5th November – Farewell to paradise......

Pristine forest on the Napo river

Yet another early start as we paddle across the lake with the sun slowly rising in the east. It’s with sadness that we leave behind our little bit of the Amazon jungle as we would have liked another day, but it’s better to leave wanting more. As we drift down the creek for just over an hour to meet up with the motorised canoe we get to see for possibly the last time kingfishers, fly catchers, oriels, stinking turkeys etc.. At the end of the creek we are giving the last chance to use the facilities as the motorised canoe will take about 2.5 hours to motor up the Napo river to Coca.

Encroaching on the rain forest

Tamsin takes photos of the riverbank which include some of mans encroachment into this wilderness many of these are for the petrochemical industry and this reminds me that we are all culpable with our addiction to fossil fuels.

At Coca we disembark and take a taxi to the airport. At this point we say goodbye to our guide Jairo as he hands us the tickets for the flight. He now has to get ready for the next group that he is to lead. The flight back is short (35mins) and our bags are through in no time before we meet Marco, our next guide,  We all agree that this being organised is rather pleasant and have to say that the local organisation has been exceptional. As we head back into Quito and Casa Gangotena he tells us that he will pick us up in the morning for a ½ day city tour which includes the equator experience. Once checked in we decide to meet back downstairs for afternoon tea at 4:00pm and have a kip as we’ve been up since the crack of a sparrows!