To get to the river, were picked up at 7AM and traveled approximately 70 miles. A good part of the driving (3-4 hours) was spent descending into the western lowlands along a precarious winding road that travels through the Cloud Forest. The road is currently being widened but for the most part is still two lanes. It appears to be one of the major commercial trucking routes bringing goods in from the coast. Due to slow-moving trucks, passenger cars constantly attempt to pass via the oncoming traffic lane. I saw many close calls during our trip and I have to believe there must be many fatal accidents. In many locations, the drop-off from the side of the road appeared to be several hundred and in some cases over a thousand feet!
After passing through the town Santa Domingo, we took a short drive down a dirt road to a river (I can't remember the name). After inflating the rafts and a short crash course in river rafting, we started drifting down the river which contains mostly class 3 and some class 4 rapids. During the 3 hour journey down river, we enjoyed the scenery which consisted of lush tropical rain forest. On one harrowing occasion, our raft became stuck in a back wave for over a minute as we struggled to paddle free. At one point, I thought the whole raft would capsize. In fact the second raft ran into ours and two people were thrown out but were quickly retrieved. What fun!
We had a tasty lunch at our pick-up point but were unaware of the mosquitoes! They were enjoying a tastey lunch on us!
On the trip back to Quito, the vans clutch was having trouble. Our driver managed to somehow nurse the van along. After arriving in Quito, I told the driver that he is the only one to every drive over the Andes without a working clutch!
As we were quite exhausted, we ordered pizza (Papa John's!) and stayed in at the hotel. To our pleasant surprise, we were notified that our flight had been changed and that we would have a chance to sleep in until our pick-up at 10AM.
The trip was not only memorable for the amount of animals we saw but also for the people and accommodations at the two camps where we stayed. Our first guide, BK, was a wealth of information about the animals, landscape and down to the plants and what they were used for. Everyday out was a learning experience with him. All the people at the camps were gracious and the food was excellent.
Our second camp in the Okavanga was just as good as the first as far as the staff, accommodations, food and animals. After our experience at the first camp we amazed that the high quality remained the same. Our guide, G, made sure we were able to enjoy every experience including a rush through the bush to witness a cheetah and an ensuing hunt that he heard over his radio.
In both camps there were enough guides out that if they saw something the other guides were informed which helped in seeing as much as possible. It was also nice that the concessions were large enough that we did not have vehicles following each other throughout the day.
Normally there is always something in a trip of this length that we think could be improved upon but this is the rare case where we cannot think of anything. From the time we left the States to when we returned it was one of the most hassle free vacations we took.
Perhaps emphasizing the use of the laundry facilities at the camps would be useful because of the luggage restrictions would be the only thing I can think of as an improvement to future clients.
Kenneth Dropek
2 days ago
Mary was so pleasant and professional. She made sure all of our questions were answered.