5 or 6 Days: Jungle Extreme

This 5 or 6 day experience combines fascinating cultural interactions with an unforgettable jungle expedition into the pristine wilderness of the Cotacachi-Cayapas Nature Reserve.

Day 1: Local people and their way of life

8-9 am  Leisurely breakfast, accompanied by hummingbirds and clucking hens, followed by a short walk through the woods to meet your first guide for the day, who will show you the dairy farm and help you to hand milk the cows and make cheeses. Photo opportunities abound!

11am  Meet your next guide, who will take you on horseback (or on foot if you prefer) to a nearby organic vegetable farm.  After an excellent lunch served at the farm, skillfully prepared by Marcela Torres using home-produced, organic ingredients, you will enjoy a really first-class demonstration of the pleasures and perils of producing abundant, quality food to feed the whole family.  We are proud to place emphasis on ‘hands-on’ practice rather than just demonstration, and are confident that you will thoroughly enjoy your visit to this farm.

2pm  Brief but fun-packed visit to the community trout farm, where you will take part in the organized chaos of sport fishing, Ecuadorean style!

3pm  A fine conclusion to the day`s activities; you are treated to a guided tour of the trees, birds and wildlife in the beautiful cloud-forests adjoining the guest houses, before returning to a supper of trout, grilled over a wood fire

From then on: we undertake a 3 or 4 day mini-expedition (duration depending on your individual enthusiasm for the jungle) within the vast Cotacachi Cayapas Nature Reserve.  This is no luxury safari, but if you possess a reasonable level of fitness, and are willing to do without some of the “creature comforts” of modern life for 3 or 4 days, then we recommend you not to miss this feast for the spirit and the senses.  Put simply, this reserve is perhaps one of the last areas on earth where the plants and animals live almost totally unaware and unaffected by man.  You will not find canopy tours, bungee jumps, or any other such human contrivances during this expedition, because, fine though these may be under certain circumstances, we are aiming here for a different experience: undisturbed, uncorrupted contact between the traveler and nature, in one of the world`s last great wildernesses.
Important Note: The Jungle experience described below is designed for those willing to go well out of their “comfort zone” in order to experience pristine jungle.  It involves a grueling descent/ascent into and out of the cauldron of the Reserve, accommodation in basic refuges or tents, and simple camp food.  We therefore classify it as an extreme adventure or, if you like, as an extreme sport.  For most of our visitors, we recommend the gentler 4 day “Into the Jungle” experience for those wishing to experience the Ecuadorean jungle.  All those considering the “Jungle Extreme” experience receive a detailed briefing.  You are also recommended to browse our Blog for a second opinion!
Day 2.  The adventure begins.  We travel 2km to the edge of the reserve on horseback or on foot, and climb up through the cloud forest to a ridge 2800 metres above sea level, the highest point on our journey.  From this ridge we can look down through the mists at the awesome expanse of jungle below us, our home for the next 3 days.  We begin the descent, all equipment carried by a small team of expert guides and porters.  By early afternoon we will have experienced 4 or 5 distinct eco-systems, ranging from twisted, ancient trees festooned with epiphytes at higher altitudes, to the luxuriant expanses of palm trees and other tropical vegetation at the interior of the reserve (about 1100 metres above sea level).  We set up our first campsite close to a waterfall, and set out for a leisurely exploration of the surrounding area.  Here you are likely to experience Howler and Brazilargo monkeys; Andean spectacled bears, their presence obvious through tracks and gnawed palm shoots; pumas and jaguars, timid of humans, but evident through their tracks and droppings, colourful birds and amphibians and above all a jaw-dropping display of plant-life in all its exuberance.
Day 3  Rest, food, and good company refreshes and prepares us to enjoy exploring further into the interior of the reserve.  One of the most memorable feasts for the senses is the dazzling aquatic displays: waterfall follows waterfall, each cool and pristine, in an extraordinary procession that continues far into the interior of the reserve.  Opportunities for fishing and swimming abound as we cross or follow rivers and streams, mostly unnamed and unknown to the outside world.  Our guides move at your own pace, alert for your safety, but without tiring you with too much information that could hinder your own special response to this personal encounter with the undamaged natural world.
Day 4.  We begin the return jouney to San Antonio, heading South East, along a different route through the jungle. There are plenty more wonders to experience on this route: strange flowers, even stranger vegetation, glimpses of timid birds and mammals, species of frogs and toads, some still unknown to the scientific world, misty views across huge expanses of mountainous jungle.  When you finally emerge from the Reserve in the afternoon, and descend to the guesthouses for a well-earned drink and a good supper, we think you will agree that neither words nor pictures can adequately convey what you have just experienced.
Day 5  Relax and restore strength after the exertions of the jungle adventure, with a tasting session at the local sugar cane “factory”, where the oldest water mill in Intag is used to crush the juice out of the canes.  You are expertly guided through the various stages of organic sugar production by the owner, Don Ivan, with ample opportunities to sample the changing taste of the syrup as the juice is heated and evaporated to produce organic, unrefined cane sugar – a food quite different from the unhealthy product usually available in western supermarkets. Here too, experience the cultivation of semi-tropical fruits and vegetables such as coffee, yucca and banana.  Delicious maize tortillas are served, made from organic flour prepared at the mill. We say goodbye to Don Ivan and his wife Blanca, and return on horseback or by truck to the guesthouses, pausing en route to bathe (accompanied by the horses for those opting for travel by horseback!)  in a beautiful deep river pool: another memorable experience to round off a great day.

Jungle Extreme - Part 2

Crossing the Cotacachi Cayapas Nature Reserve

Itinerary: enter the jungle at Cuellaje, and head west towards the Pacific coast at Esmeraldas (approx 70km).

Estimated duration of expedition: 12 to 18 days.

Resupply: None, unless by helicopter. Main food sources are hunting, fishing and foraging.

Difficulty rating: extremely difficult.

Terrain: extremely testing, without paths.  Vegetation varies from temperate cloud forest to tropical jungle.

Team aptitudes: Those considering this extraordinary journey will need a high level of fitness, and experience of wilderness or at least a strong, considered motivation to experience wilderness.  Unlike other experiences offered by Intagtour, this is not an "ecotourist experience", it is a challenging and potentially dangerous expedition.

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