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. LA SELVA JUNGLE LODGE has many exciting excursions which will give you a genuine feeling for this important, beautiful and richly biodiverse region of the world.

Besides the small size and the vast experience, LA SELVA also offers you as much world class efficiency as you want. What can you expect to feel at LA SELVA? As close to nature as you've ever been. Through more than fifteen years of refinement, LA SELVA has achieved a oneness with our enviroment. LA SELVA sits high on a lake called Garzacocha. The cabanas come of native design; rustic, authentic, confortable with unexpected amenities, hot water and sanitary beyond your wildest expectations.

ZZ-ECU-Am04
4 days / 3 nights  Fr-Mo  $ 995
5 days / 4 nights  Mo-FR $ 1,195
Flights Quito-Coca-Quito~135
not included: Entrance fee to Yasuni National Park  $25

Lodging
The cabanas come of native design: rustic, authentic, comfortable. We have unexpected amenities such as hot water and everything is sanitary beyond your wildest expectations. The cabanas could be described as private bungalows that are dry, cozy and immaculately clean, although made entirely of secondary rainforest materials and designed to blend with the surroundings. Each one has a private bathroom, a hammock and mosquito netting in each bed. There are 17 thatched cabanas, each with a pointed roof, the gathering spots are the spacious dinning room also with a cone-shape roof and an open-air combined bar and lounge area with a wrap-around view of the lake. There is also the hammock hut available for afternoon "siestas" (spanish for nap) or reviewing the great shots of the day from your digital cameras.

Meals
The food is our pride. It blends the finest ingredients Ecuador has to offer with French, North American and Ecuadorian culinary skills. Expect to try most of these fruits: uvillas, guayabas, guanabanas, naranjillas, morete, obos, taxo, granadilla and tomate de arbol. We make Amazonian pizza that will rival any; veal milanesa a l'Amazon; and local fish, when available, prepared with one of our numerous original recipes (Vegetarian and special diets are available request).

• WALK BY A NATIVE'S HOUSE: Cross Garzacocha Lake. Two and a half to three hour walk on a purposely underdeveloped trail which has some physical challenge. Half of the walk takes place in primary forest and the other half passes the huts of our indigenous neighbors along the Napo River.

• MANDICOCHA TRAIL: An easy trail close to the hotel 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.

• EL SALADO: This is a two hour excursion often combined with a picnic lunch and trips across the Napo River. Visit a site where, with a little luck, parrots and parakeets, by the thousands can be seen.

• HIGH FOREST TRAIL: The duration can vary between three to five hours. Cross the Napo River and arrive at a challenging trail which offers yet another ecosystem. It is a chance to see birds and wildlife nowhere else seen. Try the lemon ants! 

• PILCHE TRAIL: Cross Garzacocha Lake then one hour or more of walking. See an enormous colony of leafcutter ants and whatever wildlife may come your way.

• NIGHT EXCURSIONS: Canoe or walking trips after dark to view nocturnal animals such as caiman, monkeys, insects and owls.

• OBSERVATION TOWER: Not far from the lodge you can observe many birds flying by at eye-level, wildlife of all kinds, and , yes, a bird's-eye view of it all.

• PEDRO'S TRAIL: Two versions available. Cross Garzacocha lake, walk through the virgin forest and arrive at the tower; four hours. Short version: Pass butterfly farm and join the trail in the middle; two hours.

• CHAWAMANGO'S TRAIL: Head east at Mandicocha trailhead and walk along the lake. Arrive at Napo River. Return by elevated walkway and cross Garzacocha by canoe; three hours.

• LITTLE CHAWAMANGO: Short trip by foot around the edge of Lake Garzacocha. Return by canoe to the lodge.

• RUTH'S TRAIL: Across the Mandicocha lake, it goes on and on and on. Good place to look for Jaguars.

  COMBINATIONS OF THE ABOVE ARE LIMITED ONLY BY OUR NATURALIST'S IMAGINATIONS

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.

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.

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 them.

Departure Quito - Coca

Please make known the hotel in which you will be staying the night before your trip to LA SELVA. If possible, contact La Selva the afternoon before your departure so that we can give you up-to-the-minute flight information, because we very often use private flights which do not fly out of the main terminal.

You will be picked up at your hotel and transported to the airport for your flight (extra cost). Otherwise travel by taxi to the airport and one of our representatives will be there to greet you. Your ticket will be handed out before board.

Your flight will land in the jungle out post of Coca. After a 15 minutes transfer to a private dock.
A two hour canoe trip down the Napo river brings you to our lodge. An English-speaking naturalist will a accompany you.

Arrival at LA SELVA

Along the way you will have received a box lunch and a large selection of snacks awaits you in the bar along with, a complimentary welcome cocktail and your naturalist guides. An excursion will be arranged as quickly as you want. The guides will suggest the best ways to get started at LA SELVA. Enjoy!

LA SELVA

If a single cabin is available for the entire length of your stay, it will be provided free of charge. Otherwise, singles must share or, if essential, pay fifty percent (50 %) more over La Selva price.

Should you feel more comfortable without valuables in your room, make this known to the administrator or guide. Envelopes, which we encourage to seal yourself, are offered upon arrival at the lodge. Although we expect no incidents of loss or theft, LA SELVA is not responsible for valuables left in the room.

We encourage our guests to explore the surroundings on their own, however certain precautions must be taken:

• Before departure, notify the administrator or guide of your intended route.
• Stay on established trails unless details of a more adventurous outing have been thoroughly worked out.
  It is quite possible that a group of novices will tip over a small canoe, so dress accordingly.
• Should you wish to extend your stay at LA SELVA, please notify a guide or administrator and we will make every effort to accommodate you.