The Amazon rainforest was our next stop on our Ecuador adventure. Five days away from civilisation in the worlds largest rainforest.
Planning our stay in the Amazon
This may well be quite a long post but for anyone interested or for anyone planning to go into the Amazon and stay at one of the lodges, this could well be of interest for planning and for what to actually expect while you are there.
When planning our trip to Ecuador we had looked at quite a few different Amazon lodges before we settled on the Shiripuno Lodge. We had seen quite a few that looked quite luxurious and plush, which we really weren’t interested in. We were looking for something a bit more ‘real’. There were also some that seemed to barley be off the nearest road and were a bit too much like an adventure park. That wasn’t what we were looking for either. But after quite a bit of looking around, we settled on the Shiripuno Lodge for several reasons. It did seem to be pretty deep in the rainforest as it’s 2 and a half hours from Coca by car, basically, until there is no more road, and then 4 hours by boat. This google map view gives you a good idea, and the very wiggly thing is the Shiripuno river that we traveled down.
Google map view: Shiripuno Lodge, the middle of nowhere!
So, no-frills, basic accommodation, no electricity for five days, deep in the rainforest, and plenty of hikes for us to explore. Perfect!
Day one: Getting there
Our journey started by being picked up in the morning in Coca by a yellow off-road pickup truck, our driver stopped for some supplies, and then we were off. It was over 30 celsius when we left Coca and so a little hot in the back of the pickup. Gradually, once out of the city, the buildings became more and more sparse and the rainforest thicker. As the journey went on we could see quite a bit of the oil industry on the edge of the Amazon, tankers, and large oil depots. Quite a bit of construction, but just dotted here and there. At one point we drove slowly over a low concrete bridge across a stream where one section of the concrete had collapsed. This left a large hole on one side of the bridge. Two and a half hours later, after the tarmacked road had become nothing more than a rubble track, finally, we arrived at the river outpost.
We were told this was the last place before the Amazon reserve. Beyond here the oil companies are not allowed and building by anyone but the indigenous people is banned. Even though we had been told we’d need proof of required vaccinations, these weren’t asked for when we were picked up or here at the outpost. We did at this point have to sign a disclaimer though, confirming we were entering the Amazon and that if we got ourselves injured, or possibly killed, then we had accepted that risk before entering. Gulp!!
There were long thin metal canoes along the edge of the river with outboard engines that were used as general transport. Our supplies and rucksacks were loaded on and then us. And only us, we were alone with our guide for the next five days and a local 15-year-old boy who we were told was an expert river pilot. And so we were off, four hours ahead of us traveling along the twisting river watching the rainforest drift by.
The Shiripuno river was quite low and it was easy to see by the vegetation line along the bank that the waterline would normally have been around a meter higher. There was a fair amount of fallen branches and trees in the river, which we were told is normal. Navigating through these made the long thin canoe make more sense now. Our canoe pilot certainly knew his stuff, sometimes snaking slowly through branches and other times accelerating so the hull of the canoe would slide up and over the branches in the water with a clang. There were quite a few unnerving clangs and thumps from underneath but the canoe rocked its way through these obstructions. This didn’t work every time though, twice we got stuck. This required some leaning or rocking back and too in the boat to set it free again.
We did stop briefly at a settlement, our guide chatted to one of the men there and we were told we needed to pay $20 each to him to pass further along the river. We hadn’t been told about this and wouldn’t have objected if we’d known, but did feel a little uneasy that this might be the start of a trend for the rest of our time here. Maybe our faces betrayed this as our guide assured us as we left that this would be the only payment needed.
All in all, the canoe journey was a really great introduction to the Amazon. We finally arrived at the lodge just before dusk.
The Shiripuno Lodge
Shiripuno Lodge is pretty basic, but great if you are planning to spend some time in the Amazon in this part of Ecuador. We would highly recommend it if you’re looking for a genuine experience. There are twelve ‘lodges’… but we soon substituted the word ‘lodge’ for ‘Shack’! The first thing we noticed was the top of the rooms was completely open to the elements, it had an old tin roof and there is nothing but a mosquito net between you and the Amazon.
In our shack, the shower was actually just a water pipe sticking out of the wall above a shower tray which was fed from a cold water tank. If this kind of thing is going to bother you, then maybe this isn’t the place for you. But if you want to feel like you really are IN the Amazon and a long way from civilisation, which you really are, then this is the place for you.
On the positives, the food here is really good and quite varied. We also found we are not entirely cut off. For an hour a day, they power up a small generator and have a satellite internet link. They use this to keep up to date with who is arriving and bookings etc. But we were also allowed to hop onto the wifi for an hour a day too. There is also a solar panel which means phones etc. can be charged at a trickle.
Day 2: Getting out into the rainforest
We had an early start and met our guide at 5.30am. This was interesting as the only illumination in the room is a candle as there is no electricity. Bring a couple of decent torches! After a bit of messing around with torches, we were ready. We went for a short ride downriver in the motor-canoe and stopped on a sandbank. We were below what our guide called ‘the Parrot motorway’ and for half an hour or so we watched as lots of parrots started their day flying above us, going to wherever parrots head to at that time in the morning in the Amazon! We were back and sat down for breakfast by 7am but then in the motor-canoe pretty soon after that on our way for our first good hike.
We had been given wellies and could see why once we had got into the rainforest. It was muddy and sticky but so very alive. It was lush and green and our guide led the way along a track. As we walked our guide told us about many of the plants and fruit, he pointed out spiders and insects along the way too. We were lucky that there was just us and our guide as I imagine it is quite often a good group of 10 or 12 people. This meant he had time to answer any questions we had. One good bit of advice was to try not to touch anything as we walked and looking at some of the needle-sharp spines on some plants, and the cunningly disguised bugs on tree trunks, it seemed good advice.
We saw several spider monkeys high above us, the whole place was quite amazing. Some of the trees looked like they could just stand up and walk away!
It felt quite amazing to actually be in the Amazon rainforest. Miles and miles from anywhere and surrounded by the rainforest.
The walk was generally pretty boggy and on the way back there were a few spots of rain, this went on for a few minutes and then all at once it poured and it poured! Within seconds we were soaked to the skin.
We walked back to the canoe and our guide cut some large leaves for us to hold over our heads. They didn’t help too much but were really good for keeping the breeze off of us once we were in the fast-moving canoe on the way back.
We also saw a caiman on the river bank. Eagle-eyed Anna spotted it hidden against the dirt, the canoe turned around and we slowly drifted past him. He was a reasonale size and just watched us pass by.
Once we were back and dried off we enjoyed a little time in a couple of the hammocks. Our guide and the cook shouted us to come into the kitchen. There was a large tree frog with big round sticky-pad feet that had been found hidden behind a pan hanging on the wall and they wanted us to see it before they moved it.
There was also a huge dragonfly that buzzed around for a little while. You can get an idea of the size of it when it landed next to Anna’s flip-flops. But more importantly… who in their right mind wears flip-flops in the Amazon!!
Finally, we went to bed. Night-time in the Amazon rainforest is wonderful. Our lodge was open to the elements due to the large gap between the wooden wall and the roof to allow the air to flow… and anything to come in and out! Once the sun has gone down and we are within the ‘safety’ of the mossie nets it’s surprising how relaxing and lovely it is listening to it all. The long repeated whoooops of the frogs, the constant tweep-tweep and carrrrrhaga of some birds, and the amazing cacophony of insects all trying their best to out do each other. You’d think it would be unsettling, but it’s a fabulous sound being surrounded by so much life!
Day 3: Jungle walks
On the third day we had two jungle walks. A good four hour hike with lots of different monkey’s in the canopy above us to start. A large troop of spider monkeys went over us around 20 meters up in the canopy. Chattering at us as they went. The funniest bit was when two jumped for the same branch and landed with loud chatters and squeaks of ‘this is MY branch’!
We’ve seen lots of ants on the march in lines and some leaf cutter ants carrying their bits of leaf back and too. Lots of termite nests and spiders webs as well. Again, good reminders to touch as little as you can while you walk.
Once we were back it was time for some more of the lovely food which comes in several portions. We have also noticed that there is a tarantula that lives in the rafters of the roof right above where we all have out food and saw him several times up there!
Walking in the Amazon, in the dark!
At the end of the day after the sun had gone down, we were taken for a night walk in the jungle. That was interesting to say the least! Armed with a few hand torches we crept into the rainforest and were then surrounded by the darkness and noises of the night. There were only four of us. By torchlight we saw the huge frog that makes the Whoooooop Whoooooop sound in the night, bloody big crickets, some amazing jewel-like long-legged spiders, some bright green bugs with huge oversized antennas, a big fat unfriendly looking black spider… lots and lots. But then our guide asked us to turn the torches off…
Again, you’d think this would be unnerving but somehow it was eerily beautiful. A first concentrating on the sounds, all around us but also above us too, and so loud. But then as our eyes grew accustomed to the dark and we realized we were surrounded by little patches of luminous light all around us on the jungle floor. We were told this is a luminous fungus that grows in a few isolated places. It is an amazing place and it was a lovely moment.
There are no photos of this as it was absolutely pitch black, so the cameras were left behind!
Day 4: An amazing view and fabulous trees
On the 4th day we were taken on a big hike, this was through thicker jungle than before and some of the trail needing to be re-cut with machetes. It had quite an upward slope for much of it. It seemed we were climbing a ridge but it was hard to tell with all of the thick rainforest around us.
We were again amazed at the knowledge our guide had of the plants, their uses, and of life in the rainforest. Along this part of the hike he showed us a nest of ‘lemon ants’. They are called this as they actually taste like lemons he told us, and with this cracked open the edge of a part of the nest and dipped his finger in and ate them. Please try he said… Urrmmmhhh… Ok! They’re actually quite little fella’s so I guessed, and hoped, too small to be crunchy! Ok, why not. And yes, I can confirm they do indeed taste like lemons!
We saw some fabulous trees today. The variety of vegetation is amazing and some of the different trees are just stunning
We had an encounter with a troop of woolly monkeys passing high over us that day. They weren’t happy at us being there and started chattering angrily at us while shaking the branches above us. They started to slowly descend down the trees while jumping from one branch to another. The situation was starting to feel a little unnerving but our guide started calling to them in a coo’ing sound which calmed them somewhat. He explained that they had young ones with them which is why they were being very defensive and his call was imitating one of their young, making it clear we were of no threat. But all in all, quite an amazing experience to see them all around us.
Again some of the trees and insects, including a large, very well disguised grasshopper, and life all around us, was amazing. We also saw a set of quite clear, very fresh Jaguar prints along the trail!
Eventually, this hike brought us out along the top of a ridge and to a clearing, and what a view. The Amazon stretching all the way to the horizon!
After a good hike back and some food to refuel we were back out again down the river in the motor-canoe. We stopped by a steep edge to the river bank and our guide got us to climb up into the dense jungle from there. After walking for some time through the thick vegetation we came upon what our guide called ‘the Grandfather tree’. It’s trunk towered above us like a cathedral of ancient wood. The buttresses spanning out for the roots were huge and the trunk itself seemed more like stone than wood.
I’ve seen the giant Sequoias (redwoods) in California, and the largest of them all, the General Sherman. They are quite amazing and humbling, but because there are in a very well managed woodland with perfect pathways and fences around the larger trees it did not have the same impact as this. Here we were, in the middle of dense rain-forest, just us on our own, by a huge tree which in the Amazon is just one of many I’m sure. This video and photos do not do it justice.
We returned to the canoe and made our way to a long sandbank as the daylight faded. This gave us some time to just be still and take in the rainforest from the bank of the river as our guide told us we were going to wait until it was completely dark and then go looking for caiman along the river.
I wondered down a dried up tributary to the river as the sun went down. Just like in our lodge at night, the sound was amazing!
For a little while I was just lost in the sounds of the jungle as the light faded, just me and the jungle sounds. Until the memory of the fresh jaguar prints came back into my mind. Here I am, out of sight, in the fading light with the jungle either side of me…
Yeah, time to join Anna and our guide again I thought…
Once back on the water we scanned the banks with torchlight, The eyes of the caiman reflected back when the torchlight caught them and our motor-canoe pilot would creep towards them. We counted around 14 on our journey back to the lodge. Some clearly visible on the sandy banks of the river, some were smallish, others looked to be 6 feet or larger. It was also quite unnerving once in the dark to hear the clunking and clanging of the usual branches and logs in the river against the metal hull of the canoe.
After a good three-course meal we stayed up quite late as our guide told us about some of the neighboring indigenous people and about his own family too. As we talked a huge moth decided to join us, it fluttered about us, flying in and out of the light from the candles at the table. For a short moment it landed and was still on the table, you get an idea of the size of it as this is a standard tumbler on the table.
What an utterly amazing day it had been, and our last full day in the Amazon.
Day5: Turtle eggs and the journey back
We started our last day bright and early with a 5.30am candlelit breakfast as it was still dark. Within an hour we were on the motor-canoe leaving the Shiripuno lodge for the last time.
Throughout our time we had seen lots and lots of river turtles basking on logs. They seem hugely abundant and our guide told us the eggs were quite a delicacy. We would be stopping at the settlement we had passed on our way into the Amazon and this was where our 15-year-old canoe pilots family were from. He was quite keen to take some eggs back with him and so we stopped once or twice on sandy river banks to look. He would sink a long stick into the sand looking for softer areas where the eggs were buried. And after a little while, he was sure he’d found some. Anna was asked would she like to dig them up, which she did. There were over 20 of them which were all carefully collected.
After 4 and a half hours we stopped at the settlement of the leading indigenous family. We briefly visited the handful of children in school and were shown some hand made crafts and how to use a large heavy blowpipe. To be honest this is the part of the trip I was most uncomfortable with. It just felt very forced and made men feel like we were very much intruding upon their life.
The rest of the journey was mostly uneventful. Apart from right near the end of our journey the outboard motor running out of fuel. It was only a few bends before the river outpost. This meant our guide had to use a branch to punt us along the last stretch, much to the amusement of the workmen at the outpost as we turned the last bend
Then we were back. Back to some sort of normality, workmen loading boats and cars and people
We were quickly transferred to an off-road pickup taxi for the next few hours for our drive back to Coca. This was followed by a four-hour wait at the bus station for our bus to Quito.
After the mad bus ride from Quito to Coca we had actually looked at getting flights back from Coca but our budget put a stop to that. We assured ourselves that this journey was going up! It couldn’t be half as bad. It was still pretty iffy but nothing compared to the trip down. The problem we did have to deal with was that we’d had a bite to eat before leaving Coca and a rather suspect bit of fish that Anna had eaten was now making a second appearance. Not an ideal way to arrive back into Quite but thankfully Anna felt somewhat better after a few hours.
And so now onto our last location, a few days to relax and enjoy Quite
~ Ian Andrew
The Sporadic Blog 