5-Day Amazon Camping and Kayaking Discover Yasuni

This adventure exceeded my expectations on all fronts. First, I am thoroughly impressed with Adventure Journey’s staff. They did everything to make sure that this was the trip of a lifetime. Diego was our guide and did a fantastic job making sure that all of the logistics were in order. It was very helpful that he speaks English fluently since I only know basic Spanish. Wilson was our native guide. He also spoke enough English to communicate with us. He know the jungle very well and was able to spot and identify a variety of wildlife for us to observe, learn about, and enjoy. Ma Ma is a support chef. He prepared a variety of tasty meals make with mostly local organic ingredients. We enjoyed every meal. All these guys we passionate about the jungle and were excited to share I with us. Our accommodations were comfortable including comfortable mattresses and a large tent, and yes, even a real American style toilet and shower! I know that they must have put a lot of effort into creating this camp. All of our travel logistics including transfers were handled professionally and flawlessly. Veronica at the office was very responsive to our questions. The Ecuadorian people were very friendly. Safety was a concern of mine traveling with my 16 year old daughter. We felt very safe not only in the Amazon but during our stay in Quito.

We did the 16 day Galapagos and Yasuni Amazon camping trip with Adventure Journeys, and it was incredible, from start to finish. It was very easy to book the trip, and we were able to modify hotels and add additional tours/excursions. We worked with Paolo on booking, and she was super helpful and answered our many questions. Our mainland/Amazon guide was Diego Muñoz, and he was fantastic. He helped ensure that all of our transfers between hotels and airports and everywhere else went smoothly. He was always on time, which we appreciated (even if we weren't, sorry Diego!). He is a super friendly guy and very knowledgeable of Quito and Ecuador in general. He was great with our kids and helped keep them engaged. He really went above and beyond throughout the trip. Our guide for the Galapagos portion of the trip was James Sanchez, and he was equally fantastic. Similarly, he was right there to help with all of the logistics. He has a great deal of knowledge of the Galapagos and its geology, history, flora, and fauna. He was super patient with the kids and helped encourage them throughout our many activities. He also helped us find some awesome local places to eat. I would also like to comment on our local guide for the Amazon portion of the trip, Hector. Hector is awesome. He could identify all the birds and monkeys in the jungle in an instant. His knowledge of the Amazon and the life therein is impressive. He's a very interesting person and was so helpful with our kids. I was expecting the Galapagos Islands to be magical, which they were. I was, however, surprised at how much I loved Quito and the surrounding highlands. Quito is incredibly beautiful, we had some great food there, and the people were super friendly. We felt very safe. The Yasuni Amazon portion of the trip was fascinating and fun. Definitely hot, but cool enough to sleep at night and surprisingly free from mosquitoes. To sum up this super long-winded review, I would highly recommend this 16 day trip with Adventure Journeys. Our guides were fantastic and made the trip so easy and fun. I would not hesitate to book another trip with Adventure Journeys, and I would love to come back to see more of Ecuador.

Our 5 day trip into the Amazon was unforgettable! The travel into and out of the deep jungle was long (a whole day each way), but once in the jungle the experience was amazing. The 3 full days our little group of 6 enjoyed was just that: FULL! Several hikes deep into the jungle (one actually led by a local Waorani chieftain); early morning and night paddles down the river bordering our little tent camp; observing birds, butterflies, and various other wildlife - - for example: capturing and examining a Cayman (before letting it go and returning it to the wild), catching an electric eel before it managed to escape, and snagging a piranha in a pond a little distance from the flowing river (which all 6 of us got a little taste of later that night at dinner); visiting a Waorani homestead where we all tried to operate a Waorani blowgun (some of us not too successfully ????); and we even got to take a swim in the river (but far away from the pond where the piranhas prowled). And I can’t say enough good things about our guides and our indigenous hosts at the tent camp. Alfonso, our tour guide, and Wilson, our indigenous guide, were everything you would want a guide to be: knowledgeable, helpful, enthusiastic, and all this with a sense of humor. And our indigenous hosts made sure that we were well taken care of and well fed. (There was a language barrier, to be sure, but the staff did not let that interfere with their kindness.) I was very happy to have the experience of this trip!