As the final part of our honeymoon, we ventured east into the Ecuadorian Amazon Basin via plane, minibus and then motorised dugout canoe; a 5.5 hour journey in total to reach the Tapir River Lodge. Leading us on this trip was Kurt, the very crazy and funny German guide / lodge owner. A fountain of Amazon knowledge and a joker at all hours of the day. You've got to watch Video 6 to appreciate how crazy and how much fun this guy was.
The trip was split fairly evenly into two sections; time spent in the motorised dugout canoe on the river and time trekking around in the jungle. There was so much to see and days were relaxing yet filled with a feast for the eyes.
The trip as a whole was a photographer's dream needing both distance zoom and macro close-up capabilities. That said, those expecting lots of large animals will be disappointed since it seems that the native indians have eaten most creatures that constitute a good supper. Consequently we did not see any Tapirs, Armadillos, etc. which were on our wish list.
Leading up to the trip, I thought it was going to be a nightmare from an annoying insect point of view, but apart from a load of mossie bites, we were largely left alone. The Tapir Lodge was an excellent base in the middle of nowhere and the sounds at night were out of this world.
Thanks to Adam Rheborg for letting me use some of the pictures he took of us. What a great trip!
By Darrell Grundy - visited on 1 December 2005