour
Napo Wildlife Center and Yachana Lodge have joined efforts to provide you with an adventure and educational tour during your visit to the Ecuadorian Amazon where you will experience the best that these two award-winning eco-lodges have to offer.
Yachana means "a place for learning" in the Kichwa language.
All tours have been developed based on this idea, which is so fundamental to Yachana's mission that is to achieve sustainability through education. You will enjoy first class accommodations and cuisine during your stay.
Your multilingual indigenous guides will explain why Yachana's focus is always on community and economic development with an emphasis on conservation and education. The tours give guests a glimpse of the culture and culinary aspects of the lives of the local people.
Highlights include a visit to the Yachana Technical High School where students from six Ecuadorian provinces are receiving a
hands-on, practical education and learning to become entrepreneurs and leaders in their communities and to conserve the rainforest they call home.
The Napo Wildlife Center, NWC Amazon Lodge, is an alternative luxury eco-hotel in Ecuadorian Amazon.
This ecotourism project includes the conservation of over 82 square miles of the most pristine Amazon Rainforest within the Yasuni National Park, an important UNESCO Biosphere Reserve and the largest tract of tropical rainforest in Ecuador.
Yasuni´s amazing biodiversity includes more than 1,530 species of birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish.
The flora is as bio diverse as the fauna with more than 5000 species of plants.
The lodge is owned 100% by the Añangu Kichwa community that is working for the protection of this area.
Itinerary: 6-Days / 5-Nights
DAY 1:
Departing from Quito, take a 30-minute flight over the eastern Andes mountain range to the jungle city of Coca.
You'll be transferred from the airport to the river port where you will embark on a two and a half hour journey up the Napo River on a comfortable, covered motorized canoe.
Depending on weather conditions the ride to the hotel could be also by ground transport.
A lunch box will be served in the canoe during your journey to the Lodge.
Once you arrive at the Lodge, you will receive a warm welcome from the staff accompanied by a refreshing beverage and a brief introduction to the facilities.
Afterwards you will have time to visit the butterfly house, scenic lookouts or enjoy a rest in your hammock.
In the afternoon you will learn to prepare jungle chocolate.
Our chef will teach you about the process from collecting the cacao to preparing high quality organic chocolate.
Enjoy a delicious dinner and afterwards explore the mysteries of the forest on a night walk with your native guide.
DAY 2:
During the morning you will visit the Yachana Technical High School and discover a unique model of sustainable education.
Interact with students from four different Amazon ethnic groups while you learn about their life in the rainforest.
Learn from the students about the school's different productive areas including sustainable agriculture, animal husbandry, conservation, micro-enterprise, development and ecotourism.
Discover the different technological innovations that Yachana Foundation is developing to improve the quality of life in the Ecuadorian Amazon.
In the micro-enterprise area the students will explain the various projects which could include the assembly of water filtration systems, bamboo lamps and production of traditional handicrafts.
You will also visit the organic farm where the students produce 35% of the food consumed at both the school and the lodge.
 Return to the lodge for a traditional cooking demonstration with indigenous Kichwa chefs in a typical "choza" and learn to prepare typical foods from the region such as maito de tilapia, chontacuros and jungle salads. Afterwards, enjoy the foods you have prepared for lunch.
During the afternoon you will visit a local healer for a traditional cleansing ceremony and have the opportunity to test your skills at using a blowgun and spear.
Afterwards enjoy a refreshing swim and float down the river on inner tubes.
Before dinner try an exotic jungle drink in the bar while enjoying the sunset and spectacular view of the Napo River and the Andes mountains in the distance.
DAY 3:
Early departure to Coca for arrival approximately at 11:00 in order to board the canoe that will take you to Napo Wildlife Center.
Here we start a canoe ride along the Napo River for about 2-hours and enjoy a box lunch in route. Along the way birds like herons, kingfishers and others can be spotted.
After arriving at NWC’s entry dock we disembark and then take a majestic and peaceful 1-hour dugout canoe ride surrounded by trees overhead, paddling along a narrow creek that connects to the lake where the lodge is located. Good possibilities of monkey sights of various species as well as large birds like toucans, parrots or even macaws.
Late afternoon arrival to the NWC lodge where you will enjoy the overwhelming view of the Añangu Lake, welcome drink and become familiar with the facilities.
After dinner optional cayman (alligator) observation around the lake while listening to the sounds of nature at night.
DAY 4:
Early wake up to reach the best parrot clay licks in Ecuador, about 1-hour away from the lodge.
You should arrive just before parrot activity kicks off at the clay lick between 7:30 to 8:30.
A total of 11 species of parrots, parakeets and macaws can be seen.
This activity depends on weather conditions but is usually successful. Later, hike along forest trail to visit to the Kichwa community of Añangu where you will share time with a family and observe their activities.
Return to the creek and hike through a Terra Firm Forest for about 30 minutes until we arrive to the second parrot clay lick where, if the weather conditions, permit you will be able to find different species of parrots, parakeets and even macaws.
A box lunch served at the parrot clay lick observatory. Late afternoon: arrival to the lodge.
DAY 5:
After early breakfast, depart from the lodge to experience the finest canopy tower on the Napo. A 36-meter-high canopy tower opened to guests in November 2004 is a great way to experience the life above the forest floor.
This is the second tower at the Napo Wildlife Center (the first is attached to the dining hall and allows great views of the lake). The canopy tower is located about 20-
minutes from the lodge deep within the terra firm forest. As you ascend the 12-story tower, you pass through different levels of the forest and emerge on top of a huge Ceibo tree.
Here you cross onto a wooden platform that is actually built into the tree and experience the view formerly reserved only for the birds. The metal tower itself was constructed to the highest standards, galvanized, and carefully inspected by engineers.
Safety is the priority. The platform at the top of the tree was constructed by tree platform specialists as well. From top to bottom, there is no finer canopy experience in Eastern Ecuador.
Flocks of colorful tanagers pass right through the canopy of the tree, Blue-and yellow Macaws fly past, in nearby trees Spider Monkeys search for fruit, two species of large toucans call in the early mornings and afternoons, and the life of the forest canopy opens before you.
Birds that are virtually impossible to see from the forest floor far below are suddenly right beside you, oblivious to your presence.
The canopy tower opens a whole new world to guests of the Napo Wildlife Center! Lunch served at the lodge.
Afternoon visit to a terra firm trail, hike along primary forest to discover the forest interior, possibilities of finding lizards, colorful manakeen or the unique and endemic Golden mantle tamarin monkeys. After the hike, explore the lake and creeks by dugout canoe with great possibilities of running into a Giant otter family on the way...
DAY 6:
Early departure and during your last excursion canoeing back to the Napo River, the creek may reveal new sights of Giant otters, Monk Saki monkeys or many other rare birds. After arrival to the dock you again board a motorized canoe in order to return back to Coca, arriving in approximately 2 hours, where you will take a flight back to Quito.
PLEASE NOTE:
this is a sample itinerary subject to change due to weather conditions, safety and particular interests of guests and groups.
Changes and additions are made in order to maximize wildlife viewing and wilderness enjoyment, cultural interaction with local people who call the Amazon Rainforest home.
Services offered by both lodges:
- Napo Wildlife Center & Yachana Lodge are a Smart Voyager Certified
ecolodges that implement sustainable tourism practices.
- Comfortable, spacious rooms with ventilation, lighting, and
private bathrooms with hot water.
- The kitchen staffs prepare traditional dishes with organic products. A
wide variety of dishes are offered, most of which exemplify the
traditional cuisine of the Amazon region.
- Transportation is by motorized canoes, which have a roof, comfortable
seats, life jackets, and are operated by a highly experienced canoe
operators.
- The native guides have many years of experience working
in the Amazon region. They intimately know the forest and the
species that inhabit it, as well as guiding techniques and work well
with groups.
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