Reviews

Amazing Amazonian experience.
By Sukie S for [EN] Yasuní Tour | 5 Days & 4 Nights on Jan 06, 2024
JS
Good family experience. Guide very knowledgeable of Amazonia region. Food was okay.
By Jordan S for [EN] Yasuní Tour | 2 Days & 1 Night on Feb 01, 2023
I had a fantastic time : great people and amazing accommodations ! Would recommend :)
By Delphine S for Archive_Pink Dolphin Expedition: 5 Days | 4 Nights on Jan 11, 2023

References

We booked the pink dolphin expedition, a tour of 5 days and 4 nights to the Yasuni national park.  The first day we spent 9 hours to reach Nuevo Rocafuerte a really long meditating trip going down the Coca river. We spent 2 nights in the lagoon Jatuncocha close to the Peruvian border. There we camped, had a tent on an elevated wooden platform with a roof on the top. In the night we went out with the canoe to spot Caimans and fishes. The water level was so low that fishes were jumping into the canoe. Once a big caiman bumped into our canoe by accident from below, fortunately the canoe was big enough. No harm from both the sides. The caiman swam away after glancing at us for few seconds.   During the day we saw many pink dolphins and different kind of birds, some of which are macaws, parrots, king fishers and etc. It was challenging not to walk at all, but rather to sit for longer duration of time.  The cook was good, given the circumstances he had, a smaller portable kitchen. But he provided us with good food with what he could. As we were static, we were not hungry. We were accompanied by three men in total, through out our entire journey: the canoe driver who was also our cook, his assistant and the guide. We went for fishing for two days. It was delicious to eat the fresh caught fishes. On the third day we went to a place on the Cocaya river. It was about 3 hours drive by canoe. There we could fed a semi domesticated dolphin. The locals have their own techniques to call the dolphins. Initially they just splashed the water after a while they used a long metalic iron rod and made noise, eventually one Dolphin came. The next day we tried the same techniques but the dolphin didn't show up (there were so many fishes in the river due to the low water level). The following night was spent in a cabin in the middle of the forest. From the agency they informed us the first day that the guide will organize more activities for us but instead our guide told us that there is not much wild life to spot in this part of the jungle. Since we insisted we went on a twenty minutes walk in the night and saw some insects and a Coral snake. Before dinner we went to look for some native leaves to cook fish (Maito de Tikapia). The next day we went back the Coca river and it took 7 hours, arrived at the Pilche lodge and had dinner. The fifth day we went to a clay leak to see parrots gathering to eat clay and then to a canopy tower to see monkeys and birds. We were supposed to encounter the community, but they were only displaying some handcrafts. There, we didn't learn anything about the community and regret it. Eventually we drove back for three hours in the canoe to Coca. We had lunch in the middle of the way on a sand bank. The agency was helping to organize the trip. I had many questions about how to reach Coca by night bus from Quitumbe. We took a night bus at 10 pm from Quito and arrived at 4:30 am in Coca. The tour started at 8 am. Patricio from the agency always answered with patience all my questions. We paid 80 percent of the price through an international bank transfer. It took us a while to decide or not to do this tour. We were wishing to see an untouched part of the Amazon. We were hesitant due to the price, around 850 dollar per person. In addition to that we had to pay 20 dollars per head in the dolphin place.  The team was made of three persons. Miguel called Pila-Pila was at the same time canoe driver and cook. He had a hard job doing both jobs at the same time and was always working. He was always in a good mood and made many jokes in spanish. Even if he had so different food habits than us, he made an effort to cook more vegetables (less carbs and meat). Even though we have eaten enough meat and fish for the rest of the year. He was often asking us about improvements. Fabiano was assisting Miguel. He was polite and shy. He could have been more proactive to support Miguel. Our guide was Mauro (not sure about the spelling). He spoke a good English and has a broad knowledge about fauna, flora and the community life. Most of the time Mauro was passive while we were traveling on the canoe. He was always friendly, answering our multiple questions and professional at spoting animals. We only regret that he could have been more proactive while our cook was preparing food, to organise a small walk or telling more about nature. We wish that he could have been a bit more organized with providing us information and little more activities. To be honest the last two days of the trip we could clearly feel that organization was missing from our guide.  At the end we were debating with my girlfriend if we should give a tip. They did a fair job (i want to underline that the job of Miguel was impressive). We regret to not know how much they are paid by the agency. For us it was a really expensive tour and did not completely match our expectations. It can also be our fault by not informing us enough about this tour.  Going to the deep Amazon is a one life experience and hopefully contribute to its conservation. It needs a lot of patience and a good preparation. I strongly advise to have spanish knowledge in order to ease the communication. I hope that this review we will support anyone who wants to explore the Amazon.
By Mathieu Claude Alexis Q on 03 Sep, 2022