Wildlife Holidays in Ecuador
Tell me about Ecuador …
Once part of the Inca Empire, Ecuador came under Spanish rule in 1563 until independence in 1822.
Its capital city, Quito, is a World Heritage Site on account of its historic and well preserved Latin American centre.
Ecuador has welcoming people, relatively short travel distances and good accommodation. It’s an ideal destination for a wildlife holiday, for both first-time and repeat visitors to South America.
What’s special about the wildlife?
Ecuador straddles the equator and is home to a great many species, including numerous endemics. The fact that it has three very different geographical regions: Pacific coastal, Andean and Amazon habitats and climatic zones, all within a relatively small area, provides the basis for Ecuador’s astonishing diversity of wildlife.
The Galapagos Islands, made so famous by Darwin, are part of Ecuador and lie 1,000 kilometres off the mainland.
This small country is home to an astonishing diversity of bird life (the greatest for its size in South America and 15% of the world’s known bird species) and bird watching here is a delight. 1,600 bird species have been recorded on the mainland, and a further 38 more which are endemic to the Galapagos Islands.
There are over 16,000 plant species.
Naturetrek tours to Ecuador
Naturetrek offers a range of wildlife holidays and natural history tours in Ecuador.
Our selection of tours includes:
- Bird watching tours of the western cloudforests
- The spectacular paramo & the Amazon Basin
- Wild flower holidays in search of orchids & other special plant life
- Bargain bird watching holidays to the Amazon, Choco, south-east, south-west & Tumbesian regions
- Tours which focus on particular Ecuadorian birds such as Cock-of-the-rock & antpittas
- Bargain mammal watching tour to Amazonian Ecuador
- Unique 2-week cruise of the Galapagos Islands