Bamboo Ecolodge
About
Our goal is to provide an unforgettable amazon adventure for our guests, as well as responsible treatment of the environment and cultural exchange between our guests and the local Siona community.
All this in order to raise awareness of conservation and protection of the amazon rain forest and for more sustainable development in the Amazon region.
Highlights
- Sustainability is very important, especially at our location.
- Bamboo Lodge is only for 25 guests at the time, so we can provide better and more personal service.
- We are not the cheapest among the lodges, but for the little more you pay you will get much more value.
- We are located 150m from the Laguna Grande between Tierrafirme and Igapo Forest.
- We have a real passion for the Amazon rain forest – We love what we do!
- We support the local Siona community and work with them closely.
Cuyabeno Jungle Trips
This is a sample itinerary. All activities largely depend on weather, season, group interests, and guide decisions based on passenger safety – so there might be changes to this itinerary, always in your best interest for a great Amazon rainforest experience.
Arrival day
9.00am – 12.00pm
You can arrive at our meeting point, the Hotel Arazá in Lago Agrio, at any time in the early morning and rest in the lobby until the tour starts. From 6am – 9am breakfast is included and there are also bathrooms with showers and a pool you can feel free to use. Our team will pick you up at 9.30am to start your journey to Bamboo Lodge. After a 2 hour shuttle ride you arrive at the entrance of the Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve.
12pm – 4pm
Your guide registers you at the entrance of the Cuyabeno Reserve and gives you general information and important safety instructions. Then you will board the canoe and get the first glimpse of the amazing amazon rainforest. During a 2 hour canoe ride down to Bamboo Lodge you get the first chance to observe amazon wildlife and vegetation. Once you arrive at Bamboo Lodge you have lunch and move into your room.
4pm – 9pm
After a short rest you head out in our light paddling canoes to explore the “Laguna Grande” (Big lagoon). You have a great chance to see the pink river dolphins and other wildlife and then you can swim in the middle of the famous “Laguna Grande” and enjoy your first jungle sunset. After dinner at the lodge you go on an exciting night walk.
Day full of jungle activities
7.00am – 12.00pm
After breakfast your guide takes you on a three to four hour jungle hike. On the walk, you experience the transition of different forest types (high lands, swamps, flooded forests). Your guide explains about rain forest ecosystems, wildlife and medicinal plants and even through in Cuyabeno most wildlife is spotted from the canoe, you can still get lucky and see monkeys, deer, turtles or other amazon specious.
1pm – 4pm
Back at the lodge you have lunch and time to rest. You can take a nap, have a coffee in our restaurant, and/or a cold beer in a hammock.
4pm – 9pm
Explore the Hormiga river by canoe and get to know the Caiman Cocha lagoon, one more of in total 14 lagoons of the Cuyabeno Reserve. This area is flooded forest and called “Igapo” forest, a closed ecosystem on its own. After sunset you will go caiman searching by canoe. Besides the 4 different species of caimans you will also try to find boas and other wildlife active at night. You have dinner at the lodge.
Amazon culture day
7.00am – 12.00pm
After breakfast you leave the lodge for a full day trip: You travel down the Cuyabeno river in an engine canoe until you reach the Siona community “Puerto Bolivar”. On the way down to the community your guide points out amazon wildlife like monkeys, birds, snakes, etc. In Puerto Bolivar a Siona woman welcomes you and takes you to harvest yuca. She shows you the whole process of making cassava, a traditional yucca bread. Of course you can assist and try the bread afterwards.
1pm – 4pm
You have lunch (provided by the lodge) and then you do a short walk to an old, sacret Seiva tree close to the community. In the afternoon you can meet one of the Siona shamans (optional). The shaman explains about the Siona culture and the tradition of ayahuasca ceremonies. He does a short demonstration of the chunting and cleansing procedure they do during the ceremonies.
4pm – 9pm
You travel up river back to Bamboo Lodge. Depending on the time you get back you might refresh in the “Laguna Grande” and enjoy another sunset. You have dinner at the lodge.
Paddling adventure day
7.00am – 12.00pm
This day is a full paddling advenuture day. You have breakfast at the lodge and then you go on a long paddling trip. You visit the “Cananbueno” lagoon, a highly protected area of the Cuyabeno reserve where no engine canoes are allowed. Floating in complete silence through the amazon rain forest is an unforgettable experience and without the engine noise the chances to spot wildlife are much better.
1pm – 4pm
You take a lunch box from the lodge with you and have a break to eat in the forest and a short walk to move your legs. You paddle back to the lodge and have time to rest and enjoy the forest from a hammock.
4pm – 9pm
In the late afternoon you can head out to Laguna Grande again and take a swim. Dinner is at the lodge and then, if you are not tired, there is time for another, longer night walk.
Departure day
5.30am – 9.30pm
Get up early for bird watching. Most birds are most active in the early morning, so on this last day you get up for sunrise. From our bird watching tower you might see toucans, arasaris, oropendulas, and more. If the weather is good you head out one last time in our paddling canoes to see the sunrise at the “Laguna Grande”. Back at the lodge you have breakfast and you pack your luggage to start the way back to civilization at 9.30am.
9.30am – 2.30pm
Your last canoe ride on the Cuyabeno river back to the entrance of the reserve – maybe you see some more wildlife on the way. At the Cuyabeno entrance our shuttle waits for you and you say “goodbye” to your guide. Our shuttle takes you back to Lago Agrio.
Approximately 2.30pm
Our shuttle driver Jaime takes you to a restaurant in Lago Agrio where you have lunch. After lunch, he can drop you off at the bus terminal, the Hotel Arazá, or anywhere else in Lago Agrio. I you book the tourist shuttle back to Quito the shuttle picks you up directly from the restaurant.
5 days & 4 nights Tours
- Standard Rooms (double, twin, triple or family): 380 USD per person
- Matrimonial Suite: 495 USD per person
- Family Suite: 430 USD per person
- Top tower suite (matrimonial): 550 USD per person
4 days & 3 nights Tours
- Standard Rooms (double, twin, triple or family): 320 USD per person
- Matrimonial Suite: 420 USD per person
- Family Suite: 360 USD per person
- Top tower suite (matrimonial): 495 USD per person
3 days & 2 nights Tours
- Standard Rooms (double, twin, triple or family): 270 USD per person
- Matrimonial Suite: 350 USD per person
- Family Suite: 295 USD per person
- Top tower suite (matrimonial): 380 USD per person
*Children 0 – 2 years: Free ; Children 3 – 6 years: – 50% ; Children 7 – 12 years: -25%
*Single room supplement: +50% (of double room rate)
- Breakfast before and lunch after the tour in Lago Agrio
- Full transportation by private shuttle and engine canoe from Lago Agrio to the Cuyabeno Wildlife
- Reserve (Bamboo Lodge), during the tour and back to Lago Agrio
- Fully guided program with a licensed bilingual naturalist guide (English and Spanish)
Meals & drinks (breakfast, lunch & dinner (vegetarian or vegan meals possible) & drinks: water, coffee,
tea, hot chocolate, lemonade/juice) - Accommodation in standard room or suite (as selected) in Bamboo Lodge
- Welcome or Goodbye Cocktail
- Rain poncho, life jacket & boots for the duration of the tour
- US$10 per person contribution to the Siona community
- Transport from Quito (or other cities) to Lago Agrio
- Drinks from the bar, tips
- It is possible to start this tour every day if there are at least 3 passengers.
- The tour always starts at 9.30am from the Hotel Arazá in Lago Agrio (Nueva Loja).
- On the last day the tour ends around
- 2.30pm after lunch in Lago Agrio.
