Sacha Lodge, Ecuador: A rumble in the jungle
Sacha Lodge, Ecuador: remote and beautiful.
It was the bullet ants that put the fear of God in me when trekking through the Amazon rainforest at Sacha Lodge in Ecuador.
I was fine with the tarantulas, the rainbow boa and the poison dart frogs. But there was no way I was going to accidentally brush up against the fiery bullet ant.
Our nuggety indigenous guide Walter kept well clear too when he pointed out its shiny black body. The bullet ant, so named because its sting feels like a bullet tearing through flesh, is the top scorer on the Schmidt Sting Pain Index (along with the tarantula wasp). The pain lasts for 24 hours. Walter knew it was best avoided because he'd been stung by it. "I cried," he said.
Without Walter, we would never have spotted the bullet ant and the hairy tarantula hiding at the base of a tree or picked out a perfectly camouflaged pair of cappuccino-coloured crested owls snoozing on a branch. He knew which vine to rattle to disturb the night monkeys, who popped their indignant little heads out of the tree trunk to check who was making the racket.
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Sacha Lodge is set on Pilchicocha Lake.
"So that was you this morning," one of our party joked and Walter laughed, even though we weren't sure he was the one who banged on our door at daybreak. At Sacha Lodge, you're up with the lark (or should that be the oropendola, that ubiquitous Amazonian bird with its golden tail, hanging nest and call that sounds like water dropping). The animals are up and active at first light, so we were too.
Even though you're slap-bang in the middle of the Amazon jungle, Sacha Lodge runs with the precision of a Swiss timepiece; from the gumboots and rain ponchos lined up for guests (this is the rainforest after all), to the clockwork schedule of meals and excursions into the jungle. You can't venture from the lodge without a guide – it would be easy to get lost on the interconnected trails.
Its efficiency may be due to its origins – it was set up by Benny Ameter, a Swiss adventurer who saw civilisation, and the oil industry, encroaching on the wilderness he loved. In 1992 he bought 500 hectares and established the lodge (Sacha is the local Kichwa word for forest), buying more land, until the lodge now sits on 2000 hectares. Benny died in January this year, but his family have pledged to continue the lodge and protect the land.
A black-mantled tamarin.
For Walter and the other locals employed by the lodge, eco-tourism provides jobs and a future that's an alternative to oil – a practical way to protect the biodiversity of what's been called the "lungs of the planet".
It's a half-day journey to get there. We flew over the Andes from Ecuador's capital Quito into the shabby oil town of Coca, motored for two hours along the Napa River and trekked half an hour into the jungle. A boatman met us in a dug-out canoe and we paddled along a narrow waterway.
Then the jungle opened up and a vision of blood-pressure-reducing serenity appeared - a perfectly still lake, with what looked like an over-sized indigenous hut reflected in its depths. This is Sacha Lodge's Balsa Lounge, where we ate breakfast at an ungodly hour and snatched the odd relaxing moment with a book. You could dive off if you were game. Part of the lagoon is netted-off to protect swimmers from wild otters (they bite), alligator-like caimans and piranhas who, despite their bad press, will apparently leave you alone unless you're bleeding.
I'd really come to see monkeys in the wild, and as soon as we wheeled our luggage into the cabin and wandered outside to check out the hammock on the shady deck, there, less than 10 metres away, were squirrel monkeys playing, running up and down the tree trunks and zipping through the foliage.
In search of wildlife.
In the four days we were at Sacha Lodge, we hit the jackpot in the monkey department. We spotted five varieties, from black-mantled tamarins to a lone adolescent howler monkey (we'd heard the males' calls earlier, sounding like the distant roar of a plane taking off).
Sacha Lodge is set on Pilchicocha Lake, and much of the exploring is done in dug-out canoes, paddling through swampy, silent waterways overhung by foliage, an eerie experience at times. For long periods, there would be nothing to see, then suddenly a troop of monkeys would crash through the tree canopy or we'd spot a baby anaconda resting close to the water. There are three excursions most days – one at first light, another late afternoon and then a third after dinner by torchlight.
While monkey-spotting might be a lottery and we never saw caimans or wild otters, there were birds wherever you went, from the clumsy hoatzin (known as the stinky turkey – it really does smell bad) to woodpeckers and egrets as well as colourful macaws and parrots.
Wildlife found!
We were late to the clay lick (blame the Americans in our party, who were irritatingly late to nearly everything) so we missed the sight of parrots gathering in their hundreds to eat the clay that helps them digest their food.
About 600 different birds have been spotted around Sacha Lodge – we ticked off 27. Birders are drawn by the lodge's two sky-scraping bird-watching towers and spend hours scoring photos of as many feathered varieties as they can.
At the first tower, stairs wind around a giant kapok tree until you're 43 metres up, on platforms where guides set up telescopes for spotting toucans, tanagers, swallows and more.
Hoping Ecuadorian engineers are qualified.
Then there's a 275-metre-long walkway above the treetops. As I climbed the 180 metal stairs and gingerly negotiated the slightly swaying bridge, I hoped Ecuador's engineers were well trained. All we saw through the guide's telescope that day were a couple of toucans (I suspect it was the same one twice). That's all part of the luck of the draw at a jungle lodge like this. If you're quiet and patient you might be rewarded, but there are no guarantees.
Back down on the jungle floor, we followed Walter through the undergrowth, as he hacked a path with his machete and shared knowledge gained from his grandfather. He pointed out the thorn-covered bark of the walking palm that makes a natural food grater. A plant with gluey sap is used for cuts – it shrinks as it dries and pulls the edges of a gash together. And the root of the cruz caspi tree is boiled up and used as a contraceptive – one spoonful will prevent pregnancy for a year, a double dose and no more babies ever, the locals believe. There's even a plant that's meant to ease the pain of a bullet ant sting, but there were no takers to test that out.
It was hot and sticky for much of our stay, but it was only on the last day, as we were leaving, that we experienced a true Amazonian rain storm. As we trekked our way out to the river, rain fell in drenching sheets, a dramatic end to a memorable stay. Thunder rumbled in the jungle and lightning flashed over dark, dripping foliage. With water streaming off the lodge's rubbery rain ponchos, we were like a row of bedraggled black vultures (we'd seen some the day before) sloshing along the trail towards our boat ride back to civilisation.
Accommodation: The 26 cabins are simple, but roomy, and are made of traditional materials. They have a reasonable shower, ceiling fan and a dry-box for electronics – the humidity plays havoc with phones and cameras. There's Wi-Fi but it sucks, a good excuse for a digital detox. The cabins are well-screened from creepy-crawlies and the lake's "black water" (created by the foliage that falls into it) is too acid for mosquitos to breed, so although you need a good repellent there weren't too many biting insects.
Food: Mostly served buffet-style, there's plenty of it and lots of options, including vegetarian. The guides look forward to the Sunday barbecue – one told us he was ready to eat Chimborazo (Ecuador's largest mountain), the Ecuadorian version of "I could eat a horse".
Doing good: No plastic water bottles here. Guests are issued with a metal water bottle which can be refilled from water stations. Sacha Lodge employs mostly locals and supports the local Kichwa community.
Cost: From around $1700 per person for four days (meals, transfers and return flight from Quito to Coca included).
Rosemary Barraclough travelled at her own expense.
- Stuff
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