A Trip to the Rainforest

Take a break into the Ecuadorian Amazon! The Manatee Explorer offers a comfortable adventure full of excitement!

If you want to escape from everyday stress, the possibility of venturing into the Amazon is only a 20 minute flight from Quito. You fly to Coca, where the oil lands begin and where you find the fluvial port on the Napo river, one of the important affluents of the Amazonas River.

Buy your package tour in Quito at the Advantage Travel Offices . Absolutely everything will be organized. You navigate on the Manatee “Flotel” through Napo waters, take canoes into the smaller branches of the river, into the Panacocha and Limoncocha Lakes and safari along the shores observing the amazing tones of green the rainforest displays, and the exciting wildlife: monkeys, black caimans, piranhas, small boas, turtles, not to mention the exotic birds: only Limoncocha lake is inhabited by 465 species of birds, more than exist in the entire USA!

One of the highlights is the visit to the amazing parrot clay licks where literally hundreds of parrots and macaws of five different species gather to “lick” the minerals the clay walls have to offer. Why do they do this?  These birds, as well as other animals of the rainforest, eat nuts from a variety of trees.   Some nuts have evolved a toxin as a defense of predators.  Thus, the animals that eat them can get sick.  However, certain minerals in the clay are able to neutralize the toxins in these nuts.  So, animals seek out clay deposits, which have become an important element for their wellbeing.

The Manatee tour takes you to a blind that has been constructed at the Napo Wildlife Center Reserve Area (www.napowildlifecenter.com).  Visiting these clay licks helps to support an 82-square-mile private reserve and also supports Yasuní National Park, which is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve.

Take nocturnal walks into the rainforest led by excellent guides that will point out the threats and treasures that the jungle has to offer. A pristine natural park such as the Yasuní allows you to see monkeys, birds (465 species only around Limoncocha). Eat delicious healthy food onboard, enjoy air conditioned rooms, and meet at the conference lounge to be instructed on the following day’s program. The tours are from Fridays to Mondays or from Mondays to Fridays or if you prefer take an entire week!

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