Jungle lodges post diving

[oceancat]

Hi. We are going on the Aggressor July 3-10 and want to go to a jungle lodge after the trip for 3 or 4 nights. Does anyone have any recommendations? The websites make it hard to choose--they all look like they would be fun. Our goal is to hopefully see lots of birds and monkeys (of course there is no guarantee!). Thanks!

 

[Damselfish]

Which Aggressor, Belize? (If so you might want to get this thread moved to the Central America forum.)

 

[oceancat]

Sorry--I wasn't clear. Galapagos Aggressor. I want to check out the Amazon in Ecuador afterwards.

 

[LouUK]

How active do you want to be? We spent 2 1/2 days kayaking down river, camping on the riverside for 2 nights, to get to Shiripuino Lodge after our recent Galapagos trip. It was an amazing experience, and I would hazard a far more "real" one then going to a lodge you can get to just by a truck ride. Sleeping out in the rainforest's edge, with a rising river from the torrential rainstorm earlier in the day will be a memory that sticks for a long time.

If you fancy this (although it is pricey) have a look at Southern Explorations, a crowd from Seattle. it is their Amazon kayak adventure trip.

Hope that helps

Lou

 

[ChrisM]

Just did this in September, stayed at La Selva Lodge. First class operation, great food, well removed from civilization. 45 minute plane ride, 2.5 hour boat ride down the Napo River, 20 minute hike through the forest, 30 minute canoe ride across Lake Garzacocha. If you saw the recent Survivorman with Les in the Ecuadorian Amazon, it was about 2 miles from where he was.

Kayaking, jungle hikes, clay licks, canoe rides, night walks, bird watching in teh apok tower, watching the monkeys jump through the trees. We only did three days, wish it was longer.

Only have a cople pictures done, but this is how you while away the afternoon, cerveza overlooking the lake.

Tree frog on the night walk

The property at the end of this walk we watched a parade of tree monkeys jump through the trees on 2 of the 3 nihts we were there, same time, same place. Monkey traffic jam

 

[oceancat]

Chris

Thank you for taking the time to post the awesome pictures! La Selva is high on the list of where we are thinking of staying. How far in advance did you book and with whom did you go through to secure your reservations? It looks exactly like what we want!

 

[ChrisM]

We booked a couple months out. We had tried to get into Sacha Lodge - which is just about 15 minutes up river, but turns out the American Birding Association's annual meeting was that week and they had it booked up. We booked through Ken at Ultimate Dive Travel. Check with whover booked your Aggressor trip (we did that boat as well), maybe they can add on. If not, check with Ken or Laura at UDT, tell tham Chris M sent you, see what they can do.

Honestly, I loved the place. People said, but I didn't believe them, that it is a LOT less humid and buggy than you'd expect. But it's true. It's warm, but I've been in much worse. Even ended up pulling the blanket up in the middle of the night.

my best memory.... awaking at about 4 am our last morning. The generators turn off about midnight, start up again about 5 or 6. We were bushed at night, so missed the true jungle sounds, but that morning we woke up to the most incredible cacophany of crtters buzzing, singing, flying, chirping, you could hear the beat of the bat's wings as they flew by the hut, chasing dinner/breakfast. it was awesome.

the only drawback is the oil drilling that goes on in the jungle, the oil towns light up the night sky on the horizon.

 

[oceancat]

Sounds like we are going to do a similar trip to yours. What did you think of your Aggressor trip? I am so excited, but nervous about the changes that may take place in the galapagos by the time we get there. We booked so far out before there were all sorts of issues. I know there is a new president in Ecuador now, but not sure if that is a good or bad thing. Thanks for any opinions on your diving portion. Also--how many days before your trip did you arrive in Ecuador? We were thinking of flying in Tues for the thurs. departure and hanging out in Quito for a day.

 

[ChrisM]

Sounds like we are going to do a similar trip to yours. What did you think of your Aggressor trip? I am so excited, but nervous about the changes that may take place in the galapagos by the time we get there. We booked so far out before there were all sorts of issues. I know there is a new president in Ecuador now, but not sure if that is a good or bad thing. Thanks for any opinions on your diving portion. Also--how many days before your trip did you arrive in Ecuador? We were thinking of flying in Tues for the thurs. departure and hanging out in Quito for a day.

I went for the first time in September 2005, I loved diving the Galapagos Aggressor so much, I imemdiately signed on for a September 07 trip when I got back. Darwin and Wolf are the most amazing diving I've done, for sheer constant pelagic action. I did Cocos July 06, and found Darwin/Wolf to be much better and more consistent. This trip was a bit less sharky in terms of Galapagos sharks, and the hammer schools at Darwin weren't quite what they were in 2005, but the whale sharks were better.

The central island diving isn't as good, but it's still pretty good. Cousins Rock is a beatiful dive site.

The boat is a top notch, first class operation, very attentive and competent crew.

As far as the land tours, who knows, but I hate to say that i found the land tours to be as amazing as the diving. To be amongst the animals without fear is really special. I did notice that they restricted access to some areas, for example on Seymour Island the path was much much narrower than two years ago, and we were kept further from nesting areas, etc. Which is a good thing for the animals.

If they ban diving/land tours, you can add a couple days t the end in Puerto Ayora and hit the same sites the Aggressor does - Plaza, Seymour and Bartolome.

Both times I have arrived in Quito the day before departure for Galapagos (i.e., Thurs departure, arrive Tues night). The day in Quito was spent going to the old town and the equator (the "real" equator, not the Mitad del Mundo monument, which does not sit on the equator proper) the first trip, and going to Cotopaxi the second trip

Our trip this year was Arrive Tues, Cotopaxi Wed, fly to Galapagos Thurs, return and overnight Quito Thursday, fly to Coca Friday am for trip to La Selva, return and overnight Quito Monday, leave Tuesday.