Holiday in Ecuador, tailormade
| country: | Ecuador |
| location: | Galapagos Islands |
| departures: | This trip can be arranged at any time to suit you, and adapted to your requirements as necessary. |
| price: | From £2335 (15 days) including domestic flights only, as per itinerary, based on low season and 2 travelling. We can arrange flights from the UK. In order to put together a detailed response it would be very helpful if you could provide full details in your enquiry |
the amazing things you'll be doing
Holiday in Ecuador – Rainforest, Andes and the Galapagos Islands
Rainforest, Andes and the Galapagos Islands: this trip gives you a taste of the variety which Ecuador has to offer. Explore the Amazon rainforest at Napo Wildlife Centre - take hikes, birdwatch, and explore the rainforest canopy. Discover colonial Quito and spend your last week on a wonderful wildlife cruise in the Galapagos Islands.
Your journey begins with an exploration of colonial Quito then continues with a visit to a wonderful rainforest lodge in the Ecuadorian Amazon.
Napo Wildlife Centre is in a picturesque setting on the edge of a lake in the heart of primary forest, along the Napo River. It is an excellent eco-lodge, paying particular attention to environmental sustainability and working with a local quichua community.
The accommodation is in 10 double cabanas (each with their own shower and toilet) built to local native design and in keeping with the surroundings. Each cabana has a private terrace and overlooks Añangu Lake. There are many activities you can enjoy here.
Guided walks are lead by a local guide as well as an English speaking naturalist which gives an interesting perspective on the forest and its traditional usage. You can go on river excursions in a dugout canoe, and maybe take a night excursion (walking trip or by canoe) with your guide to view nocturnal wildlife. For activities, guests are split into groups of 8 or so. There is also a 35m high viewing tower, which gives you an unparalleled view across the primary rainforest canopy. It is a top spot for keen birdwatchers with 565 species having been recorded in the area, and there are two parrot and parakeet clay licks to delight both birders and natural history enthusiasts. There are several monkey species in the area, including some that can only be found on the south bank of the Napo River, and Giant Otters inhabit the lake.
The final week of your trip is a wonderful cruise around the Galapagos Islands. A visit to the Galapagos is one of the world's greatest wildlife experiences. It is a unique environment, an archipelago right on the equator, 600 miles west of the Ecuadorian coast, where a remarkable range of life exists with absolutely no fear of man. Some of the famed inhabitants of the islands include the blue-footed boobies, frigate birds, flightless cormorants, the Galapagos waved albatross, sea lions and fur seals, land iguanas and marine iguanas (the only sea-going lizard in the world), and of course the giant Galapagos tortoise.
Your home is a comfortable prestige class yacht. The crew includes a first class naturalist guide who will accompany you each day on the various islands and explain all about the flora and fauna you will come across. As well as the land trails, you will also have an opportunity to go swimming and snorkelling, perhaps even being joined by sea lions. Many of the longer distances are covered at night, ensuring that your time on the islands is put to the best use.
Rainforest, Andes and the Galapagos Islands: this trip gives you a taste of the variety which Ecuador has to offer. Explore the Amazon rainforest at Napo Wildlife Centre - take hikes, birdwatch, and explore the rainforest canopy. Discover colonial Quito and spend your last week on a wonderful wildlife cruise in the Galapagos Islands.
Your journey begins with an exploration of colonial Quito then continues with a visit to a wonderful rainforest lodge in the Ecuadorian Amazon.
Napo Wildlife Centre is in a picturesque setting on the edge of a lake in the heart of primary forest, along the Napo River. It is an excellent eco-lodge, paying particular attention to environmental sustainability and working with a local quichua community.
The accommodation is in 10 double cabanas (each with their own shower and toilet) built to local native design and in keeping with the surroundings. Each cabana has a private terrace and overlooks Añangu Lake. There are many activities you can enjoy here.
Guided walks are lead by a local guide as well as an English speaking naturalist which gives an interesting perspective on the forest and its traditional usage. You can go on river excursions in a dugout canoe, and maybe take a night excursion (walking trip or by canoe) with your guide to view nocturnal wildlife. For activities, guests are split into groups of 8 or so. There is also a 35m high viewing tower, which gives you an unparalleled view across the primary rainforest canopy. It is a top spot for keen birdwatchers with 565 species having been recorded in the area, and there are two parrot and parakeet clay licks to delight both birders and natural history enthusiasts. There are several monkey species in the area, including some that can only be found on the south bank of the Napo River, and Giant Otters inhabit the lake.
The final week of your trip is a wonderful cruise around the Galapagos Islands. A visit to the Galapagos is one of the world's greatest wildlife experiences. It is a unique environment, an archipelago right on the equator, 600 miles west of the Ecuadorian coast, where a remarkable range of life exists with absolutely no fear of man. Some of the famed inhabitants of the islands include the blue-footed boobies, frigate birds, flightless cormorants, the Galapagos waved albatross, sea lions and fur seals, land iguanas and marine iguanas (the only sea-going lizard in the world), and of course the giant Galapagos tortoise.
Your home is a comfortable prestige class yacht. The crew includes a first class naturalist guide who will accompany you each day on the various islands and explain all about the flora and fauna you will come across. As well as the land trails, you will also have an opportunity to go swimming and snorkelling, perhaps even being joined by sea lions. Many of the longer distances are covered at night, ensuring that your time on the islands is put to the best use.
day-by-day itinerary
| Day 1: | Arrive in Quito. Transfer to your hotel. Free day. | |
| Day 2: | Morning tour of historic Quito. Afternoon at leisure. (B) | |
| Day 3: | Fly to Coca. Overnight Napo Wildlife Centre. (B,L,D) | |
| Day 4-5: | At Napo Wildlife Centre. (B,L,D) | |
| Day 6: | Fly back to Quito. Rest of day free. (B) | |
| Day 7: | Fly to the Galapagos Islands and join your yacht. (B,L,D) | |
| Day 8-13: | Galapagos cruise - ask us for itinerary. (B,L,D) | |
| Day 14: | Last morning of cruise, then fly back to Quito. (B) | |
| Day 15: | Transfer to the airport for flight home. (B) |
tailor made holidays
This trip can be tailormade to create a unique holiday for your individual requirements by travel experts with intimate knowledge of the destination. It is a more luxurious trip that will suit those who enjoy immersing themselves in new cultures and environments before relaxing in comfort. As this trip can be tailormade it would be helpful if you could you provide the following information: rough budget per person (stating with or without flights), your address and postcode, contact phone number, preferred date of travel, length of trip, number of passengers, preferred countries and areas within those countries, specific interests & type of accommodation.highly commended
This tourism business was Highly Commended in our 2007 Virgin Holidays Responsible Tourism Awards - the largest awards of their kind in the world, and organised by responsibletravel.com in association with The Times, World Travel Market and Geographical Magazine, of the Royal Geographical Society.Since 2004, the Awards has recognised individuals, companies and organisations in travel making a big commitment to the culture and economies of local communities and helping to conserve biodiversity.
how this holiday makes a difference
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Napo Wildlife Centre works direct with the Quichua community of Añangu. It is the only first class, community-based lodge within Yasuni National Park and is 100% owned by the community.
They started the lodge construction by themselves in about 1998 as ecotourism was identified by them as their way to preserve their land, culture and traditions and give a better future to their children. Flights are automatically carbon offset through The Travel Forest, which plants 10 indigenous trees on your behalf (currently in northern Tanzania). Whilst the primary motivation for planting the trees is to offset carbon emissions, the project also works as a poverty alleviation and environmental improvement scheme. |
Tourism can be good and bad for destinations & local people. We carefully screen every holiday against our criteria for responsible travel. 'Look behind the brochure' to find how each holiday makes a difference (see left). We don't claim to be perfect - there is no global accreditation - but we've led the way since 2001 and screened 1000's of holidays. We invite every traveller to write a review about their experiences and responsible tourism. This valuable feedback is sent to the people who run the holidays. We keep a very close eye on it and take off holidays that don't live up to our standards. |