Raw Rainforest specializes in customized tours for small groups, drawing from close relationships with local communities and researchers during years of residence in Ecuador.

Contact us to arrange tailored small-group photography tours for educators & academics, artists and environmental/science groups.

Two itineraries we have designed for Summer 2022:

• The 5-day Yasuní National Park Immersion, featured below, and
• A custom 8-day Conservation Photography Tour in Amazonian Ecuador, with field seminars by Ecuadorian researchers (Link to full itinerary)

A 5-Day Yasuní National Park Immersion:
Yasuní National Park & UNESCO Man & The Biosphere Reserve:
Proceeds to benefit our hosts, the Añangu lowland Kichwa and surrounding communities

Activities:

• Experience the Amazon by day—Luxuriate by night
• Explorations via river & lagoon, canopy towers & gentle trails
• Enjoy cuisine that includes local tropical fruits
• Nature & landscape photography
• Conversation with Añangu community members
• Optional night-time rainforest walks for colorful wildlife

Join conservation photographer Dr. Bruce Farnsworth and Fausto Andy, arguably the best indigenous lowland Quichua guide in the upper Amazon and Bruce’s friend and guide for over 20 years.

We begin in the historic city of Quito, on the eastern slopes of the Andes mountains.  In collaboration with the Boutique Hotel Manor Cultural—where guests will stay upon their arrival in Quito–you’ll be treated to an evening soiree overlooking Colonial Quito that includes a short presentation about the lowland Amazon rainforest of Yasuní National Park and UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. This is not a birding tour per se, but rather an opportunity to enjoy the diversity of the Amazon rainforest with a perspective that is more diverse and multi-sensual than other tours. 

Our hosts in the Amazon basin will be the lowland Quichua community of Añangu, whose Napo Wildlife Center is an example of  indigenous community-based tourism.  Situated in the upper Amazon, the temperatures are much more pleasant that the lower elevations of Brazil. The reserve and well-appointed lodge is 100% owned, administrated and operated by the Añangu people, who protect over 50,000 acres of communal lands in the Yasuní National Park and UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve.Yasuní is home to 600 species of birds, 550 species of mammals including eleven species of primates (monkeys, tamarins and marmosets), over 160 species of reptiles and amphibians,  2,400 species of fish and over 60,000 different insects.  Wow! Yet each day, you never know what you see, and that’s exciting. During this tour, Bruce and Fausto will share some of the research and conservation activities underway in Yasuní National Park, several of which Bruce has photographed in his editorial work.

Participants will enjoy a variety of locations. We will move from quiet lagoons and streams to trails in primary rainforest to breathtaking canopy views. Photograph spectacular parrots and parakeets at a rare mineral lick in the Añangu forest.  A family of the endangered Giant river otter inhabits the Añanguyacu river and main lagoon near the lodge.

The itinerary includes a mini-forum with community elders on rainforest conservation, and time to just relax independently and soak in the sights, sounds and sensations of this amazing place.The ambience of new landscapes, wildflowers, birds and patterns in nature will be the backdrop for some exercises in visualization and a chance to get warmed up creatively as photographers.Feel free to call or email Raw Rainforest with any questions you may have.

We are now booking for June 2022 tour dates,  with a maximum of six participants in each tour.

Day-by-Day Itinerary:

Quito Arrival

The tour begins with an evening reception in Colonial Quito the evening before the tour begins, with participants shuttled from the Boutique Hotel Manor Cultural.

A best-case scenario would be to arrive in Quito two nights before the tour, so you will have a full day to adapt to the elevation of Quito, which sits at 9,000 feet of elevation.  Consider this tour as a wonderful prelude or extension to your Galapagos travel!Upon your arrival at Mariscal Sucre International Airport in Quito, you will be met by Bruce or Fausto and shuttled to the Boutique Hotel Manor Cultural.  Your tour includes one night of accommodations at the hotel on the night before the tour. Please contact us as early as possible to facilitate an additional night if you are arriving earlier in Quito.

We will assist you into the hotel and make sure you are set for a good night’s rest. Hotel Manor Cultural provides secure storage to Raw Rainforest Immersion Photography tour participants for the duration of your stay in Ecuador. Clients will receive a guide to Quito prior to your tour with information on where you can buy quality supplies and souvenirs close to the hotel.

Day 1

Today, we are up early. We will cater local Quiteño pastries before we leave for the Quito airport and our flight to the Amazon port city of Coca.

To get to the Napo Wildlife Center, we will fly by jet from Quito on a 30-minute flight to the Amazon port town of Coca (officially known as Francisco de Orellana) on the Napo River. After a short drive from the airport to Napo Wildlife Center dock, we board a large motorized covered canoe for a two and a half hour trip down the Napo River to the mouth of the Rio Añanguyacu. Upon arriving at the entrance to the Añangu community reserve, we will have a restroom break. Then we transition to traditional dugout canoes and are paddled up the blackwater creek to the main Añangu lagoon and lodge (motorized transport is not allowed on the creek or lagoon so that wildlife is not disturbed).

The beauty of the forest will be mesmerizing during this slow paddle, but stay alert. The canoe trek can take anywhere from one to three hours depending on what we see along the way. Bruce and your Añangu guides will be on the lookout for wildlife which will be seen and heard along the river edges. You will be scanning from river’s surface up to the treetops. Hopefully, the local Giant river otter family will make an appearance for us. There are good chances of sighting various species of monkeys as well as large birds like toucans, parrots or even macaws. You may also see potoos, kingfishers, hoatzins, jacamars and hawks.

We eat lunch en route and arrive at the lodge by late afternoon. We can provide a GPS waypoint file (in Garmin MapSource format) for our guests who use GPS units or enjoy geocaching. There will be time before dinner to unpack your gear in the spacious rooms, relax and take a hot shower. Before dinner, get a beverage of your choice from the Añangu staff and enjoy it from atop the observation tower connected to the dining room. There you will find a wonderful view of the main lagoon. On a clear day, you can even see the Andes mountains to the west.

At dinner, you will receive a formal welcome from an elder of the Añangu lowland Quichua community. The Napo Wildlife Center is 100% owned, managed and operated by the Añangu Lowland Quichua community, and we are their guests. Each evening, Bruce and your Añangu guide preview the next day’s activities, answer questions, comment on photographs or just be there to chat with you and enjoy a cool drink in the lodge’s comfort.

Day 2

Today, you’ll visit the best parrot clay licks in Ecuador, about one hour by dugout canoe from the lodge, followed by a short walk of about 10 minutes. You will reach the first lick at about 7:30 in the morning, before the first birds arrive. As many as eleven species of parrots, parakeets and macaws are seen feeding on these mineral-rich clay soils. This is an experience that depends on weather conditions but is usually successful.

After a short dugout canoe ride and 30-45 minute forest walk, we will visit the second clay lick where we will see several species of parakeets and parrots. We will have a box lunch here at the clay lick observatory. We will return to our canoes, arriving at the lodge in the late afternoon.

After dinner this evening, there will be a brief presentation by an Añangu community elder about their ecotourism operation. We will learn about their current projects in health and education, and the challenges and successes of maintaining their relationship to their land through ecotourism. This aspect of collaboration, building on a relationship which your Raw Rainforest Photography Tours has established with members of the community, is what make our tours unique and lead to photographs which are rich in context.

Day 3

After an early breakfast, we will travel by canoe and foot to the finest rainforest canopy experience in the upper Amazon basin. The community’s 36-meter (111 feet) canopy tower is a great way to experience life above the forest floor. The tower is located about 20 minutes from the lodge and deep within the reserve’s primary “terra firme” forest (this refers to errestrial forest which is not flooded seasonally). As you ascend the 12-story tower, you will experience successive strata or layers of the rainforest from forest floor to understory to canopy. Finally you will emerge on top of a giant Ceiba (Ceiba pentandra) tree.

You will walk onto a large wooden platform that is actually set into the tree and experience a view which is usually reserved only for birds. The metal tower and platform at the top of the tree were designed by engineers and constructed by tree platform specialists.

From top to bottom, there is no finer canopy experience in Amazonian Ecuador. Flocks of colorful tanagers pass right through the canopy of the tree, and Blue-and yellow macaws fly overhead. Spider monkeys may be seen searching for fruit, possibly carrying young on their back as they swing from tree to tree. There are two species of large toucans that call in the early mornings and afternoons, and so the life of the forest canopy opens before you. Birds that are nearly impossible to see from the forest floor far below are suddenly right in front of you and oblivious to your presence. The canopy tower opens a whole new world to guests of the Napo Wildlife Center!

Lunch will be served at the main lodge. In the afternoon, we will set out on a trail to discover the interior of the primary rainforest. This will be an opportunity for guests to receive personalized guidance from Bruce in the development of their personal photo-essays and thematic work. We may find colorful lizards, showy manakins (tropical bird) and maybe the striking Golden mantle tamarin monkeys which are endemic to Yasuní National Park. On our return from the hike, we may explore the Añangu lagoon area by dugout canoe with a chance of viewing the resident Giant river otter family.

Relax at your lodge accommodations prior to dinner. After dinner, there will be a presentation about the Añangu reserve and Yasuní National Park. After the program, you can join Bruce Farnsworth on a nocturnal foray for close-up photography of insects and amphibians along a short rainforest trail near the lodge.

Day 4

This morning, we will travel down the Añanguyacu river by dugout canoe once again to visit the newly constructed Añangu Cultural Interpretive Center. Members of the community will demonstrate their forest-based artwork and craftsmanship in this center of their own construction which was funded by proceeds from their Napo Wildlife Center. Our conversations may turn toward traditional ecological knowledge (TEK), economic solutions for conservation, biomimicry, north-south perspectives on the rainforest, etc.

We will walk into nearby forest where the giant Crested Owl is often seen resting by day. There is also a good chance of observing a local pair of Pygmy marmosets, the world’s smallest monkey. The rainforest is an environment of extremes, and all creatures find their special niche within the diversity of habitats. We will have a box lunch during this outing.

We will return to the community interpretive center for an enlightening session with community elders. They will speak to us about their use of rainforest materials in many facets of their lives. You will gain great insight into just how important is the wilderness – and “wildness” – in the place-based forest culture of the these lowland Quichua (Napo Runa) people.

In the late-afternoon, we will be back at the lodge. After some relaxation, we have planned a short dugout canoe trip up one of the creeks adjacent to the lodge. We like to give our Añangu guides and other community members the opportunity to make some photographs of us if they choose, and this provides a fun setting in which to thank them for their hard work.

Day 5

Following an early breakfast, we will enjoy our final excursion on the Añanguyacu river as our Añangu community pilots paddles us back down to its mouth at the mighty Napo. This early morning glide may reveal new sights of Giant river otters, Monk Saki monkeys or rare birds. At the community center docks, we will disembark for a bathroom break before we board the motorized canoe for our trip back to the port town of Coca.  Retracing your dugout canoe glide up the Añangu river, you will enjoy your trip back down the river. The canoe ride again will last about two and a half hours.

After our motor canoe excursion back to the port town of Coca, you’ll be able to confirm your flight arrangements for Mariscal Sucre International Airport in Quito. We will arrive in Quito by noon, where Bruce, Fausto and the staff of Hotel Manor Cultural approximately 11:00 a.m.

Bruce will offer an extension for those interested – more details forthcoming on that. In any case, you will be in Quito to enjoy dinner Friday night. Raw Rainforest can provide participants with recommended restaurants and locations for nightlife in Quito.

Please Note:

There is a minimum of two (2) and a maximum of six (6) participants on this tour, including non-photographers. We require a deposit to ensure you have a place on the tour and cover reservations in Ecuador. Once you complete the online tour reservation form, you will receive instructions on how to proceed with your deposit. The deposit is applied toward the final costs of your tour. In the event that the tour does not reach the minimum number of participants or run, your deposit will be fully refunded or applied to another trip as you prefer. Reservations are made according to the date of signup and receipt of deposit.

This is the proposed itinerary and it is subject to change for a number of reason such as weather conditions, safety and the shared interests of participants. Changes in guides or program may be made in order to maximize wildlife viewing or wilderness enjoyment or be fully responsive to the needs of our host communities.

LINKS FOR MORE INFORMATION ON LODGING

• • • Boutique Hotel Manor Cultural
    • Napo Wildlife Center (Añangu Community)