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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

Your packing list:

  • Trail Clothing: Lightweight, fast-drying trousers (no denim) and long-sleeved white shirts, which are less attractive to mosquitoes.
  • Footwear: Comfortable sneakers and sandals. Please note that the lodge provides complimentary rubber boots and rain ponchos.
  • Daywear: Standard shorts, T-shirts, a sun hat, and swimwear. We advise caution when wearing short sleeves during peak daylight hours to prevent sunburn.
  • Layering: A lightweight jacket or fleece, as temperatures can drop during evening hours and during river transport by canoe.
  • Sun & Insect Protection: High-efficacy insect repellent, sunscreen, and sunglasses.
  • Medical & Toiletries: Personal medications and private toiletries. The lodge supplies complimentary, environmentally friendly biodegradable shampoo and soap.
  • Baggage Restrictions: One small-to-medium-sized backpack is required due to space limitations aboard the canoe for larger groups.
  • Excursion Pack: An additional small daypack is convenient for daily walking excursions.
  • Waterproofing: Plastic bags to seal clothing within your luggage. While the canoe is equipped with rain protection for baggage, this secondary preventive measure would help.
  • Electronics & Optics: A powerful LED flashlight for night excursions, camera, and binoculars. For your convenience, some binoculars are available for rent at the lodge for $10 for the entire duration of the tour.
  • Essential Items: Valid personal identification documents.
  • Cash Requirements: Small denominations of cash. We recommend a minimum of $10 per person for the Siona Community visit, Siona souvenirs, plus additional cash for any personal consumption at the lodge bar.
Option 1: By Air (Via Coca)
  • Flight Schedule: Two daily flights operate the Quito-Coca-Quito route. Both depart at 9:30 AM with a total flight duration of approximately 30 minutes.
  • Aereoregional: Priced at about $110. Operates daily except on Sundays.
  • LATAM: Priced up to $200. Operates daily including on Sundays.
  • Ground Transfer: Private transfers from Coca to the Cuyabeno entrance cost $140 total (accommodating up to 4 passengers) and take approximately 3.5 hours.
Option 2: By Public Bus
  • Estimated Cost: Approximately $20 USD per person.
  • Departure Details: Overnight buses operated by the Putumayo line depart at approximately 11:00 PM from Quito’s South Terminal (Quitumbe). The terminal is accessible via the Quito Metro.
  • Arrival at Cuyabeno: The bus arrives at the Cuyabeno entrance in the early morning. Your guide will meet you at the entrance gate between 10:30 AM and 11:00 AM.
Option 3: By Private Bus
  • Service Type: A dedicated, tourist-only bus service operating directly from Quito to Cuyabeno.
  • Cost: $37 USD per person, each way.
  • Operating Tourist Bus Schedule:
4. Private transportation:

Operational schedule:

  • Tour Start Days: If there are 2 or 3 in your party, can start your visits on Mondays, Tuesdays an Frydays. If there are 4 or more in your party you can arrive any day of the week. Our departures from the entrance are scheduled to depart after the timely arrival of the private bus, between about 11 and 12 Am. Canoe transports on other hours are subject to a surcharge for the extra canoe.
  • Delays en route: Our lodge plans meeting you upon your indicated arrival. Given potential delays en route, we try to accommodate for delays within reasonable time. However, possible waiting time is limited as timely arriving visitors deserve to be serviced in a timely fashion. Sending out an extra canoe after a late arrival may have an surcharge of #100 for the canoe operator.
  • No transportation responsibility: Even when we help with the bookings of transportation to the park entrance, the owner corporation of the Cuyabeno Lodge, Neotropic Turis, Cia Ltda., is not responsible for transportation delays or failure to arrive at the park entrance or any other point of arrival of the client. Sending out an extra canoe after a late arrival may have a surcharge for the extra canoe and guide. You are aware of this condition, when you request us to book such transportation for you.

Cuyabeno vs Yasuni

  • Wildlife spotting: Cuyabeno has far better wildlife spotting.
  • Landscape: The landscapes of Cuyabeno are much more scenic.
  • Price: The Yasuní lodges are 3 to 4 times more expensive.
  • Lakes: Yasuní has 1 major lake in the park at the border with Peru, Cuyabeno 14.
  • Location of the lodges: The Yasuní lodges are all outside the park along the Napo River, in Cuyabeno they are inside the park.
  • Travel time: Bij bus it takes about as long to travel from Quito to Coca as to Cuyabeno. When flying to Coca, the transfer is 1 hour to the Napo River and 3 hours to the Cuyabeno entrance.
  • Scenery: The landscapes of Cuyabeno with its Bonsai-shaped Macrolobium flooded forests are much more scenic that the locations of lodges along the upper Napo River.
  • Tribal communities: 4 Indian tribes live in Cuyabeno: Sionas, Cofanes, Kichwas and Shuars although most of them settled after the gazetting of park, while in Yasuni has been the traditional lands of the Waorani tribe.

This is why Cuyabeno is the best:

  • View from narrow rivers: Most parks in the Amazon do not have narrow rivers. Instead, you are on wide rivers or forest trails. On a wide river, you hardly feel like you are in the tropical jungle because the banks are too far away;
  • Penetrating light: When you walk through the forest, you also don't see as much. If you look up at the canopy, the contrast between the sky and the leaves is so great that the leaves look almost black, and the animals are often so high up that you can hardly distinguish them. Along narrow river banks the light penetrates down;
  • Slow rivers: Cuyabeno is the only nature reserve with navigable, narrow, slow-flowing rivers. Narrow rivers only occur close to the andes, but everywhere else those irvers are fast-flowing because op hilly terrain, while only Cuyabeno is on a plain near the Andes;
  • Good lighting on wildlife: There, you are close to both banks and can see wildlife and birds from up close;
  • Unique in all of South America: No other nature reserve in the Andean-Amazon region from Venezuela to Bolivia offers this kind of jungle experience where you can see the animals so easily from the water! That is why Cuyabeno is the best Amazon park in the world!

This is why the Cuyabeno Lodge is the best:

  • Best location: It was the first eco-lodge in Cuyabeno and even in the entire Ecuadorian Amazon, so we chose the best spot, and island in Lake Cuyabeno;
  • Ecologist managed: The Cuyabeno Lodge is managed by owner Dr. Daan Vreugdenhil, a conservation ecologist who was part of the UN team that selected Ecuador's national parks and protected areas. He knows almost all of Ecuador's nature reserves and personally proposed all the protected areas in the Ecuadorian Amazon, including Cuyabeno and Yasuni;
  • 5 price levels: The mission of our Cuyabeno Lodge is to make the Amazon more accessible to more people including students. Our Cuyabeno Lodge has 5 accommodation classes, including a dormitory for students, all with hot showers and solar energy. They range from a very simple dormitory with bunk beds to luxury suites;
  • Employment for indigenous people: Only the Cuyabeno Lodge hires canoes from all the Siona indigenous people in the village;
  • Construction and maintenance of the lodge: Carried out with the maximum involvement of the Siona indigenous people, we maximize employment opportunities for them.
  • The best guides: Trained by ecologist Daan Vreugdenhil, our lodge's guides are the best in the reserve as they continuously conduct research to expand their knowledge;
  • Materials from outside the reserve: The wood for the buildings was brought in from outside the reserve;
  • Internet: We have Starlink Internet.

How and where you can get help:

  • Alarm number 211: Ecuador has an effective emergency number: 211, and they actually pick up! In most areas, your transportation is at most 2 hours away from the nearest hospital, usually much shorter;
  • Emergency coordination: In Cuyabeno, it takes one hour to transport someone by canoe to the road; Meanwhile, an ambulance will already be waiting at the park entrance; There is a clinic in Tarapoa, just 20 minutes from the park entrance and a hospital in Lagoagrio.

Some concerns you may have:

  • Mosquito Protection: All guest bedrooms are equipped with mosquito netting. However, guests are strongly advised to bring an effective insect repellent containing DEET.
  • Malaria & Yellow Fever: There are no reported cases of Malaria or Yellow Fever in the immediate area. The decision to take prophylactic Malaria medication or to receive the Yellow Fever vaccination remains entirely a matter of personal choice.
  • Medical Advice Disclaimer: For any lingering doubts or specific questions regarding these medical topics, please consult a qualified healthcare professional prior to your trip.

Our Menus & Special Meals:

  • Our menu are delicious home cooking style meals, which standard includes meat, fish, beans, rice, yuca, bread, potatoes, vegetables, deserts, etc.
  • Available Options: On request, we accommodate vegetarian and gluten-free diets.
  • Other Requirements: For all other food allergies or restrictions, we will make every effort to accommodate your needs. Please notify us of any special requirements—ideally prior to your arrival date. Reconfirm these details with your guide upon arrival at the lodge.

Cuyabeno is an year-around destination:

  • Best Time to Visit: The Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve is a year-round destination. While weather patterns have become less predictable in recent years, September, October, January, and February historically tend to be the drier months.

Family Accommodations

  • Room Configurations: Upon request, we can arrange triple occupancy rooms featuring one bunk bed and one standard single bed or double bed.
  • Cabin Layouts: Our standard cabins comprise two separate, independent rooms. Larger families are accommodated in adjacent double or triple rooms within the same cabin building. Please note these rooms feature independent exterior entrances and do not have connecting interior doors.

Electricity & Power Access

  • Power Source: The lodge relies mostly on sustainable solar energy.
  • In-Room Power: Each guest room features electric lighting but does not contain electrical outlets.
  • Charging Stations: Small electronic devices and appliances can be charged exclusively in the recreation room.
  • Laptops and other equipment: We can’t allow charging laptops and other equipment with high energy consumption.
  • Laptops and other equipment: We can’t allow charging laptops and other equipment with high energy consumption.
  • Internet: We have Starlink Internet.

The safety record of Cuyabeno:

  • Local Conditions: Cuyabeno has hardly had any recorded incidents for many years. There is a continuous, reassuring presence of official security forces throughout the Sucumbíos Province where the Cuyabeno National Park is situated.
  • Geographic Clarification: While news reports occasionally mention border incidents near Colombia, these occurrences are restricted to the distant coastal region and do not affect Cuyabeno, where operations remain entirely normal and secure.
  • Theft: Over the past 30 years very few cases of theft have been reported in Cuyabeno. Please note that you must always guard your valuables. The Cuyabeno lodge cannot be helt responsible for loss or theft of goods or money.

Payment Policies

  • Currency & Deadline: All payments must be settled in USD within four (4) weeks of receiving your official booking confirmation.
  • Accepted Methods: Payments are accepted via bank transfer or credit card. For the latter we use the WeTravel platform, which incurs a standard 2.9% credit card service fee.
  • Booking Deposit: A 30% down payment is required at the time of booking to secure your reservation.

Cancellation policy:

  • Refund Schedule: If you need to cancel your booking, the following refund policies apply based on the notice provided:
  • 30 or more days notice: 100% refund of the total booking value menos banking costs.
  • 29 to 15 days notice: 50% refund of the total booking value menos banking costs.
  • Less than 15 days notice: 0% refund (non-refundable).
  • Refunds abroad: Refunds only can be made in Ecuador, as overseas transfers are prohibitively expensive. If the client insists, he/she should absorb all banking costs.

The Siona people benefit in the following ways:

  • Transportation services: Cuyabeno Lodge is the only lodge to entrust all of its river transportation to members of the local communities;
  • Bilingual guides: Some bilingual indigenous members work as guides;
  • Construction: Most of the construction and maintenance work is entrusted to the Siona people;
  • Medical service: We offer free medical consultations to the Siona community every two months.
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