ECUADOR-Quito & Week 1 Rainforest, 6th-16th Jan

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Arriving in South America was an instant wake up to all our senses as we were immersed in a different culture once again.
For the first few days we found our feet and our breath in Quito which stands at a dizzy 2850m above sea level. We explored the colonial old town and started to tune in our ears to the local lingo, Sima was putting her GCSE Spanish gained from evening classes to good use.

In Quito we meet up with our fellow expedition members (EMs) joining us on the Global Vision International (GVI) rainforest conservation project, in total there were 18 of us. After a breifing in the hostal we set off on a 5 hour bus journey to the town of Tena where we spent a night before taking another 3 hour bus journey to the Napo river. From here it was about an hour by canoe to our final destination, our camp in the rainforest which would be our home for 5 weeks.

The camp was situated in the Yachana Reserve, an area of primary and secondary rainforest owned by Douglas a Texan. Upstream from the camp on the opposite side of the Napo River was the Yachana community, in which Douglas had established a college, a community hospital and an tourist Eco Lodge.

The objective of our 5 week conservation project with GVI was to assist with their biological surveys of the reserve. The long term aim of GVI's work here is to collate sufficient species data to afford the reserve national park status and thereby greater protection and support from the Ecuadorian government.

The photos in Part 1 show our first week on camp which involved settling into camp life, machete training, first aid training, introductory day and night walks into the rainforest as well as time getting to know the resident Ecuadorian students and local villages.

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