Yachana Lodge is the only Ecuadorian Amazon lodge that hires virtually all local staff and indigenous naturalist guides. Our personnel receive extensive and continuous training and have years of experience providing a true eco-tourism experience and award-winning service. All of our guides are from the Amazon region, which means they have an intrinsic understanding of the rainforest. Additionally, they are fluent in English, Spanish, Kichua and other indigenous languages.

Your professional guide will be by your side as you:

• Hike deep into primary and secondary rainforest to discover wildlife (7 species of toucan, Great Potoos, Long-tailed Potoos and many more animals, birds, insects, snakes and spiders await!)
• Discover native plants and trees including an extraordinary array of medicinal plants and their uses.
• Early morning birdwatching on an island upriver and see over 30 species of birds in an hour including Whitehawk eagles and Blackhawk eagles.
• Explore Yachana's 4,300-acre (1,700 hectare) Protected Forest and visit our biological research station where biologists are documenting thousands of species and and new species.
• Go on a night hike and discover another world that comes out only at night including the Tailess Whip Scorpion with its 20cm long antennae, snakes and frogs and enormous spiders.
• Participate in a traditional cleansing ceremony led by a local medicine man and test your skills at the indigenous arts of blowguns and spears used for hunting.
• Tour the Yachana High School's campus and Organic Farm and interact with the students - learn about their lives in the rainforest that is their home.
• Learn to make traditional ceramic bowls called "mokaua" from an indigenous woman with clays collected from nearby little streams and weave your own basket from plant fibers collected from the surrounding forest.
• Visit the local community, elementary school, and the health clinic founded by Yachana and local villages.
• Observe a local family panning for gold - this is a genuine activity practiced by the poorest Amazon families who will genuinely enjoy your company and teaching you what they do.
• Enjoy a refreshing swim in the Napo River, one of the largest tributaries to the Amazon River.
• Float downriver in a canoe and enjoy the sights and sounds of the rainforest.
• Stargaze from our fabulous riverside deck.
• Watch stunningly beautiful sunsets from a high overlook.
• Visit our butterfly house and learn about true symbiosis and the life cycle of a butterfly.
• Enjoy the beautiful botanical gardens that surround the Lodge and identify some of over 90 species flowers with our photographic guide.