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Amazon Rainforest Tours and Travel | Visiting the Napo Tributary of the Ecuador Amazon

The some 80,000 square miles of Amazon rainforest that comprise about half of Ecuador's mainland territory represents only two percent of the Amazon itself. Far fewer tourists visit the region than the country's star attraction, the Galapagos Islands, yet the splendid eco-lodges that dot the Ecuador rainforest landscape and the profusion and diversity of its wildlife provide Amazon tours rivaling those of its neighbors.
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A favorite destination for international travelers on Amazon tours is the Napo whitewater tributary that flows from the Ecuador Andes, joining the Amazon east of Iquitos, Peru. The Napo runs parallel to the northern border of 2.4 million-acre Yasuni National Park, Ecuador's largest protected tract of rainforest and a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. The Yasuni is home to over a third of Ecuador's bird species including colorful macaws and tanagers. More than twelve monkey species, some common, some rare, as well as the endangered tapir, jaguar and giant river otter are among its 173 mammal species plus 382 freshwater fish species and the continent's highest number of amphibians and reptiles. The Reserve contains both periodically flooded varzea forests and igapo forests that flood most of the time as well as some areas of solid ground.
Yasuni National Park overlaps with the ancestral lands of the remaining indigenous Huaorani, a branch of the Quechua. Six clans live in Yasuni National Park and nine in the adjoining Ethnic Reserve. Though some of their clans have rejected contact with the outside world and live in very remote areas of the rainforest, others have embraced ecotourism as a way to sustain their traditional way of life. The Huaorani serve as guides on our Sacha Lodge Amazon tours and host our Amazon Kayaking Adventure trip.
The hub for Amazon travel in the Yasuni is the port town of Coca, with a population of 18,000, and located 190 miles southeast of Quito, Ecuador, at the confluence of the Coca and Napo rivers about fifty miles south of the border with Colombia. The town's real name is Puerto Francisco de Orellana after the Spanish explorer who first traveled to the mouth of the Amazon from the Napo tributary in the 1500s. Coca should not be confused with the tiny northern Peru Amazon town of Francisco de Orellana. The flight from Quito to Coca takes about thirty minutes.
The Yasuni UNESCO Biosphere Reserve encompasses the Huaorani Ethnic Reserve and the horseshoe-shaped Yasuni National Park that surrounds it on three sides. Four of Southern Explorations' Ecuadorian Amazon tours are based in the area. Depending on the trip, guests stay at the Sacha Lodge on the northeast edge of the park, at the indigenous Shiripuno camping lodge and campsites within the Huaorani Ethnic Reserve or in the park itself at the Napo Wildlife Center.
The Sacha Lodge is set in a 5,000-acre privately held reserve on Lake Pilchicocha, a blackwater oxbow lake. Accommodations consist of ten double-occupancy thatched roof cabins with private bath and screened private terrace. The Reserve features a butterfly house and a 940-ft canopy walkway with viewpoints for wildlife observation in the treetops. Our Amazon & Galapagos tour pairs a three-night stay at the Sacha Lodge with the Galapagos Islands cruise of your choice. We also offer three and four-night options at Sacha Lodge as a tour extension which may be added to the start or finish of any of our Ecuador tours.
The Napo Wildlife Center is the only eco-lodge located within the park and was established in 2003 as a sustainable eco-tourism project of the indigenous Anangu people, another branch of the Quechua. Set on Lake Anangucocha, the complex includes ten double-occupancy luxury cabanas with private viewing areas where one may see giant river otters and caiman species on the lake. Capybaras graze along the shoreline and in the surrounding forest. Meals are served in an open-air dining room with a viewing tower and library. To maximize wildlife-viewing opportunities, the complex offers a 120-ft canopy tower, a well-camouflaged clay lick popular with macaws, many hiking trails and canoe rides through flooded palm forests and on the lake.
Those interested in a more active vacation, may prefer our eight-day Amazon Kayaking Adventure that spends five days hiking and paddling on the Shiripuno and other tributaries that meander through the Huaorani Ethnic Reserve. While this is a camping trip, we use the term loosely. Some nights are spent at a basic lodge consisting of a thatched-roof structure with social, dining, sleeping and bathroom accommodations and some nights at rainforest campsites. The stay is overseen and guided by Huaorani tribal members. From Coca, getting to the Shiripuno destination is a two-hour overland drive.