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The Amazon Rainforest is the largest remaining tropical rainforest on earth. Called the "Oriente", it covers more than half of Ecuador's surface, lying on the eastern side of the Andean cordillera. With its amazing biodiversity it represents one of the wildest, most wildlife-packed rain forests of the world with one of the biggest density of endemic plants and animals.

One Amazonian tree can host more ant species than whole England together, one hectare of forest boasts about as many frog species as all of North America, and the great expanse of the jungle contains more than twenty percent of the earth's vascular plant species. The Upper Amazon part has the highest diversity of trees world wide, with more than 1500 species and an average of nearly 300 trees per hectare.

Birdwatchers are able to observe up to 100 birds in a day, from the smallest hummingbird to the huge king vulture or the biggest bird of prey, the famous Harpy Eagle. The jungle is also home to different types of mammals, for example 12 species of primates are recorded in the Yasuní National Park. Sometimes a Jaguar can be observed along the river, as are often others as Capybaras, Tapirs, Caimans, Otters and River Dolphins.

Trough the Amazon basin circulates one sixth of all the fresh water of the earth and all the rivers in Ecuador are tributary rivers of the huge Amazon River.

The rivers are classified in two different types, the brown muddy "white water" rivers as the Napo river and the "black water" rivers and systems as the Lagartococha or Cuyabeno areas.

On a series of well marked trails the guides explain their guests the different types of primary forest. The "terra firme" (upland) forest contains the highest plant diversity, along the rivers we find the "várzea" (seasonally flooded forest), huge swamp parts are home to the Mauritius palm tree and in the “igapo” forest (temporally black water flooded forest) sustains again a different array of trees.

This tropical rainforest is home to nearly 200 distinct indigenous nations. In Ecuador we find culturally different groups as the Kichwa, Siona, Secoya, Cofán, Shuar, Achuar, Záparo and the fierce Huaorani.

They are the ancient keepers and guardians of this biological heritage. They life from the forest and know all the useful and medicinal plants of their habitat.

Unfortunate the Amazon basin is also rich in industrial products that get exploited in a huge scale as latex, timber, oil, gold and other minerals. Also settlers are a huge threat for the forest and their hunting pressure on the animals makes them retreat deeper into the forest.

Several National Parks try to protect the last patches of undisturbed primary rainforest. Created in 1979, the Yasuní National Park is the largest mainland park of Ecuador (982,000 hectares) and the UNESCO declared it an International Biosphere Reserve in the same year.

North of the Yasuní National Park we find the Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve, was created as well in 1979 and covers a territory of 655,78 hectares. It has become an important Reserve because of its 14 spectacular lagoons created by lowland rainforest floods and the numerous rivers crossing the area.

Most of the Lodges are found in or adjacent to the Park and the Reserve and to their unmatched huge biodiversities.