Foster Parrots Ltd - Eco-Tourism ― Quito, Ecuador

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Foster Parrots, Ltd.
Eco-Tourism ― Quito, Ecuador

In December of 2003 Brian Cullity and Marc Johnson, Director of Foster Parrots, visited a remote part of Ecuador with a small tour group based in Quito, Ecuador (www.kempery.com).
A one-hour flight over the Andes and down into the jungles that are home to the Amazon headwaters to the town of Coca began the journey into what seemed like a National Geographic special. This was followed by a four-hour, open-sided bus trip from Coca through what was once pristine rainforest, now being cleared for farming and agriculture, an oxymoron if ever there was one, brought them to the Coconaco River. A four-hour trip (during the high water, six or more hours if the river is low) through dense jungle to the main tourist lodge called Bataburo made a full day of travel and this is as far as 98% of the tourists will go.

The main lodge is located in beautiful rainforest where monkeys, parrots and many other animals can be seen. Macaws fly over the lodge each morning and evening. A casual dugout canoe trip in the lagoon behind the lodge will give the visitor the chance to see Caiman, two or three types of monkeys and many other species of birds.

From Bataburo Lodge an eight-hour trip down river takes the visitor to one of the villages of the Huaorani. The village visited during this tour was populated by about 50 people, all of whom still live a life much like it was hundreds of years ago and still use blowguns as the main hunting tool. Monkeys, Macaws and Tapir are all considered food here and, despite these animals being hunted for sustenance, there are still healthy populations of all of these species in the area.

Although it would be nice to see the hunting of monkeys and Macaws ended, it is still part of their way of life and, for the most part, these small populations of humans are living in harmony with their environment. Small human populations pose little threat to the vast areas of pristine jungle, but things are changing – the big oil companies are moving in and with them come roads and the commercial interests that seek to exploit the jungle for the animals, the lumber and the oil.

As the Huaorani face the end of their isolated culture in the coming years, if you would like to see this amazing and rare site, you should think about doing it soon. During this visit the village was wired and the generators turned on for the first time. One evening sounds of the elders chanting the songs of their ancestors could be heard at bedtime and the next night there was a radio playing across the river. As sad as this may be we cannot deny anyone the right to pursue progress and the improvement of their lives. It is going to happen, and even with eco-tourism things will never be the same.

Perhaps we can save a lot of what is left if we show those who live in these forests that the trees and animals are worth far more than they now realize.

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