Approaching the tri-border of Ecuador, Colombia, and Brazil lies the vast national wildlife reserve of Cuyabeno. This protected area is immensely biodiverse and well known for the pink river dolphin. The tours generally begin from Nueva Loja although the area is better known as Lago Agrio. Since it is a protected area, you cannot make your own way there and must go with a tour. There are 20+ eco-lodges in the wildlife reserve and all offer tours starting from 3 days and 2 nights directly or via agencies. We booked a tour for 4 days and 3 nights from an agency in Quito starting early in the morning on Thursday and ending Sunday afternoon.
Getting to the Green Forest Eco-lodge
The drive from Quito to Lago Agrio is about 6-7 hours so we left before midnight on Wednesday and arrived at the hotel meetup point by 7 AM. Public transport is also an option but takes about 8 hours. Travel time also depends on the weather, since the road down from the mountain can get foggy resulting in longer travel time. The hotel has parking spaces to leave the car throughout the duration of the trip. A complimentary breakfast is served at around 8 AM. The hotel serves as a meeting point for many tour agencies. Between 9 and 10 AM, several coaches will arrive to pick up the different tour groups and it’s then a 2-hour drive to the park entrance. Upon arrival, the guide instructs the group to leave backpacks for them to load onto the boats while lunch is served at a restaurant across the bridge. They advise to take out anything fragile and warn that the bags are not accessible throughout the boat ride and likely to get wet. A home-cooked meal is distributed to the group in containers and we make use of the restaurant’s seating area. At around noon, we go back across the bridge to the pier where the guides hand out life jackets and water ponchos. We’re split up into groups and embark on the motor canoes to commence our journey into the rainforest.
The total journey time to the Green Forest Eco-Lodge is about 3-hours 30-minutes to 4 hours. The guide makes stops when he spots wildlife and we managed to see several birds, monkeys, and sloths. It started pouring down about 1 hour in so we put on the water ponchos. The canoe driver also slowed down since during rainfall, trees are more likely to fall into the river so he had to be more cautious. After an hour of rain the sun came out again and it was very hot for the remainder of the journey. When we arrived at the Green Forest Eco-Lodge, we were shown to our cabin and given about 1-hour 30-minutes to unpack and rest. At approximately 5.30 PM we set out on the canoes to Laguna Grande to catch the sunset which is about 30 minutes away. However, we made a stop since we spotted some pink dolphins at the entrance to the lake. We stayed there for about 15 mins watching them surface every now and then. They only come up for air for about 2 seconds so you have to be very attentive. For the best pictures, you need a proper camera lens; my GoPro only captured a distant glimpse of them.
We managed to make it into the middle of Laguna Grande around 6.20 PM and the sun had already set by then. Nevertheless, the colors of the sky and twilight are magical. This is also an opportunity to go for a quick dip in the lake. Whilst there are alligators and anacondas in the Cuyabeno, they tend to keep away from the canoes and there were dozens of canoes in the lake. So the guide ensured us that it’s safe to go for a swim – ‘more certain/safe than marriage’ were his exact words. By 7 PM it is dark and that’s when we start heading back to the lodge. On the canoe ride back in the dark, the guide looks for animals in the trees. The canoe driver is practically navigating blind which goes to show how well he knows the river. The guide is intermittently waving his flashlight into the trees. He says that the animals’ eyes shine if the flashlight hits them. We were mainly looking for alligators but instead, we found a snake – an Amazon Tree Boa. This one was one of the smaller ones at roughly 1 meter long and the guide said they can grow to 2.5 meters in length. After taking a couple of pictures we continued on our way back to the lodge for dinner.
Following dinner, we are free to head back to our cabins or stay in the dining area to make use of the power outlets which are only available here. Lights and electricity are switched off about an hour or two after dinner at around 9 PM. The cabins are basic with bunk beds, linens, and a mosquito net. Hot water is heated in outdoor containers by the sun, so shower in the morning or afternoon, but at the water may be a little cold at night. Filtered water is provided in the dining area as well as tea and coffee. Meals are tasty and portions are good too. The dishes are standard Ecuadorean meals and not specific to the region as they are not allowed to hunt/eat the animals in the protected area. Only the Indigenous natives of the region are allowed to do so.
