Things to see and do Amazonia

150 km south of the capital of the province of Morona Santiago (take the road to Santiago), is the cave of Los Tayos. In this huge cave, a depth of 85 metres, which owes its name to a frugivores nocturnal bird, is a set of galleries, rooms and walls made up of superimposed blocks decorated with petroglyphs and rock paintings. The whole would have been a grave and would have sheltered a rock library. Indigenous people continue to fuel legend: at the bottom of the cave would be the gold statues; the Eldorado always haunts minds. Most of the Macas agencies offer excursions.

From the city, we see this very active volcano, impressive when its summit is visible on time.

The excursions are organised by Carlos who knows the forest like his pocket. It will arrange for tailor-made shipments (approximately $ 200-250 for 4 days).

A large part of this 5 260 ha biological reserve is covered by the lagoon of Limoncocha, a true sanctuary for animals and birds (about 400 species were identified there). The Limoncocha lagoon houses colonies of monkeys, as well as a large concentration of black caïmans in Amazonia, which are observed at dusk. They will be approached silently in canoes after they have been located with a torch lamp, their pupils reflecting light as headlights. The lagoon is powered by an arm of the Rio Napo, which allows water to flow from underwater fauna. So, it titillera the piranha into the enticing with pieces of meat. After creating the sensation in the boat, bugs will obviously be released very quickly. Agencies propose this excursion of one day from Coke.

Recognized by scientists as one of the world's largest biodiversity reserves, Yasuní Natural Park has more than 640 varieties of trees. This park has been declared a World Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO. It is also the birthplace of the Huaorani people, authentic warriors who live in self-sufficiency. The foreseeable impacts of oil activity in the park are pollution, deforestation, destruction of the social fabric, extinction of crops... Thus, the Yasuni-ITT initiative aims to protect the park by avoiding oil extraction and by finding other energy sources that do not have negative impacts on the environment.

More information on the website (in French): www.sosyasuni.org.

The Coca Museum is an immersion in the archaeological history of the Amazon and the Omaguas Indians, a thousand-year-old people of the Amazon basin (they were nicknamed the "Napo pirates"!). Opened in 2016, it exhibits in a modern building dishes, statuettes, anthropomorphic objects, funerary urns and other polychrome ceramic artifacts. More than 300 pieces make up the permanent collection. Their state of conservation is remarkable.