KAPAWI ECOLODGE

Deep in a remote corner of the southern Oriente is a lodge that combines luxurious accommodations and service with the highest principles of ecotourism, in the middle of some of the most pristine rainforest in the country.

  The Kapawi Ecolodge was begun in 1993, down the Río Pastaza within a stone’s throw of the Peruvian border. This is the heart of Ecuadorian Achuar territory, so before Kapawi’s parent company broke ground, approval had to be secured from OINAE, the indigenous group’s political organization. Three years later, the lodge was able to provide local communities with jobs and ongoing economic support in the form of rent paid for the land. Most of the employees who work for the lodge are Achuar, and Kapawi will pass into Achuar management in the year 2011.

  The lodge itself was built entirely with native materials and methods—incredibly, not a single metal nail was used in the construction. Walkways link bungalows with room for 50 people who may find it easy to forget they’re more than 100 kilometers from the nearest city of any size. Everything is first class and completely ecofriendly. One of the largest private solar projects in South America powers the lights, all trash is recycled, and even the soap is biodegradable. Bottled drinking water and a British-valet-style umbrella are provided free of charge.

  Two main buildings house a small library, a boutique, a meeting room, and a dining hall, which specializes in exotic jungle fruits and local delicacies. Activities begin after an early breakfast. Silent electric motors power dugout canoes that take you down narrow blackwater streams, where long-nosed bats and Amazon kingfishers launch from the waterside branches. Flocks of blue and yellow macaws claim sandbars in the wide Pastaza, and this is the only place in the country where you might spot an orinoco goose.

  Hikes ranging from easy to difficult are led by indigenous and biologist guides. Electric-blue morpho butterflies dance down forest trails like living sparks, while troops of squirrel monkeys make huge leaps from branch to bending branch along the river. Indigenous guides demonstrate how forest tribes knock on buttress roots to signal over long distances, and point out plant after plant put to countless uses by the Achuar.

  One of the highlights of any stay is a visit to an Achuar settlement. After a traditional greeting by your guide and a brief chat with the owner, your group will be served nijiamanch by women in the tankamash, or male part of the house. Say maketai (thank you, pronounced mah-keh-TIE) and at least pretend to drink the sour beverage, made from chewed-up yucca fermented with human saliva—to refuse would be considered an insult. A tour of the small chakra where various medicinal plants are cultivated follows.

  Visits to Kapawi range from $625 d for four days to $1,340 for eight days, plus $200 for transportation and a $10 pp per-day tax to the local Achuar community. For more information and to book a visit, contact Canodros in Guayaquil (4/2285-711 or 4/2514-750, U.S. tel. 800/613-6026, fax 4/2287-651, canodros@canodros.com, www.kapawi.com).