The Yasuni National Park in the Ecuadorian Amazon is one of the world's most biodiverse regions.
Sea kayak adventure specialist Tofino Expeditions guides kayakers, just 10 at a time, through this UNESCO Biosphere Reserve.
Kayaking the Amazon of Ecuador is a 10-day exploration starts from Quito, with a short fight to the town of Coca and the Napo River, the largest tributary of the Amazon in Ecuador.
Among the excursions :
- guests board a motorized dugout canoe for a two-hour ride to Sacha Lodge, a renowned birding location in jungle canopy and accessed from the river by hiking through the rainforest to Lake Pilchicocha.
- there is an exploration of the Indillana River that flows out of Yasuni National Park. A vibrant ecosystem, it has the highest concentration of flora and fauna species in the world. A
- Pañacocha Lake and Pañayacu River, where guests paddle through sections of forest that are floating, cross lakes to look for pink freshwater river dolphins, and scan the jungle for over 12 species of primates.
Other excursions on the trip include paddling into a black-water lagoon and riverine system in the narrow gap between Ecuador's two largest rainforest protected areas: the 982,000-hectare Yasuni National Park and the 600,000-hectare Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve.
The trip ends back in Quito, with a tour of its Old Town, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Tofino's other trips include visits to UNESCO World Heritage Sites: Norway, Sardinia, the Amazon rainforest, the Costa Verde, Brazil, Cinque Terre and the Italian Riviera, Venice, Halong Bay in Vietnam, Croatia's Dalmatian Coast and the Galapagos Islands.