9-Day Waorani Expedition in Yasuní

About this Yasuní tour

Day-by-day itinerary

1. Day 1 - Charter flight into Waorani territory

   Full dayCharter flight to Bameno and canoe to the Waorani camp

   Coca airport · 1 h charter flight · 1–3 h by canoe on the Cononaco River

   Your guide meets you at Coca airport, and a small charter plane flies you an hour over the forest to Bameno, a Waorani village far inside Yasuní National Park. Our Waorani partners welcome you, and a motorized canoe takes you along the Cononaco River to the camp, 1 to 3 hours depending on the river level, while we watch the banks for anacondas. Lunch is on the canoe or on a river bank, and on the way your guides explain how the forest works and which plants the Waorani use as medicine. In the afternoon, a first walk in the forest around the camp, looking for monkeys and peccaries.

   

2. Day 2 - Clay lick and the Waorani elders

   Full dayClay lick and a visit to the Waorani elders

   River 2–3 h · hiking about 4 h · challenging

   Breakfast is at 7:00 and we leave at 8:00: about an hour by river, then on foot to a clay lick where birds and mammals come to eat the clay. After rain, anacondas sometimes use its small streams. Then a 3-hour trek through primary forest to a small Waorani settlement of fewer than ten people, home to your guide's elders, where you share lunch and hear how they live. The canoe back to camp is another chance for anacondas, and you can swim in the Cononaco. After dinner: a night walk, or a quiet canoe ride.

   

3. Day 3 - The anaconda search

   Full dayAnaconda search at the hidden forest lakes

   River 1 h · hiking about 3 h · demanding

   Today is for the anaconda. After breakfast at 6:30, your Waorani guides lead a demanding walk to a hidden forest lake, then along its edges and through swamps and small streams, reading signs most people would never notice. Sightings are never guaranteed; with luck you will see one. If the guides catch an anaconda, they hold it for 5 to 10 minutes at most, just long enough for a photo and perhaps a measurement, then let it go. We are back at camp for lunch at 13:00, and after a rest there is another walk in the forest. At night you choose between a canoe search for caimans and a night walk.

   

4. Day 4 - Forest walks and Waorani skills

   Full dayForest walks with Waorani guides on the Cononaco

   River 2 h · hiking about 3 h · a swim and a last night walk

   An early start for the best wildlife hours. We walk to another clay lick, where you will likely see parrots and macaws, while your guides show you tracks, medicinal plants and how the Waorani live from the forest. Lunch is at camp, with a swim in the Cononaco River if you like. In the afternoon a walk of about two hours, and after dinner a last short night walk in Waorani territory.

   

5. Day 5 - Back to Coca and on to the lodge

   Full dayBack to Coca and canoe down the Napo to the lodge

   1 h by canoe to Bameno · flight to Coca · 2.5 h by canoe · Anaconda Back Trail

   After breakfast the canoe takes you back to Bameno in about an hour. There is time to buy Waorani handicrafts before the plane flies you to Coca before noon. From the pier, a 2.5-hour canoe ride down the Napo River brings you to Sinchi Wayra Lodge and the Sani community; on the way we look for birds, monkeys and river turtles. You settle into your cabin, then your guide takes you on the Anaconda Back Trail, partly along fallen palm trunks. After dinner, a night walk on the boardwalk for frogs, insects and, with luck, a snake.

   

6. Day 6 - Parrot clay lick, giant trees and macaws

   Full dayParrot clay lick, giant trees and the macaw clay lick

   Sunrise · canoe to the clay licks · rugged hike

   An early canoe takes you to the parrot clay lick, where four species of parrots and parakeets come down to the cliff to eat the clay; you watch from the boat. Then a rugged hike into primary forest to some of the largest trees in the area, sacred to the Sani, while your guide explains how the Kichwa use the plants around you. You will likely see monkeys. Later we visit the macaw and parakeet clay lick (entrance included), where blue-and-yellow macaws come down to eat clay that neutralises toxins in the wild fruit they eat. Back at the lodge there is time for the hammocks and the Starlink internet.

   

7. Day 7 - The Sani community, the tower and caimans

   Full daySani Warmi, the canopy tower and caimans

   Morning in the community · afternoon walk and 40 m tower · easy to moderate

   In the morning you visit Sani Warmi, the central village of the Sani community, and its women's association: the garden of medicinal plants and food crops, and lunch cooked together with the women. Handicrafts are on sale and support the association. In the afternoon a short walk leads to the Yasuní canopy tower, 40 m (130 ft) above the forest, for the sunset. On the canoe ride back along the riverbank we look for caimans by torchlight.

   

8. Day 8 - Panacocha Lagoon and pink river dolphins

   Full dayFull day at Panacocha Lagoon

   1.5 h by canoe each way · easy

   Panacocha is a large blackwater lagoon an hour and a half from the lodge, known for its wildlife. Pink river dolphins live here, and with luck you will see them surface. We eat a packed lunch on the water while watching birds, then try piranha fishing. If you catch one, the kitchen cooks it for your dinner. We are back at the lodge in the late afternoon.

   

9. Day 9 - Back to Coca

   Full dayBreakfast with the family and canoe to Coca

   Early start · in Coca about 10:00

   A last breakfast at the lodge, with time for some early birding, then goodbye to the family. The canoe takes you up the Napo River to Coca, and we reach the pier around 10:00; if you have a morning flight to Quito, we take you to the airport in time. Thank you for travelling with us and our Waorani partners: your visit helps both communities protect their forest.