Home > Ecuador > Ecuador Eco Lodges

Huaorani Ecolodge

Huaorani

Huaorani Ecolodge is small. It has been designed to be intimate, harmonious and environmentally sustainable way to share time with the Huaorani and experience the richness of their natural environment, while creating the least possible impact on the surroundings. To that end the lodge provides accommodation for a maximum of ten people housed in five comfortable, traditionally built, palm thatched cabins. All cabins are fully meshed to keep you safe from biting insects, and are spaced to provide privacy and a chance to enjoy the sounds of the balmy Amazon nights.

All contain: a pair of twin beds (which can be joined to create a double if desired); a private bathroom equipped with a shower and flush toilet; drinking water at all times; a porch with comfortable chairs. Electricity is provided 24 hours a day by solar panels. Environmentally-friendly soaps and shampoos are provided. For those days when relaxing is the priority the Lodge provides a hammock house on the banks of the Shiripuno River.

The restaurant provides nutritionally balanced meals, hygienically prepared with care and artistry by the local chefs. Locally grown produce is used wherever possible. Fruit, tea and coffee are always on hand. Locally made handicrafts and souvenirs can be bought from the community shop.

Activities

At the Lodge daily activities are designed to give you an opportunity to interact with the host community, observe wildlife and get to know the life of the Huaorani as they move within their forest world.

Carefully chosen expert guides and community members will open windows into the Amazon habitat for you. With their knowledge and experience of the jungle they will help you recognize important features of the forest - plants and animals - explaining their significance for the community and showing how the Huaorani live and hunt in this special environment. You will travel quietly, moving by dugout canoe along the strong and tranquil Shiripuno River and on foot along extensive rainforest trails, often in the course of the same day’s activity. Should you feel like spending some time alone in the forest, self guided trails will enable you to enjoy your surroundings.

Sample Itineary

Day One:
Getting to the Huaorani’s world is part of the experience. We drive from Quito to the town of Shell, passing through the spectacular ‘Avenida de los Volcanes’. Here we board a small plane, flying for 35 minutes to Quehueri´ono over spectacular rainforest panoramas. On arriving a dugout canoe will take us to the Lodge where after settling in we get our first taste of the Amazon explore one of the short forest trails close to the Lodge.

Day Two:
This is the day we get a chance to know the people of the Huaorani Community of Quehueri’ono, join them in some of their daily activities and share their history, myths and magic.

Day Three:
On the Hunting Trail. Accompanied by our guide and a member of the community equipped with lance and blow pipe, we explore the ways of the forest and the animals, entering the world the Huaorani share with them.

Day Four:
A visit to the community of Nenkepare and a hike to a stunning waterfall are on the agenda. One of the highlights of the day is the early morning departure in dugout canoe, poling silently as the sun begins to rise and the mist dissipates on the Shiripuno River, with a chance to see forest animals that are often active at this hour. We will camp overnight at Nenkepare in comfortable fully serviced tents.

Day Five:
Leaving our fully serviced campsite in Nenkepare, we prepare to travel on the Via Auca to Coca and the flight back to Quito. The journey will be revealing. The road was constructed by Texaco in the nineteen seventies as a way to access the oil fields and as we move along its eroded surface we will experience what the oil industry brochures don’t show, and appreciate why the Ecolodge is so important.