DAY 1

Your adventure starts in the bustling oil town called Coca located in the Amazon Basin after your travel of your choice (flight or drive) from Quito. In Coca you will drive to the town’s docks where you will board a motorized canoe for the journey down the river Rio Napo to Sani Lodge. On your way you have a box lunch. After around 3 hours you enter Rio Chaullayacu, a small stream connecting the lagoon at Sani Lodge with Rio Napo. Following the small stream for about 45 minutes you arrive at Sani Lodge. After some welcome snacks and drinks and a short rest to settle down in your rooms you can already start your first exploration of the surrounding rainforest on an introductory canoe ride or forest hike. After dinner depending on the weather conditions you can take a short night trek around the lodge looking for frogs and other nocturnal animals. L/D

DAY 2

After an early breakfast (06:00am) you leave the lodge for a hike through the rainforest. After a relaxing canoe ride (45 minutes) to the end of the lake you will arrive at the Chorongo Trail, whose Kichwa name means “Woolly Monkey”. This is the longest hike near the lodge, leading you in about 3 – 4 hours across muddy swamps on log bridges, through the dense-jungle of natural tree-fall gaps, and the under story shade of pristine, primary rainforest. Along the way you will learn about medicinal plants, taste native, edible fruits and insects and discover how to weave traditional palm-fiber bags. You return to the lodge for lunch. In the afternoon you continue your jungle exploration, this time on the Swamp Trail who will lead you through the more humid areas of the rainforest. After dinner you can go for a night hike. Many animals stay hidden away for most of the day, depending on their cryptic coloration and camouflage to avoid detection, sleeping motionless in the canopy, or under rocks, logs and leaf-litter on the forest floor. But at night the forest comes alive with a myriad of insects beyond your wildest imagination, tree frogs ranging from the size of your fingernail to the size of your whole hand, and mammals such as Night Monkeys, various bat species, and Kinkajous. A hike through the Rainforest at night is an opportunity to discover the mysteries of what happens in the dark, hidden behind the shadows, in the deep recesses of the forest, where few dare to venture.

DAY 3

In the early morning A short, ten minute walk through the forest will bring you to our 30m (100ft) tree tower, built around a giant, emergent Kapok tree. Looking out across the rainforest canopy at this level, gives you a unique perspective, opening up a whole new world of Amazon biodiversity that is often difficult, if not impossible to see. White-throated Toucan, and Bare-necked Fruitcrow, to name just a few, and if you have a little luck, you might even see Red Howler Monkeys asleep in the treetops. From the bird-watch tower you hike back to the lodge following the Aguila Trail. During this 2,5 hours hike your guide will share his vast knowledge of the flora and fauna of the rainforest with you and explain you the practical and medicinal use of the plants you find along the trail. After lunch you will try you luck fishing piranhas in the lagoon and enjoy the sunset floating over the lake. After dinner you can go on a tour to spot caimans. The black-water oxbow lake is one of the increasingly rare havens for the endangered Black Caiman, supporting a healthy population of these large, up to 5-meter long, crocodilians. After the sun sets, these non-aggressive and shy reptiles become active along the water’s edge, hunting fish, mammals, birds, even anacondas, and sometimes can be seen swimming lazily across the lake.

DAY 4

Today you have an early breakfast and departure from the lodge (usually at 6:45am) starting with a 30min boat ride along the Rio Challuayacu. Yacu is kichwa for stream, and from the Challua you will experience the rainforest in a whole new way. Observe birds, amphibians, and other Amazon wildlife and notice the difference in rainforest vegetation which grows along and overtop of the river. Another 3 – 3.5 hour ride up the Rio Napo brings you back to the little harbor in Coca. From here you return back to Quito according to your preferences by bus or plane. B/L

NB: Please read all itineraries as a guide only. All routes and programs can change without notice due to National Park policies and regulations, weather conditions, seasonal changes, safety reasons and the wildlife encountered during the travel. Flexibility is the key to the success of any tour. Nevertheless the safety and the interest of our passengers is always our first priority.

Day 1

You will be received by a birdwatching guide.

Late afternoon, you will have a short walk on the nearby trails or a canoe ride with many chances to observe many Amazonian birds, but above all you will leave to look for birds. Return to the lodge, where our chef will be happy to offer a wide variety of national and international cuisine that caters vegetarians and vegans.

Day 2

After breakfast, experience the bird life on the tree tops from the 35-meter (118 ft.) observation tower. To get there your leaders will paddle on the Challuacocha Lake for 30 minutes followed by a short 10-minute walk. Over 565 species of birds have been registered so far, including colorful birds such as macaws, toucans, honeycreepers, tanagers, flycatchers, hummingbirds and with a bit of luck you will see the rare Harpy Eagle. The tower gives you a unique perspective, opening up a whole new world of Amazon biodiversity that is often difficult and almost impossible to see from the understory. The journey continues exploring the nearby trails searching for more Amazonian creatures.

Return to the lodge for lunch.

After lunch there are many alternatives for your enjoyment, bird watching from the bar, in front of the lagoon or simply relax in the lodge. In the afternoon you will walk through Chorongo or Coto trail with the goal to find more species of birds.

Day 3

After breakfast departure to the Napo River to board the boat and visit the parrot-clay lick at Yasuní National Park for a wonderful view of hundreds of parrots searching for a gap to land and eat the earth in a process for their digestion. Here you will see Mealy Amazon, Yellow-crowned, Orange- winged and Blue-headed parrots. Continue with a hike on the south of the Napo inside Yasuní National Park considered for scientists like the most biodiverse area in the world, here, some species that cannot be found in the north might be spotted.

Dinner at the lodge.

Day 4

After breakfast head back to the Napo River to board the boat and visit the trails on the south side of the Napo river. Visit the islands of Napo River to find the species that habit these ecosystems. It is very important that you bring your binoculars to see them.

In the return there will be a feedback of birds seen along with the checklist.

Day 5

After breakfast head back to the Napo River to board the boat return to

Coca on time to get your flight back to Quito.

• Assistance at Quito Airport
• Transportation Coca-Sani Lodge-Coca
• Accommodation in a cabin or store with hot water.
• All meals starting with lunch on the first day and ending with breakfast on the last day.
• Snacks for all excursions
• Naturalist Guide
• All excursions
• Rubber boots
• Water ponchos
• WIFI in the bar area.

• Air ticket from / to Quito
• Bus ticket to / from Quito
• Price subject to change without notice).
• Personal expenses, extra consumption, tips.
• No service not specified.