The Ecuadorian Amazon

Imagine a spot where life overflows from every surface, where life is so prolific that it competes fiercely for sunlight, even on the equator. This is a place with the greatest biodiversity on the planet, where more than 500 species of trees crowd into a single hectare, where hundreds of species of tropical birds play peekaboo in the dense foliage, and where several native tribes live in harmony with the jungle as they have for thousands of years.

This is the protected Cuyabeno Reserve in northeastern Ecuador, in the jungle-covered area known as the Oriente. It is mostly flat, interspersed with slow-flowing rivers, including the Cuyabeno. Several lagoons give panoramic views of open sky along with amazing wildlife. The humidity--especially for U.S. citizens who have grown up in the arid West--is intense; clothes and hair never seem to dry, batteries corrode in days and paper becomes limp.

For all its seeming impenetrability, the 1.5-million-acre Cuyabeno Reserve is vulnerable. Unfortunately it sits on top of vast oil reserves, coveted by several multi-national companies. Already, Chevron-Texaco has drilled in much of the adjoining land. Beginning in the 1960s, the apparently slipshod drilling and leaky pipelines have produced disastrous health problems (on the magnitude of Chernobyl, say some sources) in the local population, with cancer and other diseases widespread. Much of this oil is bound for California, feeding the state's giant fleet of autos. At the reserve's edges, colonists carve out small farms, pushing the jungle back ever further.

In early December 2003 I spent an amazing, unforgettable week in the Cuyabeno, reveling in the newness of this environment, the beautiful people, and wonderful hospitality at the Tapir Lodge, our base. Click on the links below to see some of the photos from this trip.

The second photo provides a glimpse of the other problem unique to the the Cuyabeno region: oil. In the foreground is a roadside pipeline that likely dates from the 1960s. As our bus lurched along the dirt road that parallels this pipeline, parts of it appeared rusty, while other sections were densely overgrown with jungle plants or sagging in their struts. Near Lago Agrio, sheens of oil seemed to glisten on the slow-moving streams in the area. Vast quantities of oil are located beneath the Cuyabeno Reserve.