Blogs from El Coca, East, Ecuador, South America

César, der Leiter des Projektes « Selva Vida » in dem ich meinen Freiwilligendienst in Ecuador gemacht habe, hat uns viel und oft von den verschiedenen Nationalparks in Ecuador erzählt. Da ich ein wenig enttäuscht war, dort wo wir lebten nicht viele Tiere gesehen zu haben, hatte ich große Lust einen dieser Parks zu besuchen und, glücklicherweise, war ich nicht die einzige die so fühlte! Als ich Maja sagte, es wäre ganz cool würden wir am Ende ihres Aufenthaltes in Selva Vida alle zusammen mit César als Guide zum Yasuní Park fahren, fiel die Idee auf fruchtbaren Boden. Sie erzählte Jacob davon und zusammen schlugen sie César vor diese Tour zu machen. César hat vor Jahren als Tourguide in Baños und in den verschiedenen Nationalparks im Amazonas und kennt sich dort sehr gut aus. Er war ... read more

After the ranch we went to Quito, I was quite nervous because a bus going our same route was held up at gunpoint a few days before our journey. Thankfully we made it just fine though. We spent a week or so in the capital city staying at a lovely place that Eva had recommended, owned by Europeans, it was very nice and affordable. We went to the actual equator and had fun doing silly poses on the line! We applied for our Brazilian visa's in Quito so we had to stay around longer than we planned. We went up to Mindo and went tubing down the river, hiked to various waterfalls which required riding on a cable car and was the beginning of conquering my fear of heights. When we returned to Quito I forced ... read more

The Yasuni Biosphere Reserve is the largest track of Amazonian Rainforest in the Western Amazon; its world famous for its high diversity of life on this planet. I came to this reserve in 1998 for the first time. since then I had the privilege to explore the core of this huge wilderness always in company of the Waorani People: True Guardians of the Yasuni in the last 3 thousands years. I invite you to watch this little video about the wildlife I was able to capture with my pocket camera. I hope you enjoy this and share it with your friends alike. Thanks ... read more

The Amazon Adventure – Day One Like all good adventure stories this one started with a plan, hiccupped slightly, fell apart completely and will hopefully (unconfirmed at the time of writing) have a happy ending. The Plan Leave Quito @ 4am to drive the 300k to Coca then travel by boat for 2 hours down the River Napo to reach an eco lodge deep in the Amazon jungle. Stay for 3 nights, go on jungle hikes during the day and night, eat nice food and generally have a lovely time. The Hiccup Combination of bad weather and bad roads meant that the direct route to Coca became impassable earlier in the week. New Plan – leave Quito at 2am to allow for a huge detour and still make the 1pm boat booking. The Falling Apart Bed ... read more

My journey into the Amazon rainforest only got better. After the piranha fishing (very unsuccessfully I might add, tricky little buggers can nibble around the hook), we went on another short hike through the forest. To our delight, just near the lodge, we saw some small black monkeys called Black-Mantle Tamarin. They had been hanging out in the area for a couple of days. Then a short while later we came across the Pygmy Marmoset Monkey, apparently the smallest monkey in the world. Not long after that we saw some Squirrel monkeys, and later we saw more Squirrel Monkeys who had joined up with a troop of Capuchin monkeys. As we getting in our canoe and heading up the canal towards the lake that leads back to the Lodge we had to stop and make way ... read more