Tours are currently including visits to Mindo Cloud forest,
Otavalo, Intag Valley, and areas of interest
in Quito. See itinerary below for more info.
Group Tour November 7th-20th, 2013.
Cost of the tour is $950, you pay for your own airfare to Quito, Ecuador arriving on November 13 or before.
November 7 - Fly into Quito, meet the rest of the group.
November 8 - Visit the Equator, and on to Mindo (cloud forest).
November 9 - Zip lining in cloud forest, visit butterfly conservatory,
river tubing in the Rio Mindo.
November 10 - Hiking through the Cloud Forest, try your luck
at rappelling down a jungle embankment, or swing like Tarzan
through the trees. Swimming and a waterslide, Come back by a
cable car. Travel on to Intag Valley, stopping at Tulipe Archaeological
Site built by the Yumbo People around 800 a.d. on the way,
November 11 - Visit the local hot springs for a relaxing dip,
visit the future site of the high school that our project will
begin construction on next year. Visit with a local family
and have a typical Ecuadorian meal. Followed by a performance
by the local dancing cowboys in their traditional dance and
music styles.
November 12 - Visit the Apuela Sunday market, a local restaurant,
visit to the hot springs.
November 13 - horseback riding to the top of the mountain with
awesome views. Stop to visit a local elementary school up the
mountain, visit hot springs after dinner.
November 14- Hike the Face of Inca, visit Agave farm and learn
how they spin agave into twine. Tour of the organic coffee factory
in Apuela.
November 15- 1 hour horse ride or ride jeep to a Kara sun worshipping
archaeological site and museum. Followed by a short mountain
hike of the area.
November 16- Depart Intag to a boat tour of the Volcanic Cuicocha
lake, with lunch at restaurant overlooking lake, and on to Otavalo.
November 17- Hiking at waterfalls and explore inside a mountain
that was an ancient Inca home. Visit to Quicha weavers and learn
how they take raw wool and work it into a final product, then
on to Coatacachi where some of the finest leather products in
the world are custom made.
November 18-Visit the farmers animal market, then the largest
crafts market in South America, also can visit the Condor Park,
a raptor bird rescue facility. November 25 - Travel back to
Quito, stopping on the way at the Quito Zoo.
November 19- Leave for the airport about 4am for your 6:30 flight
*Or you have the option of spending the day in Quito with a
guide for $100. Tour the old town, see the changing of the guards,
learn some history of the Ecuadorian culture and architecture.
*November 20: Fly home, be at the airport 3 hours before flight
(if you stayed the extra day)
Most everything is included in your $950 tour
fee such as your lodging, private transport, most meals, bi-lingual
translator, jungle guides, etc. There are a few extra activities
and meals are not included in the tour fee, that you can opt to
do or not at your own discretion. If you choose to do all the
extras it will cost under $180 for all of them. Airfare to Quito, Ecuador is not
included.
Join us for an authentic Ecuador rainforest experience with the
native people whose ancestors have lived on this land for more
than 400 years, miles from "civilization" and modern
conveniences, yet still having comfortable accommodations. Starting
off with a day tour of Quito and a visit to the Equator, you'll
travel on to the cloud forests of Mindo, famous for countless
butterflies and hummingbirds. You'll also visit the highland town
of Otavalo and experience the largest artesian market in all of
South America before traveling on to the northern highland cloud
forest area of the Intag Valley. At Intag, you will experience
the cloud forest by horseback, visit thermal hot springs, the
Junin Cloud Forest Reserve, and local organic coffee farms before
returning to Quito to prepare for your departure home. Intag is
also the new home of the Touch The Jungle wildlife rescue and
rehab center, starting facility construction in early 2010.
The costs of these tours provide sustainable income for Ecuadorian
Rainforest villages, who in turn preserve their allotted jungle
areas in pristine condition. Not only do these Touch The Jungle
eco-tours provide a means of preserving virgin equatorial rainforest,
they also provide a life-changing "adventure of a lifetime"
for those who take advantage of these very cost-effective vacations.
Touch The Jungle only works with local community projects, where
all of your tour fee goes towards helping support the community's
effort to protect their forests. Touch the Jungle is a nonprofit
proejct and we do not receive any payment for the tours nor do
any outside travel agencies. 100% of your tour fee goes directly
to actual travel expenses and to the local community projects.
Our guides are volunteers for the project.
The
cost for this 2 week adventure is just $950 US excluding airfare.
(Fly to Quito, Ecuador) Everything you need to get you where you
will be going is included such as boat transportation to Playa
de Oro, round trip private van transportation, and a local bilingual
guide to answer all your questions and take care of all your needs
during your trip.
Because space is limited on each tour to 8 participants, please
sign up as soon as possible to reserve your space. You must make
a deposit of $400 to confirm your reservation on a tour, with
the balance due 45 days prior to departure. Your deposit is NONREFUNDABLE
if you cancel for any reason. If the Reserve or Touch The Jungle
has to cancel your tour date for any reason, your entire deposit
will be refunded. Tour Fees should be make payable to the nonprofit
organization Earthways Foundation, but please contact our Tour
Group Organizer, Grace Lush, for available space on your preferred tour date and
further information before mailing tour payments.
FURTHER INFO
The nonprofit project Touch the Jungle works in partnership with
local community projects to provide these organized ecotours to
these destinations in order to help preserve this important habitat
for South America's smaller wildcat species (the ocelot, margay,
oncilla, and jaguarundi), and help the communities fight against
environmental damaging activities like mining and logging. This
is your chance to find out what is so very special about this
amazing but quickly disappearing tropical rainforest, as well
as to pass through remarkably different landscapes and cultures
in route to and from Ecuador's beautiful capital city, Quito,
through the northern highlands, cloud forests, and into the rainforest.
We have organized these tours to make this incredible experience
as easy as possible on you to do and also to help cut down on
individual traveling expenses by sharing it with a group. All
you have to do is just enjoy yourself and soak up all the fun
and adventure, we'll handle all the traveling details for you.
You also have the satisfaction of knowing your visit has helped
preserve this habitat and native wildlife species and the communities
that protect them. ALL of your tour fee goes towards helping
support the community's effort to protect their forests. Touch
the Jungle is a nonprofit proejct and we do not receive any payment
for the tours nor do any outside travel agencies. 100% of your
tour fee goes directly to actual travel expenses and to the local
community projects. Our guides are volunteers for the project.
Intag local festival dancers
Old swinging bridges dot the landscape in the Intag area
Each group tour is provided with a tour guide that intimately
knows the reserve and Ecuador. Earthways Foundation has been supporting
tourism in Ecuador since 2001. Your tour guide will assist you in
everything from start to finish for the tour. The benefit of going
on a scheduled tour with our tour guides, is that you will not miss
out on any possible activities or experiences at the reserve that
you may not otherwise be aware of, not to mention that traveling
in a group helps lower traveling expenses and maximize safety while
traveling. You also will not be required to have the ability to
speak Spanish, since a guide will be able to communicate any needs
to the staff for you. We do not take in large groups to the reserve.
Our scheduled group tours are small groups open to anyone interested,
and we do not take over 8 people per tour maximum. Average tour
size is usually about 6 people. There must be a minimum of 5 people
confirmed on each tour for the tour price of $950, or the tour will
be canceled because we will be unable to meet expenses. However,
if less than 4 people do sign up for a tour date, we can still accommodate
you. Our local tour guide, Ramiro, will still be able to offer services
to you as a tour guide, and the actual traveling costs will depend
on how many people are in the smaller group.
PRIVATE GROUPS
We will also be happy to organize a private group tour for your
own group, whether it be a group of family members, friends, church
group, school group, social club, etc. Prices, services, and itinerary
are the same for a private group or can be altered to fit your
groups needs. Prices will be determined according to your group
size and length of stay. Please contact Tracy
Wilson for availability of organizing a private tour for your
own group.
The
cost for this 2 week adventure is just $950 US excluding airfare.
(Fly to Quito, Ecuador) Everything you need to get you where you
will be going is included such as boat transportation to Playa
de Oro, round trip private van transportation, and a local bilingual
guide to answer all your questions and take care of all your needs
during your trip.
