FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

HOW GET TO CUYABENO?

Take the night bus on the Putumayo bus cooperative from Quito to the Cuyabeno Reserve (usually leaves at 11 at night) from the "Terminal Carcelen (North)" in Quito and arrive in Lagoagrio the next day. It costs about $ 25 one way;
Another option is from the "terminal Quitumbe (South) for the night bus. It costs about $ 25 one way and you have to leave from your hotel in Quito with the Metro to the terminal an hour before departure. In daytime there are bus departures every hour;
Fly Quito - Coca (officially Puerto Francisco Orellana), which costs about $ 200 for a round trip on Aeroregional (LATAM flies there too, but often at higher ticket prices), but it takes 2 X $25 to take a taxi to Quito airport. The flight officialy leaves at 9:30 in the morning, and takes 30 minutes to arrive. After getting your luggage, it will be 10:30. We can arrange a transfer to the Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve which takes about 3.5 hours. This fight is great for our Yasuni - Napo River and the Lagartocoche tours;
Take a Private Trans-Andean bus Transportation to Coca or the Cuyabeno Reserve. It will leave from downtown and it will take you to the Cuyabeno Bridge park entrance.

CUYABENO OR YASUNI?

Cuyabeno tours are more economical than the expensive Yasuni tours organized by the 6 best known lodges;
These Napo River lodges only make excursions near their own location but don't explore all highlights along the Napo / Yasuni areas;
Only our Napo / Yasuni tour visits all tourist highlights along the upper Napo River;
Cuyabeno has a dozen affordable lodges vs Yasuni 6 expensive ones;
Of these lodges in Cuyabeno, the Cuyabeno Lodge is the best with 5 different levels of confort and the best guides;
Cuyabeno packages enter deep into the park, while Yasuni packages stay on the margin as it is practically impossible entering by canoe on the Tiputini River;
Cuyabeno has lots of swamp forests which are much better for wildlife observation. Yasuni mostly has dry upland forests on hilly terrain making entry by canoe mostly impossible;
Cuyabeno is now is home to communities of 4 tribes: Sionas, Cofanes, Kitchwas, Shuar. Most of them have arrived over the last decades but they are not ancestral;
Yasuni primarily are the ancestral lands of the Hoarani and Kichwa communities;
Cuyabeno has 14 lakes; Yasuni 1 and about 4 along the Napo River outside the park;
Cuyabeno has 1 canopy tower; There are 2 along the Napo River outside the park;
Cuyabeno the best for ecotourism of all the Amazon parks of South America!

WHY SHOULD I CHOSE THE CUYABENO LODGE?

The mission of the Cuyabeno Lodge is to make the Amazon jungle more accessible for more people. Cuyabeno Lodge was the first ecolodge in Cuyabeno, and in fact, in the entire Amazon of Ecuador;
The Cuyabeno Lodge is a company owned and run by conservation biologist, Dr. Daan Vreugdenhil. He was part of the United Nations team that selected the national parks and protected areas of Ecuador. He knows all the protected areas of Ecuador and he selected all the protected areas in the Amazon of Ecuador, including Cuyabeno and Yasuni;
The Cuyabeno Lodge has 5 levels of luxery, all with warm showers and solar energy, varying form very basic dormitories to a luxurious suite;
Only the Cuyabeno Lodge hires boat men from the Siona community;
The guides of the lodge are the best of the reserve who continuously research its ecology;
The Cabins have been designed to provide functional comfort to our guests, providing comfortable beds, mosquito netting and showers with hot water;
The wood for buildings has been brought in from outside the reserve;
All the construction and maintenance of the lodge was and still is done with maximum involvement of the Siona Indians facilitating employment for them.

WHAT ABOUT EMERGENCY SITUATIONS?

Ecuador has an effective emergency number, 211, which they actually answer! Usually, your vehicle will be within a driving distance of no more than 2 hours from the nearest hospital, usually much shorter;
In Cuyabeno, the emergency situation may take a little longer, as it will take up to 2 hours by canoe to get a person to the road, but in the mean time, an emergency vehicle will be waiting at the entrance, while there is a clinic in Tarapoa 20 minutes from the park entrance.

HOW DOES THE LOCAL POPULATION BENEFIT FROM THE CUYABENO LODGE?

The Cuyabeno Lodge is the only lodge contracting all its water transportation from the tribal members;
Some of the tribal members are bilingual guides which we hire;
Most contruction and large maintenance work is contracted to Siona members;
We provide free medical check ups to the Siona community every 2 months.

WHY IS CUYABENO THE BEST AMAZON JUNGLE PARK?

Throughout the Amazon region, most national parks lack narrow rivers and can only be seen from very wide branches of the Amazon River or from hiking trails through the jungle. When you are on a major branch of the Amazon River, you hardly feel you are in the tropical jungle because the shores are so far away;
If you walk on land in the Amazon jungle, you don't see very much. When looking up to the canopy, the contrast between the sky and the leaves is so intense, that the leaves almost seem black and animals are so high up in the trees, that you can hardly distinguish them;
Cuyabeno is the only protected area in the Amazon with navigable, narrow, slow-flowing creeks;
On these creeks you are close to both shores and you get to see wildlife and birds from really closeby;
No other national park in the Amazon region from Venezuela to Bolivia offers this kind of jungle experience and wildlife visibility from the water! That is why the Cuyabeno is the best Amazon Park in the world!

DOES THE CUYABENO LODGE HAVE SOLAR ENERGY ?

Cuyabeno Lodge