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At LA SELVA Jungle Lodge, situated high on Lake Garzacocha, deep in the Ecuadorian Amazon region, we offer you the ultimate in luxury jungle experience. Ours is a very special way to visit the Amazon rainforest, and we hope that this web page will answer many of your questions about how to visit us. We have many exciting excursions which will give you a genuine feeling for this important, beautiful and richly biodiverse region of the world. It is our hope that your stay with us will give you an experience of, and a relationship with our jungle which you will never in your life forget.
Besides our small size (which will remain unchanged despite great demand) and our vast experience, LA SELVA also offers you as much world class efficiency as you want. We like to say that anything we can control we do control, and friendly service is one of our trademarks.
The Butterfly Farm
The interest in our butterfly farm is overwhelming. Now entering its 10th year of operation, our guests have enjoyed this attraction even more than we expected. Only 5 minutes from the lodge, a guide will take you there at least once during your stay; however, many people go back a second and third time on their own.
The LA SELVA Butterfly farm was designed to present an ecologically sound, sustainable alternative way to help preserve the rainforest. It is another step in our ongoing effort to find viable ways (besides ecotourism) to help save this beautiful ra inforest.
So we breed butterflies - we don't catch them in the forest - and sell them live all over the world. The staff of 15 which we employ increases as our operation increases. Plans for expansion are in the works.
The farm is the first professional enterprise of its type in South America, the only one in the world located in primary forest and one of only a handful throughout the world. Others are located in Madagascar, the Philippines, Malaysia and Costa Rica.
We produce as many as 35,000 butterflies per year from egg to caterpillar to pupa for exportation.
LA SELVA sends pupae to such diverse locations as a zoo in Holland, a castle in France, and Cypress Gardens in Florida where they fly in enclosed botanical gardens, spreading the message of beauty and the importance of the rainforest with every beat of their wings. Many of the people who visit these places (as many as 30,000 per day at Cypress Gardens) are inspired to visit the marvelous Amazon Basin. At the very least, we know that it makes people think about what they have got before it is gone; a nd even if it is only for an instant, we feel that we have accomplished something of great value.
There are more than 50 butterfly exhibition houses in Canada, the United States and Asia.
As for the guests of LA SELVA, they have the opportunity to see this miracle of nature (with luck they may even witness the marvel of metamorphosis), and our butterfly farm is perhaps the best photo opportunity that LA SELVA has to offer.
The Biology Field Station
In 1992 LA SELVA created, built and continues to fund The Neotropical Field Biology Institute. Researchers from around the world come to our lodge to carry out scientific investigation. Ask your guide what may be happening during your stay. You might have a chance to rub elbows with a field biologist.
Bird Watching
With perhaps the highest species list in the neotropics, LA SELVA uses native birding experts for those guests with this singular passion. The natives speak minimal English, but know the names of all the birds, and, more importantly, how to find th em. Please specify in advance if you are a birder and would like to take advantage of this service.
The Itinerary
Day 1:
Visitors fly from Quito to Coca, where you will be met at the airport and provided with transport to La Selva Lodge.
Day 2-3 (see info below):
Optional Excursions (see information below)
Day 4:
Transport will be provided to the airport in Coca, where you will be able to take the flight back to Quito.
Excursions:
TREK IN THE VECINITY OF THE INDIGENOUS COMMUNITY: To begin the tour, we will cross Garzacocha Lake. We will then set off on a 2-3 hour walk on a purposely underdeveloped trail, which provides some physical challenge. Half of the walk takes place in primary forest and the other half passes the huts of our indigenous neighbours along the Napo River.
MANDICOCHA TRAIL: An easy trail close to the hotel in an area which is usually filled with wildlife no matter what hour of the day you do it. The excursion can last as long as you want.
MANDICOCHA-MANDIYACU: A 3 to 4 hour trip. Follow the Mandicocha trail until you reach Mandicocha Lake, which has a completely different ecosystem from Lake Garzacocha (where the hotel is located). Board paddle canoes for a one and half hour glide down Mandiyacu stream. One easily sees the myriad of wildlife that presents itself along the shores of the stream. Arriving at the Napo River, board a motorised canoe for the trip back to LA SELVA.
EL SALADO: This is a two-hour excursion often combined with a picnic lunch and trips across the Napo River (see following activities). Visit a site where, with a little luck, parrots, parakeets and macaws can be seen by the thousands.
HIGH FOREST TRAIL: The duration of this trail can vary from 3 to 5 hours. Cross the Napo River and arrive at a challenging mountainous trail, which offers yet another ecosystem. This is a chance to see birds and other wildlife seen nowhere else … as well as a chance to eat lemon ants!
CHALLUACOCHA LAKE: This is a motorised canoe trip down the Napo River, followed by a walk and a paddle canoe trip to Challuacocha for a picnic at a shelter overlooking the lake. You will then have the opportunity to enjoy some relaxing canoeing, fishing for piranhas, or a two-hour hike through yet another unique forest.
PILCHE TRAIL: On this tour we’ll firstly cross Garzacocha Lake and then walk for one hour or more. We’ll see an enormous colony of leafcutter ants and whatever wildlife may come our way.
NIGHT EXCURSIONS: There are opportunities to go on canoe or walking trips after dark to view nocturnal animals such as caimans, monkeys, insect and owls. Sample the LA SELVA nightlife!
135 FOOT OBSERVATION TOWER: Not far from the lodge you can spend many hours observing birds flying by at eye-level, wildlife of all kinds, and yes, a bird's-eye view of it all.
BUTTERFLY FARM: This activity is available every afternoon. Close to the lodge, you’ll be able to watch and photograph butterflies at close range. With a little luck, you’ll also witness the miracle of metamorphosis.
PEDRO'S TRAIL: Two versions of this trip are available. You can either cross Garzacocha Lake, walk through virgin forest, and arrive at the tower in about 4 hours or pass by the Butterfly Farm and join the trail in the middle, which will take just 2 hours.
CHAWAMANGO'S TRAIL: On this trip we head east at Mandicocha trailhead and walk parallel to the lake, arriving at Napo River. We’ll then return by elevated walkway and cross Garzacocha by canoe. This trip takes about 3 hours.
LITTLE CHAWAMANGO: This is a short trip by foot around the edge of Lake Garzacocha. We return to the lodge by canoe.
RUTH'S TRAIL: Across Mandicocha, the trail just goes on and on and on……. This is a very good place to look for jaguars. The trail is named after the owner's mother.
General Information
Rated: Easy
Departure dates
4 days/3 nights leaves every Wednesday and Friday
5 days/4 nights leaves every Saturday and Monday
The 7 days/6 nights Amazon Light Brigade runs every Tuesday (till Monday)
Note: Flexible departures under request (except Sundays)
| Price per person in Bungalow | |||||||||
| Duration | 4 days/3 nights | 5 days/4 nights | 7 days/6 nights | ||||||
| USD | $ 576 | $ 690 | $ 1324 | ||||||
| EUR | € 478 | € 572 | € 1098 | ||||||
| GBP | £ 322 | £ 386 | £ 741 | ||||||
| Domestic Flights: USD 140 / GBP 78 / EUR 116 | |||||||||
Price Includes:
Accommodation, all meals, all excursions, native guides, bilingual guides, all ground/aquatic transportation
Price does not Include:
Beverages, gratuities, flight Quito-Coca-Quito
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