2019 november: Ecuador - Yasuni and Cuyabeno, Amazon
The next morning, I took the plane and flew to El Coca or Puerto Francisco de Orellana.
It is the capital of the province of Orellana and is located in the Amazon lowland directly on the Napo River (Rio Napo). From there it was about 80 km by speedboat on the Rio Napo to the Napo Wildlife Center at the Anangucocha Lagoon in the Yasuni National Park. This area is administered by the Quichua indigenous group. The region around the Laguna Anangucocha is rich in fauna. Here you can watch giant otters, anacondas, howler monkeys, capuchin monkeys and a variety of birds and also take photos.
My special interest was the herptiles (snakes, frogs, toads, lizards and anoles). Already in Coca on the pier I met my guide Jose Vieira, a studied biologist / herpetologist and Venezuelan from the Tropical Herping Organization, who is dedicated to animal and environmental protection especially for reptiles and amphibians. Together we spent 7 days and especially the nights to photograph the special wildlife.
Back by boat in Coca, we continued a bit north to the Cuyabeno wildlife reserve. In Coca I took a local taxi and drove the approximately 80 km to Nueva Loja. Freddy, my guide for the next 5 days, received me here. We packed everything we needed into our boat and drove over the Aquarica River, Cuyabeno River and the Aqua Negras River (Black Water River) to the Cuyabeno Game Reserve. It took us 5 hours to cover the distance of approx. 180 km. There is no civilization here other than the Kichwa indigenous group. I have not seen tourists, but animals and a fantastic silence in the midst of this breathtaking landscape are enough.
