..:::Equatorial Travel:::... Fair and Sustainable Tourism to Morocco, The Sahara, Guatemala, Ecuador and Rajasthan






	15 DAY WALKING TOUR With optional Amazon and/or Galapagos packages at the end The Tour: the main part of the walking on this tour is in and around the Andean mountains of the Northern Sierra and then through the Intag Bilogical Reserve, an area described by Conservation International as one of the world’s 25 “biological hotspots” and an area where the rainforest is under a direct threat from mining companies. The local community are using responsible tourism as one of the tools to combat the encroachment of the multinationals into this area and on this tour you have a chance to trek this area of outstanding natural beauty and meet the communities fighting to protect their environment. The tour is in essence an exploration on foot, horseback and by 4x4 of the Northern Andean Highlands, Cloudforests and Sub-Tropics of Ecuador. In the main walking but also with a day on horseback and by using 4x4 you traverse mountainsides, volcanoes, lakes, cloud forest and sub tropical vegetation. On route visit Otavalo and its surrounding villages, home to South Americas largest Indigenous Indian craft market, spend time with local Indian communities, have a chance to river raft, spot Condors in the Mountains, bird watch in Mindo with an enormous diversity of birdlife, and walk around the world highest active volcano – Cotapaxi. The tour finishes in the old city part of Quito a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Amazon/Galapagos: at the end of the tour you have the choice to extend the package either into the Amazon spending time in a lodge deep inside the Jungle and/or take a trip to the remarkable Galapagos Islands exploring by boat and on foot this famous Biological Reserve. Brief Itinerary Day 1: Friday Arrive and relax Day 2: Saturday: Otavalo Craft Market and surrounding villages. Day 3 Sunday: walk around lake Cuicocha set inside a dormant volcano and then to the leather making town of Cotacachi Day 4 Monday: walk around Lake Mojanda and the Mountain Fuya Fuya and to Chachimbiro Day 5 Tuesday – walk across mountain slopes to Mount Pinan Day 6 Wednesday: walk around lakes to Mount Yanaurca to scale the summit. Day 7 Thursday: across mountain ranges and rivers to Pinan Indigenous Quechua Indian Community Day 8 Friday: Horseride through Cloud Forest and into sub-tropical vegetation to Irubi Day 9 Saturday: River Rafting and a visit to a Coffee Project – or rest and do nothing! Day 10 Sunday: by 4x4 on piste road through subtropical Mountain ranges to Mindo Day 11 Monday: Mindo – walk and watch birdlife in a habitat populated by a huge range of sub-tropical species. Day 12 Tuesday: To Cotapaxi Volcano National Park via the “middle of the world” – the Equator Day 13 Wednesday: Around Cotapaxi Volcano – the worlds highest active volcano and a National park. Day 14 Thursday: to Quito and a visit to the UNESCO World Heritage Old City. Day 15 Friday – - Transfer to airport for home - Amazon package - Galapagos package Acclimatisation and fitness is taken very much into account when we planned this tour allowing you to adjust physically to the high altitude, build up your walking slowly and give you time to properly explore this stunning region. The walking on the route has been done by people as young as twelve to as old as 70. It is not difficult walking, nor needing horsemanship but obviously is a tour which takes you right away from civilisation as you know it and does demand a degree of fitness, flexibility and sometimes in bad weather; endurance. For any outdoor country lover who wants to visit Ecuador this is a must. Safety issues: On the trip when away from the towns and in the country, the packs, food and drink are carried by mules or horses. Safety is paramount on the tour. Walkie talkies are carried, skilled horseman assist on the horse ride, and assistance is instantly available on the white water rafting, and if you do the ascent of Cotapaxi then mountain gear and specialist guides are used. As with all of our trips the safety of the individual takes absolute preference and Ivan the tour leader can alter the itinerary accordingly. Food and drink: all tastes can be catered for and while on the trek great care is taken to ensure drinking water is pure. Fair Trade and Environmental Principle: this trip explores areas of outstanding beauty away from the usual tourist circuit whilst at the same time benefiting communities who live in the region who have developed tourism to assist local projects. The communities of Pinan and Intag co-operatively distribute income derived from tourism. All hotels are locally owned and run and the majority directly assist local projects. All guides are paid well for the work they do. Environmental sustainability is also crucial to this kind of tour and we aim to leave the environment we visit exactly as we found it and work with operators both on our tour and in our offered packages who are dedicated to environmental preservation. Tour Escort and Leader: Ivan works with Equatorial Travel and an independent Canadian Adventure Travel Company. Degree educated in Biology and Agriculture he owned a Trout farm in the Biological Reserve of Intag region before moving into the world of tourism. Highly personable, very entertaining but also very serious in his work, Ivan is a great humanist, an outdoor pursuit’s enthusiast and one of the very few teetotallers and vegetarians in Ecuador. A keen walker, climber as well as being a dedicated family man, somehow he also fits in time to be actively involved in projects concerned with environmental conservation and Indigenous Communities Rights. He is a mine of information on most subjects concerning Ecuador and loves jokes and puzzles. Also a junior champion of Table Tennis he cannot stand to be beaten on the table so before you go brush up those Ping Pong skills! If all this sounds like the kind of tour you’d like to do and the kind of people you’d like to be with then this is the FULL ITINERARY Day 1: Friday Arrive and relax Arrive Quito, transfer to hotel in Otavalo or Quito depending on flight arrival time for food and rest. Day 2: Saturday : Otavalo Every week Otavalo hosts the largest crafts market in South America where the rural Otavalanian Indian community congregate to sell handicrafts and animals. Alive with colour, steeped in history and with good facilities for the traveller, the town is a perfect base for exploring the country around. The day starts with a tour round the town and its markets followed by lunch and an afternoon visit to the lake at San Pablo and the waterfalls of Peguche. Return to Otavalo for food and traditional Andean music. Day 3 Sunday: Trek around Cuicocha and then to Cotacachi Today is the first trek day around the crater of a volcano with stunning views over Lake Cuicocha (altitude 3060m). This takes about four hours reaching maximum altitude of 3420m. After the trek there is lunch in a restaurant with magnificent views of the lake. The afternoon is spent wandering in the town of Cotacachi famous for its beautiful leatherwork before returning to Otavalo. Day 4 Monday: Mojanda Fuya Fuya trek and Chachimbiro After breakfast, transport to the lagoon at Caricocha de Mojanda and the base for a trek to the summit of the Mountain Fuya Fuya (4275m). Set between two ranges Fuya Fuya summit gives a view of more than ten peaks, some snow covered, and a view over Otavalo and weather permitting as far as Quito. After descending, lunch is on the shores of the lagoon. In the afternoon there is a trip to the delicious thermal baths at Chachimbiro where you will sleep the night before beginning the trek the next day. Day 5 Tuesday: - Trek to Mount Pinan First day of a trek to Pinan. Starting at an altitude of 2,600m crossing pasture, cultivated land, woodland areas and high exposed areas the trek is a full day and finishes on the slopes of mount Pinan at around 4,050m where camp is set up next to a small lagoon. The views on the trek include the entire province of Imbabura, mount Cayambe (5780m) and mount Imbabura (4620m) and the lagoons of Yahuarcocha and San Pablo. On this walk you have a chance to spot Condors – as many as six Condors have been seen in one day in this area representing one tenth of the Ecuadorian population of Condors. Day 6 Wednesday: Trek to Yanaurca Trekking to the summit of Yunaurcu (4525ms) the first part is flat terrain in the middle of high plains and numerous lakes. The ascent to the eastern summit of the mountain crosses areas of high exposed land and rock. The summit offers the most outstanding panoramic view of the region after which a descent is taken towards the river Pantavi and camp is set up. Day 7 Thursday: To Pinan community A relatively easy days trek as most of the terrain is flat or downhill. With amazing landscape the walking is among mountain ranges and valleys crossed by rivers flowing from the mountains. Camp is at the settlement of Pinan from where the views are across subtropical woodlands to the south and west, mountains and high exposed land in the southern distance and to the east the beauty of volcano Cotacachi (4937m) in the distance. In the afternoon there is an optional trip of a horseback ride taking three hours to the lagoons at Caricocha and Donoso, the largest in the region. Or you could just put your feet up and relax! Day 8 Friday: Horseride to Irubi Its now downhill from the village on an exciting journey on horseback crossing several rivers which flow from the mountains to the Intag area. The landscape changes from high exposed terrain to areas of humid woodland crossing cloud covered forests and ranches where sugar cane and tropical fruit are grown. Within the space of a few hours you will have crossed three entirely distinct ecosystems. This is a real experience across diverse terrain on horseback – at the end of it there is a real treat which we want you to discover when you arrive! Day 9 Saturday: River Rafting and a visit to the Coffee Project – or rest and do nothing! What a wonderful place to sit and do nothing OR spring into action and go White Water Rafting down the Rio Intag, a relatively safe river for beginner. Intag also has a Coffee project which supports local farmers by paying top price all year round and which exports its coffee around the world. It’s a great place to see the production of coffee from start to finish and also great coffee to buy from a fantastic Fair Trade project. Here is also your chance to beat Ivan at his favourite game, Table Tennis, at the house of one or our tour assistants (if you choose to take on the maestro). Day 10 Sunday: To Mindo A relatively relaxed morning and then a wonderful journey on track road through the biological reserve by 4x4 until you meet the main road heading to Mindo by late afternoon. A truly mouth watering meal will be cooked for you by Norma an old friend of the Equatorial Travel team in true local style. Day 11 Monday: Mindo – birdwatching In a worldwide ornithological survey conducted recently to see how much variety of birds could be seen in one day Mindo was rated second place in the world only after the Amazon. Even if bird watching is not your thing you will still be fascinated by the Parrots, Tucans, Hummingbirds and a host of other species close up or through the telescope of our expert guide Marcello. It’s an early bird that catches the worm so you will have to be up early too. You will also have the chance to ride a cable car across a rainforest valley. After an early start it will be a siesta style afternoon or you could visit the Butterfly and Orchid farm. Day 12 Tuesday: To Cotapaxi via the Equator The road from Mindo to Cotapaxi passes through the Mitad Del Mundo and for those of you who cannot visit Ecuador without having your photo taking on the Equator – well, here it is. We stop for a while at the monument and the Museum then pass into Quito and on to Cotapaxi National Park. Arriving late afternoon you may have a chance for a walk before returning to your hostal. If you have limited time or wish to explore independently you can finish the tour here and return on Wednesday home Day 13 Wednesday: Around Cotapaxi A truly remarkable sight Cotapaxi Volcano is the world’s highest active volcano. The environment is protected as a National Park in Ecuador and your day is spent exploring the slopes around the volcano. If you are a dedicated mountain climber we may be able to organise an ascent of the volcanoes summit leaving early in the morning and returning early. This would have to be organised in advance. For the rest it’s a lovely chance to wallow in the environs on this majestic sight. Day 14 Thursday: to Quito A couple of hours back to Quito and then a chance to explore the Colonial Old City of Quito, a UNESCO World Heritage Site as well as a chance to do some more souvenir shopping. Day 15 Friday - Transfer to airport - Amazon package and/or Galapagos package