Napo Wildlife Centre
The Napo Wildlife Centre is an absolute must-visit if you’re planning to explore the Amazon during your trip of Ecuador. Its peaceful setting makes it the perfect place to spot a wide variety of unique wildlife. What’s more, by staying at this ecolodge, you’ll be supporting this exceptional nature reserve and its indigenous communities.
From the Andes to the tropical rainforest
In Ecuador, the Andes, with their mountain and volcanic peaks, run like a backbone through the country. If you travel eastwards from the Andes, you will find yourself in the Amazon basin: a vast and impenetrable tropical rainforest. Deep within this immense natural reserve lies the protected Yasuni National Park. Yasuni’s ecosystem is considered one of the most biodiverse natural areas in the world, home to plant and animal species often found nowhere else on Earth. It is in this paradise that you will find the Napo Wildlife Centre.
A sustainable initiative by the indigenous community
The ecolodge is an initiative of the Kichwa Añangu community. This community has regarded the rainforest as its home for over 500 years. The community launched the project in 1998, making them the first in Ecuador to pioneer this form of ‘community-based tourism’. The men and women of the Kichwa Añangu built the lodge together. Not a single tree was felled to make way for the buildings. Local materials were also used as much as possible. This sustainable initiative has ensured that the preservation of culture and nature has become of direct economic importance to the community. For example, the lodge’s profits are invested in education, healthcare and the use of sustainable energy sources. The community’s living conditions have improved significantly, as everyone now has access to medical care and education.
An unrivalled experience
If you stay at the Napo Wildlife Centre, you’ll enjoy an unrivalled experience. With guides who grew up here and know the area like the back of their hand, you couldn’t ask for better hosts in the rainforest. They use their traditional hunting techniques and almost encyclopaedic knowledge of the rainforest to take you on a search for the region’s extraordinary wildlife. The ecolodge has 20 spacious and very comfortably furnished guest rooms, so you won’t have to compromise on luxury or comfort either.
Yasuni National Park
Yasuni National Park covers an area of no less than 9,823 km² and lies south of the Napo River. This natural waterway has its source in the Andes and eventually flows into the Amazon just north of the Peruvian city of Iquitos. The national park is considered one of the most biologically diverse areas in the world. Indeed, the area is known as the place where the greatest number of reptile species in the world can be found. Although the national park covers just 0.15 per cent of the total area of the Amazon rainforest, it is home to no less than a third of all reptile species found in the Amazon basin. There are 173 different species of mammals, you can spot 600 species of birds, and more than 4,000 plant species have been recorded in an area of less than 10,000 km². There are only nine areas in the world where this is the case.
Conserving nature and creating ambassadors
Unfortunately, Yasuni National Park is under serious threat due to the oil that has been discovered there. At Sapa Pana Travel, we are passionate about promoting a sustainable initiative such as the Napo Wildlife Centre, as it is dedicated to the conservation of this unique and extremely vulnerable ecosystem. At the same time, by welcoming guests, the lodge creates ambassadors who recognise the immense value of the national park and subsequently spread the word as widely as possible, ensuring that this area and its natural environment are preserved.
Stay at the Napo Wildlife Centre
The Napo Wildlife Centre offers four- and five-day programmes, with all accommodation, meals and excursions included. Are you curious about the options for a stay at the Napo Wildlife Centre? Then take a look at the itinerary below, which we’ve put together to give you some inspiration. If you’d like to know more, please feel free to contact us. Call +31 73 610 62 04 or send an email to info@sapapanatravel.nl.
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