Wild Pigs
Avel was very excited when this herd of pigs turned up. It's only the second time in ten years he has seen wild pigs while guiding tourists. There's a common bird here, unfortunately called the "Stinky Turkey". Well these pigs were fully deserving of the description "stinky" - from 40m their smell was incredible. We waited for two hours in the hide for a huge flock of parrots to come out of the trees and down to eat. They were remarkably cautious but after a long time they were clustered only a metre or two above the lick. Then something (a hawk, said Avel) frightened them and they all took off in two flights of hundreds of birds.
The "Republic of the Equator" was one of three countries that emerged from the collapse of Gran Colombia in 1830 (the others are Colombia and Venezuela). Between 1904 and 1942, Ecuador lost territories in a series of conflicts with its neighbors. A b... ... read more 
