Napo Wildlife Center

One of the newest Amazon lodges in the country (it opened in 2003), the Napo Wildlife Center is also one of the best. The lodge sits on Añangu Lake inside Yasuní National Park, and is run by local Quechua Indians who ensure that visitors have an outstanding wildlife and cultural experience while causing as little impact as possible. After a two-hour motor canoe ride down the Napo from Coca, guests switch over to dugout canoes and are paddled two more hours upstream to the lake. Ten comfortable thatched-roof bungalows each have private baths and mosquito nets, and a five-story observation tower overlooks the dining room and lounge.

  Excursions include climbing the 36-meter canopy observation tower, visiting local indigenous communities, hikes through the forest, and spending time at two of the most easily accessible clay licks in the country, where dozens of parrots and parakeets converge at once (the best months for this are December and January). Over 560 species of birds have been recorded nearby. Packages include four- and five-night visits that run $715–915 pp, including airfare from Quito.

  For reservations and information contact Quasar Expeditions (Brasil 293 and Granda, Edificio IACA, tel. 2/2446-996 or 2/2446-997, quasarnautica@quasarnautica.com, www.quasarnautica.com).