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The Huaorani people have inhabited the headwaters
of the Amazon for millennia, living as hunters and gatherers with no contact
from the outside world until as recently as the late-1950's. Indeed, at
least one Huaorani clan continues to shun all contact with outsiders.
Numbering approximately 1,200 individuals, the Huaorani continue to maintain
a largely traditional lifestyle, based in the rainforests of the headwaters
of the Amazon. Missionaries and oil companies have begun to introduce
outside influences, but, for the most part, the Huaorani still cling to
their traditional ways.
Our local partners have established
a close relationship with the Huaorani people. We have worked with them
to develop a joint program to bring visitors to one of their communities
on the upper Shiripuno River. Our "Amazon Headwaters with the Huaorani"
expedition gives you the opportunity to visit this unique and ageless
culture in it traditional setting, the rainforests of the
.jpg) |
| Our guide Moi and Huaorani friends. (Amazon
Rainforest, Ecuador) |
Amazon headwaters. As a company committed to the
principles of sustainability, we ensure that the community and ONHAE, the
Huaorani Federation, receive proper economic benefit from the tourism operation.
Each visitor pays a fee to the community and the Huaorani Federation, and
the local inhabitants, remunerated for their work in the operation, are
trained in all of the different areas relating to socially and ecologically
responsible tourism: guidance, restaurant operations, maintenance, proper
waste disposal methods and logistics.
As our ecotourism coordinator,
a Huaorani leader, Moi Enomenga, insures that we are able to visit this
unique culture in the most respectful fashion. Moi Enomenga has gained
a measure of fame for his feature roles in "New Yorker" articles
describing the Huaorani and their struggle against the oil companies,
for being the main character in the book "Savages" by Joe Kane,
and for playing a
.jpg) |
| Moi Enomenga, our Huaorani Guide Quehueri'ono.
(Amazon Rainforest, Ecuador) |
prominent role in an NBC documentary telling of
his struggle to protect Huaorani land from oil companies. Moi's community,
Quehueri'ono, is our counterpart in this joint venture. Moi believes that
ecotourism is a means by which his people can receive an income while maintaining
the integrity of Huaorani culture and conserving their rainforest territory,
thus enhancing the sustainability of their lifestyles and cultures and encouraging
their efforts to resist the more destructive initiatives of the oil industry.
Our program involves the exploration of both primary
and secondary rainforest in the company of Moi and one of our own bilingual
naturalist guides. Staying in cabins of local design and ecologically
friendly infrastructure, situated close to the community, we'll have the
opportunity to experience and learn about the Huaorani culture and their
close relationship with their rainforest home. We will observe Amazon
wildlife in our varied hikes and activities, and we will receive a conservationist
interpretation of the ecology and actual situation of the Ecuadorian Amazon
rainforest.
To sum up, this program is a very special experience
that affords the opportunity to visit one of the planet's most ecologically
important areas under the guidance of the leaders of a unique rainforest
culture. Although such urban comforts as hot water and private showers
may have to be given up for a few days, our expedition provides the possibility
of getting close to nature at its most exuberant. We will observe life
in the rainforest through the eyes of people who have lived there forever.
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The rainforest hikes are accessible to anyone
who enjoys reasonable fitness and enthusiasm.
.jpg) |
| Aerial view of the headwaters of the Amazon.
(Amazon Rainforest, Ecuador) |
During our activities, trip participants will be
required to carry their own daypacks, which will contain such items as a
rain poncho, binoculars and camera equipment.
Although our accommodations are very comfortable, trip
participants should be prepared to be flexible with respect to their expectations
of big city comforts. Our camp will be in a Huaorani house in the community.
We'll sleep on foam mattresses (or thermarests) inside tents or mosquito
nets, although bugs are not really a problem. We'll bathe with solar showers
outside of the cabaña, and bathrooms will be available near the
community. We do not add to the pressure on the environment by consuming
food that the Huaorani hunt and gather from the forest. The majority of
the food for the tourist operations is brought in from Quito, including
our drinking water. However, we do purchase locally and seasonally abundant
crops such as manioc, banana and papaya.
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After our arrival in Quito, we'll transfer to
our overnight accommodations at the Hotel Café Cultura. A beautiful
old colonial house situated in the new part of Quito, the hotel is located
only a block from the lively Avenida Amazonas, perfectly situated for
exploration of the city's museums and other attractions. Guests can enjoy
the hotel's carved-stone log fireplaces, its wood-paneled library, its
.jpg) |
| Rainforest trekking with a local shaman. (Amazon
Rainforest, Ecuador) |
private hammock-hung garden, and the chance
to take breakfast or afternoon tea on its garden terrace. Each of the
hotel's 16 rooms is decorated in an individual style and has a private
bathroom.
We'll get an early start on the day. Departing
our hotel, we'll leave Quito on the Avenue of Volcanos, traveling in an
eastward direction through the town of Baños and into the Amazon
Basin. At the small town of Shell, we'll stop for lunch in a local restaurant
before boarding a light aircraft for the breathtaking 45-minute flight
over the rainforest to the Huaorani village of Wentaro. As our plane lands,
we'll be met by Moi and a group of villagers. Our packs sent upriver by
canoe to our campsite, and we'll set off on foot for a 3-hour walk through
the rainforest. A refreshing swim in the Shiripuno River, which our campsite
overlooks, will round off our first intriguing day in the Amazon rainforests.
We'll attend a meeting with Huaorani community
representatives, who will officially welcome us and tell us about their
environment, history and social situation. They often inquire about our
guests' personal motivations for visiting. It is an informative and appropriately
soul-searching
.jpg) |
| Mengatoue, Huaorani shaman. (Amazon Rainforest,
Ecuador) |
experience. After lunch in the community, we will
hike into the hilly terra firma rainforest in the company of Moi and our
bilingual naturalist guide. We'll learn about a wide range of medicinal
plants on our walk, arriving back at our campsite before sunset.
We'll embark on a trek deep into the rainforest
in our search for the area's unique wildlife. While the jaguar certainly
lives in the forests, these big cats are very discrete and elusive. If
we are lucky, we may see their footprints along the trail. During the
course of our hike, we'll learn about the Huaorani's practical and spiritual
relationship with their rainforest environment. In the afternoon, we'll
visit community members in their homes to learn about their traditional
handicrafts.
After breakfast, we'll leave the campsite and
paddle down the river in our dugout canoes. We will make camp on a riverside
beach in the afternoon and visit an ox-bow lake. There's a good chance
that we will spot the unique hoatzin flapping on riverside bushes, and
we may see a caiman basking on the bank.
As we continue downstream, we'll eventually come
to a road bridge that crosses the river. We'll take our dugout canoes
out at the bridge and head overland in vehicles to the frontier town of
Coca, where we will spend the night in a comfortable hotel on the banks
of the Rio Napo, a major tributary of the Amazon.
The road to Coca was originally
built by Texaco to access the oil fields that today threaten the survival
of the Huaorani lifestyle. We'll have ample opportunities to witness firsthand
some of the
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| Night monkey, Huaorani Territory. (Amazon
Rainforest, Ecuador) |
impacts of the drilling and exploration for oil,
as well as the consequent colonization of the rainforest. This will provide
us with a unique understanding of the Huaorani's present-day struggle for
survival.
In the morning, we will explore Coca before flying
back to Quito. Arriving in Ecuador's capital city shortly after noontime,
we'll have the entire afternoon and evening free for shopping or explorations
around colonial Quito. After settling into our old home, the Hotel Café
Cultura, we'll enjoy dinner at Quito's La Querencia Restaurant.
After breakfast, we'll transfer to Quito's international
airport for our return flights home.
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