How to Get Around Oriente & Amazon

From Quito by road: four to six hours down the eastern cordillera to Tena, Puyo or Lago Agrio, on a spectacular and sometimes landslide-prone descent. Buses run frequently and cheaply.

By air: half-hour flights from Quito to Coca or Lago Agrio, which is how most Yasuni and Cuyabeno trips start.

By river: motor canoes are the transport once you leave the roads — two to three hours down the Napo to the Yasuni lodges, longer to the remoter ones. Lodges arrange this as part of the package.

Light aircraft reach Achuar territory in the far south, where there are no roads at all.

Do not attempt the deep forest independently. Lodges and community guides are not an optional extra here; they are how the region is accessed.