Amazon Tropical Rain Forest of Ecuador

The Amazon Rain Forest Jungle ecosystem is considered to be the richest and most complex environment of plant and animal life in the world.

The vast region is characterized by a huge diversity of flora and fauna with extraordinary variations and contrasts in its habitats and micro habitats.

The Amazon tropical rain forest represents well over more than 80% of the remaining tropical rain forests on Earth.

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Ecuador Amazon Rainforest covers more than 50% of its territory. It is home of one of the most unique natural attractions within its forests, rivers and lakes, among which we can find:

• The largest and easiest access Macaw and parrot clay licks.
• Over 11 species of monkeys like the Red - howler monkeys, Spider monkeys, and Golden mantle-tamarinds
• Lakes that offer the largest species of reptiles in the country like the shy Black Caiman, and endangered mammals such as Giant Otters.

With over 1,600 bird species Ecuador houses more than half of South America's avifauna.

The Amazon tropical rain forest is a bird watchers paradise which contains one third of Ecuador bird species offering:

• Multi colored tanagers
• The rarest ant birds
• Large Toucans
• Some of the most powerful birds of prey on the planet (Harpy Eagle)

In the Neotropics, flora and fauna have zones of high endemism and species richness.

These areas coincide with regions where tropical rain forests persisted like islands located in a sea of grass and seasonal forest during the glacial maxima.

These diversity hotspots are also known as Pleistocene refugia and there are more than a dozen found in the Amazon region.

There is actually an immense refugia situated in western Amazon near the Andes Mountains.

A large part of that area is, in fact, located in the Ecuadorian Amazon Basin.

More specifically, at the Napo Pastaza and Morona regions which include protected areas such as the Gran Sumaco Biosphere Reserve.

And the Yasuni Biosphere Reserve which encompasses Limoncocha Biological Reserve, Cuyabeno Faunistic Reserve, Pañacocha Protected Forest and Yasuni National Park.

In the Ecuadorian Amazon at Cuyabeno, for instance, the number of tree species on a small plot of about 1 hectare (2.5 acres) is 307.

This hyper-rich plot comprises 10 percent of the entire tree flora of Amazonian Ecuador!

To truly take advantage of the Amazon tropical rain forest you must awake all five senses to discover how exotic life forms have evolved to live together in a minimal extent of land.

The embracing sounds tell of the hundreds of birds and insects that keep this living forest in constant change.

The many other animal and plant species need of careful observation to be found because their amazing colors and textures adaptations get confused with the scenery.

The many smells tell you of the chemicals that the plants have developed as a defense for herbivores and many are of medicinal use for humans.

Amazon Rainforest House

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The soil of the Amazon rain forest is not fertile, the nutrients that supply this exuberant ecosystem are the product of a constant interaction between the living and dying organisms on the surface.

Many hypotheses have been raised to explain the impressive high diversity in the tropical rain forest and each provides an insight to understand this complex ecosystem better.

The incredible complexity of the Amazon tropical rain forest makes you wonder about the ancestral knowledge of the millenarian Amazon rainforest indigenous people that have passed their knowledge generation after generation as to keep the secrets hidden in this wonderful place on Earth.

A short flight from the City of Quito or a descent by road on the flanks of the Andes leads modern explorers and adventurers along the same routes that the first Spanish conquerors ventured through in their search of the land of Gold and Cinnamon.

Amazon Tropical Rain Forest Weather

The average daytime temperature is 30-32º C (85-90º F), while nights can cool down to 23º C (68º F).

The rainy period is during April to August (still considered a prime time to visit the Amazon because of increased animal activity).

Amazon Tropical Rain Forest History in Ecuador

Not knowing that at the end they will discover the Great Amazon River, and of course the incredible Amazon rain forest.

Almost 500 years have passed since the discovery of this magnificent river system that flows through the Amazon tropical rain forest.

It contains 10% of all existing trees, 70% of all pharmaceutical compounds, and native Amazon Indians that live symbiotically with their unique ecosystem.

AMAZON JUNGLE TOUR: Explore the Amazon tropical rain forest of Ecuador beneath the gigantic Amazon trees, along boardwalks crossing palm swamps and up observation towers for a close look at the forest canopy With this Exclusive Amazon Jungle Tour

Amazon Tropical Rain Forest Check List

• Comfortable walking shoes or tennis
• Rubber boots and rain ponchos
• Long pants, 3 or 4 lightweight (not jeans)
• Long and short sleeved cotton shirts of blouses
• Cotton socks, a pair per day
• Shorts, 2 or 3
• Shirts, 3 or 4
• Bathing suit
• Cotton underwear
• Hat or cap
• Canteen
• Suntan lotion
• Sunglasses
• Binoculars
• Waterproof small backpack
• Insect repellent
• Cameras with high speed film
• Plastic bags for wet clothes

VACCINATIONS: No vaccinations are required to visit Ecuador. There has not been any case of tropical diseases (malaria, yellow fever, cholera) reported in or near the area.

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