About Amazon Rainforest

The Amazon Tropical Rain Forest has one of the highest biodiversity's on earth. For example:

• In the area of your lodge there are probably more than 400 species of birds, more that in whole of Europe.
• More than 8,000 plant species, up to 5 % of all the plant species on earth, are found in the Ecuadorian Amazon.
• One single tree may contain more species of ants than in the British Isles.

Conservation in the Rain Forest

• There are a variety of ways to reduce the negative impacts of your visits to tropical forests. Here are some to keep in mind:
• Don't buy souvenirs with feathers or other parts of wild animals. The purchase of even the smallest trinket with parrot feathers on it encourages people to go out and shoot more parrots.
• Don't buy live animals. Sometime people take pity on captive animals being kept in miserable conditions and buy them to give better homes, but this only creates more demand. If you see animals for sale, notify a park ranger so the animals can be confiscated and freed, if possible, or at least kept in more appropriate conditions.
• Never let tour companies feed local fish and wildlife, beyond a piranha or two.
• When visiting a lake or slow rivers, consider opting for peaceful, people-powered paddles over loud, accelerated outboard motors. Moving quietly over a small area, allows you to see much more. As a consequence, the use of gasoline is reduced, and more jobs are created for local people. Solar-powered, electric, outboard motors are also a good, quiet option for flat water. When you do travel under motorized power, encourage your motorist to avoid full-tilt, break-neck speeds, especially on small winding rivers- both for you own safety and for that of the wildlife.
• Respect the regulations of the protected areas you visit. If motors are prohibited from a given sector, walk or paddle. For example, the Cuyabeno Reserve has been zoned with areas for entry with motors, areas to be enjoyed walking or paddling, and wildlife conservation areas that are off-limits to tourism. Report rule-breaking guides to the park rangers.
• Stay on established trails and avoid destructive demonstration of interesting flora and fauna. One can taste one or two Lemon Ants without breaking open their nests inside the twigs of Duroia    hirsuta trees and thereby killing hundreds and destroying their home. When your guide points out the vine that provides drinking water, tell him you take his word for it and that it is not necessary to kill the vine just for a few drips of water on your tongue.
• Pick up the trash you find and dispose it properly along with your own trash. Litter attracts more litter, so by picking up one candy wrapper you prevent an untold number of other candy wrapper from being dropped.
• If you go to a lodge that doesn't use an electric generator, enjoy the peace and quiet, the romantic candle-light dinners, and the fact that wildlife has not been unduly scared away by noisy motors.
• Share your excitement for tropical forest with the people who live in them. They have usually lived there their whole lives and often don't appreciate how unique these places are.
• Soak up the wonder of this forest, so you'll have the energy to help conserve then after you've gone home.

Where to from here?

No one knows the whole story of how to conserve tropical ecosystems; a lot of research still needs to be done. Which species are most affected by the different human activities? What exactly are the factors that affect them? How can these factors be minimized? How can we help the general public understand the importance of nature conservation? How can tropical forest be effectively protected from schemes for short-term profits? All these questions and more need serious study and therefore your support.

Be creative and look for things you can do to help. Teachers, graphic designers, social scientists, and translators could help prepare educational materials. Computer programmers could design an automated system for identifying bird sounds to facilitate data collection in environmental studies (which would be a great PhD dissertation). Experts in satellite imagery and geographical information have much to contribute to protected area planning and management. Lawyers could help prepare debt-for-nature-swap agreements. Librarians could help researchers in the Tropics stay up to date with the relevant literature. Experts in plastics could develop a way to make sturdy canoes from recycled plastic that would reduce the demand for dug-out canoes in Amazonia. Economists and businessmen could search for ways to increase the market share of sustainable, alternative technologies. Parents could help their children feel how wonderful it is to share our planet with a myriad of other amazing species. There really is a niche for everyone.

Remember that a lot of rainforest destruction is done to maintain peoples' lifestyles in other parts of the world. Don't be afraid to evaluate the impacts that you personally have on the world's environment, and think about ways to reduce them.

Set an example; maybe someone will follow it. Don't just hope other people will plant trees; plant some yourself, even if they're only tiny bushes on your window sill. It will make a difference.

Into the Amazon

Soon after the conquistadors arrive in the area that today is Ecuador, starting hearing incredible stories about "El Dorado" and "El país de la canela" -the land of Cinnamon, supposedly to the east. After settling in Quito, Francisco Pizarro appointed his brother Gonzalo —"the best beloved of any man in Perú"— to lead an expedition to find these magical places. On Christmas Day, 1539, Gonzalo left Quito with 340 soldiers, 4000 Indians, 150 horses, a flock of llamas, 4000 swine, 900 dogs, and plentiful supplies of food and water.

Surviving an earthquake and an attack by hostile Indians, the expedition descended the Cordillera. At Sumaco on the río Coca, they were joined by Francisco de Orellana, who had been called from his governorship of Guayaquil to be Gonzalo's lieutenant. Hacking their way through dense, swampy undergrowth, and hampered by incessant heavy rain, they were reduce to eating root, berries, herbs, frogs, and snakes. The first group of Indians they met denied all knowledge of El Dorado, so Gonzalo had them burned alive and torn to pieces by dogs. They me another group who spoke of an inhabited city, supposedly rich in provisions and gold, just 10 days march away at the junction of the Coca and Napo rivers.   A large raft was constructed, and 50 soldiers under de Orellana's command were dispatched to find the city and return with food: already 2.000 Indians and scores of Spaniards had starved to death.

Hearing nothing of the advance party after two months, Gonzalo trekked to the junction, but there was no city. The pragmatic Indians had very sensibly lied to save their skins. In early June, 1542, the 80 surviving Spaniards from Pizarro's group staggered into Quito, "naked and barefooted ".

By then, Francisco de Orellana was far away. The brigantine's provisions were exhausted by the time the party reached the river junction: sailing back upstream against the current was impossible, and the difficulties of blazing a jungle trail would have and whispers of El Dorado across the wilderness, de Orellana sailed on. For nine months the expedition drifted on the current, never knowing what lay round the next bend.

Crude wooden crosses were erected as they progressed, purporting to claim the lands in the name of the Spanish king. They encountered many Indian tribes: some gave them food-turkeys, turtles, parrots and fruits-and ornaments of gold and silver; others attacked with spears and poisoned arrows, claiming many Spanish lives. On one occasion 10,000 natives are said to have attacked them from the river banks and from canoes, but the Spaniards' arquebuses soon repelled them.

They heard frequent reports of a tribe of fearsome women known as "Amazons", who lived in gold-plated houses. Near Obidos, the "Amazons" attacked. These fearsome women were "very tall, robust, fair, with long hair twisted over their heads, skins round their loins, and bows and arrows in their hands." From this report, the great South American river and jungle area took its name.

Finally, in a lowland area with many inhabited islands, de Orellana noticed signs of the ebb of the tide and, in August 1541, sailed into the open sea.

For the first time, Europeans had traversed South America.

The People of the rain forest

Taken from the book "Amazon Worlds, Peoples and Cultures of Ecuador's Amazon Region. 1993

"Knowledge of the cultures of the Amazon peoples is the key to understanding the multiple worlds that flow, fascinating and enigmatic, through the green shadows of the tropical rainforest.

The high degree of adaptation to the Amazon habitat achieved by these peoples contradicts who would view them as "primitive", and also invites us to consider ways of life and subsistence strategies that may well inspired alternatives to current development schemes, alternatives sorely needed and still few in number.

AMAZON QUICHUA

Location: The Napo-Quichua are found in the basins of the Napo, Aguarico, San Miguel, and Putumayo rivers, in urban areas in the provinces of Napo and Sucumbíos, and in Peru. The Quichuas of Pastaza are located in the provinces of Pastaza, on the banks of the Curaray, Bobonoza, and Pastaza Rivers, and in urban areas in these provinces.

General Characteristics: There is controversy as regards the origins of the Quichua communities of the Amazon. In any case, present-day communities are probably the result of the amalgamation of the different groups whose members now speak Quichua, and who gradually developed a new, well-defined culture. Since the past century, missionaries have worked in Quichua territory: the Jesuits and the Dominicans in Pastaza, and the Josephines in the Napo. Their arrival coincides with that of the rubber barons and the establishment of military posts in the zone. The Quichua communities of the Oriente have maintained their customs, Cosmo vision, and traditional medicinal practices, along with the widespread use of their language. This fact provides members with a solid, dynamic cultural identity, together with adaptability. The Quichua participate actively in life at the community, regional, and national levels. In 1992, the Quichua of Pastaza was successful in obtaining legal title to a large part of their territory.

COFAN

Location: Upper Aguarico River, Sinangüe River, and on the Ecuadorian-Colombian border.

General Characteristics: This group has not been studied extensively. Traditional organization is based on patrilineal groups, known as antia. The role of the cura or tuturica (chief or shaman) is decisive, both in religious and political terms. Since 1955, missionaries affiliated with the Summer Institute of Linguistics have been successful in their efforts to bring the Cofán, who have in traditional practices, including the yagé ritual. Colonization and the activities of petroleum companies and agro industries have obliged the Cofán to search for ways to adapt to their changing world.

SIONA AND SECOYA

Location: In Ecuador, the Siona live along the Shushufindi, Aguarico and Cuyabeno Rivers; the Secoya live along the Aguarico and Cuyabeno Rivers.

General Characteristics: Known at one time as the encabellados , or "long-haired ones", and then as the "piojés", the Siona and Secoya were tremendously affected by rubber exploitation. Traditional organization is the extended family which is patrilineal and patrilocal with a chief, or yagé unkuki , presiding. Like the Cofán, the Siona and Secoya are being seriously affected in socio-economic terms due to destruction of their traditional rain forest lands as well as colonization.

HUAORANI

Location: Between the Napo River to the north, the Curaray River to the south, and along the Yasuní, Shiripuno, Cononaco, Villano, and other, secondary tributaries.

General Characteristics: Referred to, pejoratively, as aucas , the Huaorani have been known, primarily, from information provided by missionaries. Traditionally, the Huaorani have been skilled hunter and warriors who have lived in inter fluvial zones.

ZAPARO

Location: Conambo, Pindoyacu, and Curaray Rivers

General Characteristics: In the past, Záparo territory covered virtually all of the present-day province of Pastaza; thus the Záparo were the neighbors of the Huaorani to the north, and the Achuar to the south. Reeve (1988:56) claims that the Oa, Gaye, Semigaye, Záparo, Andoas, Abijira, Iquito, and Coronado, groups living in Ecuador and Peru, once formed part of the Záparo linguistic group. Today, the few survivors of this group in Ecuador are assimilated into Quichua communities, and no longer speak their language in the course of daily activities. It is important to note that some aspects of the Záparo culture have been transmitted to that of the Quichua of Pastaza. Unfortunately, there are few ethnographic studies of this group.

ACHUAR

Location: In Ecuador, in the provinces of Pastaza (Pastaza, Capahuari, Copataza, Bobonaza, and Conambo rivers) and Morona-Santiago (Huasaga, Surik, Wichim, Mashumar, and Makinentza rivers)

General Characteristics: Traditionally, the Achuar maintained a pattern of settlements dispersed though the forest, with change in dwelling site every 10 to 12 years. A single, extended family resided in each dwelling; this organization was based on the practice of polygyny (a man's wives were usually sisters) and levirate. Thus, the home represented the basic social unit, and was self-sufficient in terms of production and consumption .There was no chiefs, except in time of war. For the last 20 years, under the influence of missionaries and indigenous organizations, the Achuar have adopted the practice of living in communities, The economy is based on hunting, fishing, horticulture, and gathering, activities which today are supplemented by small-scale, marked-oriented agricultural activities (the growing of fibers; production of ungurahua, a palm   fruit; and, most recently, cattle raising)

SHUAR

Location: In the present-day provinces of Zamora Chinchipe and Morona Santiago, and the southern   part of the Pastaza provinces. On the Zamora, Panki, Paute, Santiago, Yaupi, Tutanangoza, Upano, Chiguaza, Palora, and Macuma Rivers, and part of the Pastaza rivers.

General Characteristics: Above all, it should be noted that the word jíbaro, traditionally used by whites and mestizos to refer to members of this group, has been strongly criticized by the Shuar and Achuar peoples because of its pejorative connotations. Thus, the Shuar have demanded that this designation be eliminated from the Ecuadorian society. Traditionally the Shuar have maintained a pattern of widely dispersed settlements, and social organization has been based on polygamy (polygyny). Their original religion emphasized individual mystical experience. The arrival of the Salesian missionaries, whose presence became more pronounced in the '30's, led to the clustering of settlements and forms of organization, which culminated in the establishment of the Shuar Federation in 1964, Today, the economy is based on hunting, fishing. gathering, and to a lesser but growing degree, livestock raising and agriculture. Many Shuar live in urban areas and, like the Quichua, participate actively in social and political life at the local, national, and international levels.