Mashpi Lodge Experience

Depart Quito at 7.30am. You will take the highway north of Quito, passing the Equator Monument and Latitude 0, and then your journey climbs over the pass and from here on, it’s downhill towards the Pacific Ocean.
After about two-and-a-half hours, you will arrive at the entrance to the Mashpi Rainforest Biodiversity Reserve, which extends over the surrounding 1,300 hectares (3,212 acres) – a haven for wildlife and biodiversity. Here, you will stop at the Hummingbird Viewpoint to learn more about these irrepressible flying machines, enjoy a drink. Then wind your way 6 km (3.75 miles) further aboard electric buggies until we reach the lodge itself, at approximately 12 pm. Here you are welcomed with a refreshing drink and checked in to your room. Lunch is served soon after, followed by a short time to relax. After lunch, the afternoon’s activities begin. These will depend on factors such as group size, physical abilities and weather conditions. Before dinner, you will meet your Naturalist Guides for a short briefing about the next day’s activities. Optional night walks head out from the hotel following dinner.

For those who want to enjoy the beauty and magic of dawn in the forest – which is when most birds are active and calling, as well as when views are often most spectacular – early morning activities are organised before breakfast. Following breakfast, you will head out from the lodge to explore, returning for lunch and a rest, before enjoying an afternoon amid Nature, then dinner, night walks and sleep.

On the last day, there’s an early breakfast, followed by a shorter morning activity and check out. There’s then time to relax at the Lodge, watch a video presentation or birdwatch from the terraces. A substantial snack is served at 10.30am and we leave the hotel at 11am. About an hour away, you will visit the intriguing archaeological site of Tulipe. The tour then drives back eastwards, winding your way up the Andes towards the capital, arriving at Quito hotels between 3 and 4 pm (depending on traffic, location and number of passengers).