Yasuní National Park

Biodiversity hotspot reached by river from Coca, home to uncontacted Waorani peoples

The 9,820 sq km Yasuní National Park, a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, lies downriver from Coca. It contains lowland rainforest of extraordinary richness — saltlicks where macaws and parrots gather in their hundreds, oxbow lakes patrolled by black caiman and giant otters, troops of red howler and squirrel monkeys, and a hundred and fifty species of frog.

Access is exclusively by boat down the Napo. Most visitors book a multi-day lodge stay (Sani, Napo Wildlife Center, Napo Cultural Center, Yasuní Kichwa Ecolodge) that includes guides, transport and food. Independent travel inside the park is restricted; the Waorani communities and the protected zones around them are off-limits. Permits and naturalist guides are arranged through the lodges in advance.

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A story
Yasuní is one of the most biodiverse places on the planet — a single hectare can contain more tree species than all of North America. It is also home to the Tagaeri and Taromenane, two Waorani groups who live in voluntary isolation. Coca is the only practical road head; from here boats descend the Napo for four to six hours to reach the lodges.