Itinerary

This is a sample itinerary. All activities largely depend on weather, season, group interests, and guide decisions based on passenger safety – so there might be changes to this itinerary, always in your best interest for a great amazon rainforest experience.

Day 1 – Arrival day

9am – 12pm

You can arrive at our meeting point, the Hotel Arazá in Lago Agrio, at any time in the early morning and rest in the lobby until the tour starts. From 6am – 9am breakfast is included and there are also bathrooms with showers and a pool you can feel free to use. Our team will pick you up at 9.30am to start your journey to Bamboo Lodge. After a 2 hour shuttle ride you arrive at the entrance of the Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve.

12pm – 4pm

Your guide registers you at the entrance of the Cuyabeno Reserve and gives you general information and important safety instructions. Then you will board the canoe and get the first glimpse of the amazing amazon rainforest. During a 2 hour canoe ride down to Bamboo Lodge you get the first chance to observe amazon wildlife and vegetation. Once you arrive at Bamboo Lodge you have lunch and move into your room,

4pm – 9pm

After a short rest you head out in our light paddling canoes to explore the “Laguna Grande” (Big lagoon). You have a great chance to see the pink river dolphins and other wildlife and then you can swim in the middle of the famous “Laguna Grande” and enjoy your first jungle sunset. After dinner you go on a night expediton by engine canoe to seach for caymens and other night active animals.

Day 2 – Paddling adventure

7am – 12pm

This day is a full paddling adventure day. You have breakfast at the lodge and then you go on a long paddling trip. You visit the “Cananbueno” lagoon, a highly protected area of the Cuyabeno reserve where no engine canoes are allowed to enter. Floating in complete silence through the amazon rain forest is an unforgettable experience and without the engine noise the chances to spot wildlife are much better.

1pm – 7pm

You take a lunch box from the lodge with you and have a break to eat in the forest and you will go on a short walk. The paddling adventure continues until you reach the lodge and have time to rest and enjoy the forest from a hammock. Depending on the weather and the time you arrive back in the lodge, you might go to the Laguna Grande again to have a swim and enjoy another beautiful sunset.

7pm – 9pm

You have dinner at the lodge and then, if you are not tired, there is time for an exciting night walk.

Day 3 – Amazon culture & forest

7am – 12pm

After breakfast travel down the Cuyabeno river in an engine canoe until you reach the Siona community “Puerto Bolivar”. On the way down to the community your guide points out amazon wildlife like monkeys, birds, snakes, etc. In Puerto Bolivar a Siona woman welcomes you and takes you to harvest yuca. She shows you the whole process of making cassava, a traditional yucca bread. Of course you can assist and try the bread afterward.

1pm – 4pm

You head back to the lodge to have lunch and a little rest. In the afternoon you explore the jungle hiking.

4pm – 9pm

Starting the walk around 4.30pm allows you to experience the transition from day to night in the jungle. The change of sounds and beginning of the cicada concert at night is very impressive. After sunset time you can see especially amphibians and insects, which are active at night. Dinner at the lodge.

Day 4 – Explore The Rainforest

7am – 12pm

After breakfast your guide takes you on a three to four hour jungle hike. On the walk, you experience the transition of different forest types (high lands, swamps, flooded forests). Your guide explains about rain forest ecosystems, wildlife and medicinal plants and even through in Cuyabeno most wildlife is spotted from the canoe, you can still get lucky and see monkeys, deer, turtles or other amazon species.

1pm – 4pm

Back at the lodge you have lunch and time to rest. You can take a nap, have a coffee in our restaurant, and/or a cold beer in a hammock.

4pm – 9pm

Explore the Hormiga river by canoe and get to know the Caiman Cocha lagoon, one more of in total 14 lagoons of the Cuyabeno Reserve. This area is flooded forest and called “Igapo” forest, a closed ecosystem on its own. Around sunset you will get to the Laguna Grande again so you can swim and enjoy your last evening in the amazing Cuyabeno jungle. You have dinner at the lodge.

Day 5 – Departure day

5.30am – 9.30pm

Get up early for bird watching. Most birds are most active in the early morning, so on this last day you get up for sunrise. From our bird watching tower you might see toucans, arasaris, oropendulas, and more. If the weather is good you head out one last time in our paddling canoes to see the sunrise at the “Laguna Grande”. Back at the lodge you have breakfast and you pack your luggage to start the way back to civilization at 9.30am.

9.30am – 2.30pm

Your last canoe ride on the Cuyabeno river back to the entrance of the reserve – maybe you see some more wildlife on the way. At the Cuyabeno entrance our shuttle waits for you and you say “goodbye” to your guide. Our shuttle takes you back to Lago Agrio.

Approximately 2.30pm

Our shuttle driver Jaime takes you to a restaurant in Lago Agrio where you have lunch. After lunch, he can drop you off at the bus terminal, the Hotel Arazá, or anywhere else in Lago Agrio. I you book the tourist shuttle back to Quito the shuttle picks you up directly from the restaurant.