TROPICAL RAFTING - featured in Outside Magazine "49 trips of a lifetime"

Sample Itinerary

Day 1Most flights arrive in the evening so we will meet you at the airport and we'll stay in a very nice small hotel in Quito.

Day 2 We meet for an 8:00am breakfast and a orientation by our trip leader who will outline the weeks itinerary and special events. Afterwards we head out in our van over a thirteen thousand foot Andean pass and if the weather is clear we will see three of the four highest snowcapped volcanoes. Once we arrive at SWA's riverside cabins, CTR, you'll move into your comfortable room, check out all needed river equipment and enjoy the first of many excellent meals by our chef Lily. A short drive upriver on the Rio Quijos brings us to our first put in and the action starts immediately with technical rapids like Manayana, Pollo sin Rival, and Pebbles. Our take out is at CTR so you just need to walk to your cabin for a hot shower, picking up the first cold beer on the way.

Day 3 It's another spectacular day of rafting starting right at our cabins, this time running two sections of Quijos. The first is "Picapiedra" which is named for the imposing class IV rapid just downstream. Then it's into the volcanic "El Chaco Gorge". The rapids are challenging and follow one right after another while weaving through basalt cliffs and rainforest. We'll take a short hike to a hidden waterfall and swimming hole for our lunch break. Horseshoes, hiking, mountain bike riding, or even better, hammock time are all possible after the run.

Day 4* We start the day with a couple hours of horseback riding around our lodge or a great hike in a clod forest, followed by a drive to the lower elevations of the Napo Valley. This drainage is even warmer and has more indigenous population and history. We plan to visit a an animal recover place on the way to our riverside hotel.

Day 5* Getting a slightly more leisurely start we drive to the quaint town of Puerto Misaualli where we will visit a butterfly farm and have the opportunity to photograph wild monkeys roaming through the parks. Then we'll get on the river again, but this time it is in a forty foot long motorized canoe for a ride down the Rio Napo to Jatun Sacha Preserve where we will take a tour of the rainforest.

Day 6 Rafting on the big volume Rio Jatunactu this time. It's full of wide open fun rapids and we'll take a side-hike into the rainforest as well. The SWA guides will introduce you to guiding techniques and you can guide the easier rapids. After rafting we will return to CTR for the evening.

Day 7 We will raft the canyons of the spectacular Lower Quijos which puts us in the middle of some of the most remote rainforest we'll see. While watching for waterfalls streaming down the sides of the jungle covered cliffs we'll run over 25 exciting rapids. Before returning to our cabins we'll hike to "Cascada San Rafael", the largest waterfall in Ecuador. It's quite a sight to see the water you were rafting on just an hour before plunge over a 500' waterfall.

Day 8 After another of Lily's great breakfasts we head to the Papayacta hotsprings resort for a soak in their beautiful pools high in the Andeas. Our plan is to arrive into Quito with sufficient time for you to visit a local market and shops for souvenirs.

Day 9 Fly home or continue with SWA's highland tour to Otavalo.

* For the true diehard river running groups we can substitute rafting another beautiful jungle river for day 4 or 5.