Ecuador was first thrust onto the world scene in 1531 when Francisco Pizarro and his Conquistadors arrived on their search for gold and world domination. Ecuador again gained fame when naturalist Charles Darwin visited the Galapagos Islands in the 1830’s during his historic journey on the Beagle. But it wasn’t until the 1993 that this Andean paradise became known as a kayaking destination after Larry Vermeeren arrived in his search for the best whitewater the planet had to offer. He started Small World Adventures and Ecuador’s golden age of kayaking began. The Conquistadors never found their “El Dorado” but come boat with us in Ecuador and you’ll know you’ve found a boating mecca.
Straddling the equator on the western tip of South America, Ecuador is a land of dramatic landscapes both geographically and historically. Throughout the country, the influences of Indigenous cultures and Spanish Conquistadors still linger, and in the villages traditional hunting and fishing are still practiced. With an ar
ea about the size of Colorado, Ecuador supports ecosystems so diverse and close together that a traveler can go from a Pacific beach to a snow capped volcano rising over 20,000 feet, and on to the Amazon basin the same day.
Ecuador’s location, unique geographic features, and microclimates have made it one of the most biodiverse regions on earth. In fact, it’s one of the 17 “mega diverse” countries in the world according to Conservation International. Twenty-four tropical life zones can be found here, as well as 1,640 species of birds, 25,000 species of trees, and over 4,500 species of butterflies. In just the Andean region of Ecuador, 2,725 species of orchids have been recorded, and in the lowlands, one hectare can contain more frog species than are found in all of North America. What is our favorite way to see this amazing country? On a river of course. Whitewater rivers are out pathways through lush jungles and cloud forests--they take us off the beaten path and enable us to experience things that not many travelers can.
Locals divide mainland Ecuador into three regions: the Costa, Sierra, and Oriente. The Costa is the warm lowlands along the Pacific coast. The Sierra is the spine of the Andes that run from North to South through the middle of the country. The Oriente is the eastern half of Ecuador (Ecuador's Amazonian basin). Most of Ecuador’s 14 million people live in the Sierra or Costa, leaving the Oriente sparsely inhabited (in the year 2000, only 4% of Ecuador’s population lived in the Oriente). The Oriente is also where most of Ecuador’s best whitewater can be found. There are steep creeks pouring off the Andes that feed into bigger volume runs that eventually flow into the Amazon River. Ecuador truly is a paddler's paradise with so much variety compacted into a very small area.
All of Small World’s trips start in the capital city of Quito. From there it's less than a 3-hour drive to our riverside lodge on the Quijos River. Usually our guests arrive Saturday night, spend the night in Quito, and then we drive out Sunday morning in time for lunch and a boating session. If you arrive early or have some time at the end of your trip, you may want to check out this charming city. At 9,350 feet (2,850m) you’ll want to wear some sunscreen by day, and bring a jacket out at night. Quito is the world's 2nd highest capital (La Paz, Bolivia being #1), and was the northern capital of the Incan Empire. There are no intact Inca sites in Quito today because the Incas razed the city while fighting the Conquistadors in order to keep it from falling into Spanish hands. The Spanish also made the city their capital and rebuilt atop any remaining Incan ruins. The Spanish built many of their churches and town squares right over the top of important Inca sites to symbolically reinforce their conquest. This Spanish colonial architecture is some of the best preserved in Latin America and the historic center of Old Town Quito is an 
UNESCO World Heritage Site. Visiting Old Town Quito is especially pretty at night when many of the sites are lit up. Both Old Town and the Mariscal (popular downtown area in New Town) have benefited from recent renovations and tourist development. These areas are safe enough to visit in the evening, but use the same amount of caution you would in any big city.
If you have an extra day or two there are some other attractions in and around Quito. The equator monument (the Mitad del Mundo) is a short taxi ride or an adventuresome bus ride north of the city. (Make sure to check out the real equator a few hundred yards north of the monument - the original French geographic study got it wrong!) In Quito the Museo Nacional del Banco Central del Ecuador (on 12 de Octubre and Patria) is the city’s best museum. Parque el Ejido, directly in front of the museum, is a fun open-air arts and crafts market, especially on weekends. If you aren’t going to the craft town of Otavalo, this park is a fun experience. There are a plethora of bars, cafes, and restaurants to choose from throughout the Mariscal and Old Town. Finally, if the weather is clear, a ride up the flanks of Volcan Pichincha in the new Teleferiqo (cable car) gives a great view of the city.
After breakfast Sunday morning, our trips head East over the Andes and into the Oriente. We follow the same path that the Conquistadors used when they discovered the Amazon. Driving along the “Avenue of the Volcanoes” on clear days we can see four snow capped peaks--Cotopaxi, Cayembe, Iliniza, and Antisana. The main road to the Oriente tops out at 13,320 feet (4,060m) on top of Papallacta pass. Here we drop into the Amazon basin and can get amazing views of the headwaters of the Quijos 
River—18,891 foot tall Antisana volcano (5,758m). The area around the town of Papallacta is a geothermal hotspot, and there are some excellent hot springs, but maybe on the way back, we’ve got kayaking to do. This road was built in the 1970’s primarily to access the oil reserves in the Eastern lowlands. The trans Ecuadorian oil pipeline follows the road, and in places you can see it above ground. If we were to continue on, we would eventually reach Texaco’s oil boom town, Lago Agrio, and at the end of the road—Coca—where the pavement ends and transportation continues by dugout canoe. Our lodge is much closer though, just beyond the sleepy hub town of Baeza. Built on the banks of the Quijos River, our exclusive lodge, Cabanas Tres Rios, is a kayakers’ heaven (rafters, bird watches, hikers, and travelers in general love it too). Amenities at CTR include warm showers, cold beers, good food, and the put-in or take out for 4 different runs (we lay just downstream of a couple of confluences, hence the name Tres Rios). Staying at our lodge, we have the advantage of a huge boat selection, great hospitality, and rivers like the Cosanga and Quijos literally at our doorstep. In this valley, all in less than an hour's drive, are more than 10 different runs on rivers like the Papallacta, Quijos, Oyacachi, Cosanga, Borja, Sardinas, and Salado. The elevation in this valley varies from 4,000 to 6,000 feet (1,200-1,800 meters), and even though we are near the equator, the water temperature can be chilly, so bring a dry top.
There are also plenty of other activities in the Quijos Valley. Consider a trip down to San Rafael falls where the entire Quijos River plunges off a 485 foot tall waterfall. There is also great hiking, horseback riding and bird watching in our area. A few hours down the road lays the town of Coca which is a popular jumping-off point for jungle tours in the magnificent rainforests of Ecuador. If you would like more information about any of these activities, just contact our office and they will help you out. info@smallworldadventures.com
After a few days enjoying the rivers around our lodge, we like to get the best of both worlds and travel three hours South to Tena. On our way from the Quijos Valley to Tena we'll drive over 8,000 foot (2,400m) Guacamayo Pass and then start our descent into the Napo Valley. If it's a clear day, look for Sumaco--an impressive jungle covered volcano jutting above the surrounding mountains. Here we find warmer water and different birds and animals that accompany lower elevation 1,600 ft (500m). It’s common to see parrots, marmosets, and monkeys. We stay at the best hotel in Tena (it’s riverside as well), and enjoy air conditioning, hot showers, and a friendly, excellent staff. Tena has a population of 13,000, and is the capital of the Napo Province. It was an important trading post in the colonial era, and remains a bustling small town and popular stopping off point for travelers heading into the jungle. Here you can find souvenir shops, internet, good restaurants, bars and a happening nightlife. Many travelers come to Tena just to spend time in town, visit the surrounding jungle, and learn Spanish. We get to go boating, too! The rivers in this area stick with the Ecuadorian theme of not being too far apart, multiple sections of the Jatunyacu, Misahualli, Jondachi, Piatua and more are all right in the back yard.
If you have more than one week to visit Ecuador, we can set you up with extra days of kayaking, or you can check out some of the other sights this amazing country has to offer. 
Top on the list for many is a visit to the Galapagos Islands. The usual way to see the Galapagos is on a 3, 5, or 8 day cruise from island to island (we suggest at least 5 days). Some companies are now offering “land-based” trips, where you sleep onshore and take small boats to visit the nesting areas and snorkeling sites. It’s also possible to visit parts of the islands on your own (there are towns on a couple of the islands) but, as it is probably a once in a lifetime opportunity, do it right and pay a bit more to visit the best areas - you need a guide to visit most of the islands in the national park. Small World can help you book a trip to the islands, or just give you more information. Contact us and we can get you set up with one of the reputable companies that we work with.
There’s also plenty more to do on the mainland of Ecuador, whether it’s in the highlands, at the beach, or in the jungle. The most famous town for arts and crafts in Ecuador is Otavalo. It’s in the highlands to the north of Quito. The open air market is a bit more elaborate on Saturday mornings, but it’s good any day. There are good places to stay in town, and some very nice haciendas in the surrounding area. You could easily spend a few days hiking the lake country around Otavalo as well. Mountain climbing is also a popular attraction in Ecuador. Chimborazo at 20,702 ft (6,310m) and Cotopaxi at 19,347ft (5,897m) are the most popular climbs. You can rent gear in Quito if you have mountaineering experience, or you can also hire a guide. You’ll want to have a minimum of three days to acclimate and complete the climb. On our trips we will have seen some pristine jungle and cloud forest, but if you want more exposure, you can go out to one of the jungle lodges in the Eastern lowlands. Guests arrive by plane or motorized canoe, and these lodges on the headwaters of the Amazon can rival the Galapagos for a unique wildlife experience. If you just want to relax, Ecuador has some nice beach towns. Some of our favorite beaches are Canoa, Alandaluz and Montanita. You can do some surfing or just enjoy an icy drink in the shade of a palm tree. Closer to Quito, the town of Banos, the Bella Vista cloud forest, or Papallacta hot springs are great places to unwind. Let us know if you want any more details on adding some more adventure to your trip.
Weather on the equator is more regulated by elevation than by season. It’s always warm on the coast and in the lowlands, and it can be surprisingly cool in the highlands. It snows year-round in the mountains, and can rain up to 500 cm (16.4 feet!) each year in parts of the Oriente. Ecuador is also the only place in the world where the equator passes through snow - on the shoulder of 18,996 foot (5,790m) Cayambe. The temperature in Ecuador varies by altitude and weather conditions. A cloudy day at 6,000 feet (1,800m) near our lodge can be quite chilly, but down at 1,000 feet (300m) near Tena it’s warm on rainy days. Normally it’s sunny for part of the day and rainy for part of the day, but an entire week of sun (or rain) is not uncommon. We’ve yet to find any meteorologists with accurate weather predictions for the Oriente!
While it’s possible to boat year-round in Ecuador, we think it’s best during North America’s winter, from November to March. The rivers here are all rain fed, with some snow melt to back things up, and low water is never a problem. Fluctuations can happen at any time, with the only constant being that the weather and river levels change a lot! It tends to rain more in the Oriente in June and July, so the water may be too high for too long then. It’s a different concept for all of us kayakers used to running rivers when they are “up” - you don’t need “high” water in the Amazon basin! While things do change often, there is almost always something to boat. We’ve had many seasons (including last season which was abnormally rainy and high) where we never missed a day of paddling. We use our 15 years of experience paddling in Ecuador to choose the best run each day for each group depending on water levels.
In the heart of Ecuador's most spectacular terrain are the clear waters of upper-Andean creeks and the thundering rapids of big water Amazonian tributaries. While inaccessible to most travelers, these are our playgrounds. Our trips are designed to offer kayakers of all abilities the unique opportunity to experience fantastic whitewater in one of the most interesting regions on earth. Roughly half of the runs we do are suitable for rafting and kayaking while the others are kayak only. We have never encountered an area with a higher concentration of good whitewater rivers and such a long season. The combination of steady rainfall and amazing topographic relief add up to one of the worlds best whitewater areas. Many of our guests are well-traveled paddlers, and while most have enjoyed all their boating destinations, many keep returning to Ecuador because of the abundance of great whitewater all concentrated into a super small area. You will definitely spend more time paddling than driving on our trips! Below we have listed just a sampling of the rivers found in the area around our river base.
Rio Quijos: From its birth as a glacial creek on the flanks of the volcano Antisana to a huge river deep in the Amazon basin, the Quijos has over 100 miles of spectacular whitewater. The upper runs are continuous and technical, while big water play spots abound in the lower canyons. Our exclusive lodge “Cabanas Tres Rios” serves as our access point on the Quijos. Runs on the Quijos vary from Class III to V.
Rio Cosanga: Experience lava cliffs, lush rainforests, tropical birds and waterfalls hundreds of feet high while you paddle this river's three wonderfully technically runs. This tributary of the Rio Quijos is always a favorite with the guides and guests. One of Ecuador's most famous birds, the Andean Cock of the Rock, often fly overhead as we paddle this run. The take-out for the lower section is at our lodge below the confluence with the Quijos. Runs vary from Class III+ to IV+.
Rio Misahualli: Clear, warm water, polished granite boulders, tree lined banks, and kids swimming near indigenous villages characterize the Misahualli's upper runs. This run offers some excellent lower volume creeking, with tons of great boofs. The "Lower Mis" is the quintessential big water jungle run of Ecuador. Passing through a remote rainforest it has it all; great surfing, big powerful rapids, parrots, toucans and waterfalls. The only problem with this run is the arduous portage in the middle of the run. This river nearly has it all in terms of difficulty with runs ranging from Class II to IV+.
Rio Jatunyacu: This big volume river has long straightforward rapids perfect for the intermediate paddler. It also has some amazing play spots—perfect for people looking to do a little freestyle while in Ecuador. The calm pools allow plenty of time to enjoy the magnificent views of the rainforest as well as the Andes. Depending on the water level this run is Class III to III+.
Rio Jondachi: Although the upper run is only about 10 kilometers long there must be at least a hundred rapids. The setting is truly breathtaking on this steep creek. Be prepared to boof til you drop on this one. The upper section is Class IV to V depending on water levels. The lower Jondachi was traditionally done as a 2-day run, but SWA has found a new put-in that allows us to do an easier day stretch of this run. Enjoy great scenery as beautiful waterfalls and tributaries swell this run from a tiny creek to a big volume jungle river. You'll start out on a small volume technical creek and end up on the big volume Hollin River. Class III+ to IV.
Rio Oyacachi: One of the many tributaries to the Rio Quijos, the Oyacachi a powerful technical river in a beautiful remote valley. It's clear water and non-stop rapids make it one of the most memorable rivers in Ecuador. There is a day run as well as a multi day section. Class IV to V+ depending on the section and the water level.
Rio Piatua: “Newly discovered” thanks to a new road, the Piatua has become a SWA standard near Tena. Clear and smooth bouldered like the upper Mis, the Piatua has a wider river bed, is more continuous and is absolutely chock full of boofs. Class IV.
If you would like to read up more about Ecuador’s rivers before your trip, click here to buy a guidebook.
Frequently Asked Questions
It's easy and we love to guide a group of buddies on the kind of water they like best. Contact our office early and to reserve the week you want and we'll help you with the rest. Since we only run two trips at a time, and we tend to fill up early, don't wait too late to choose your dates.
Contact us now info@smallworldaventures.com
800-585-2925 or (970) 309-8913
Everyone says that our guides, our Ecuadorian staff, and our lodge make our trips. We have had well-traveled guests say that our lodge is the nicest place that have ever been in their life! Our guides love boating and no one else has near the experience that Don, Larry, and Darcy have in guiding kayak trips in Ecuador. The fact that we have the largest, most modern kayak fleet in Ecuador and probably all of South America assures you to have the right boat for the right river. We also know you are here to kayak so all of our Class III and above trips paddle 7 full days compared to 6 with some other outfitters. We are committed to knowing Ecuador’s rivers inside and out, and our dedication to kayaking, and specifically kayaking in Ecuador makes us the best choice in outfitters for your vacation to Ecuador.
To read more, click here: Why SWA?
Tropical Nature: Life and Death in the Rainforests of Central and South America
Adrian Forsyth and Ken Miyata
Savages
Joe Kane
Crude Chronicles: Indigenous Politics, Multinational Oil, and Neoliberalism in Ecuador
Suzana Sawyer
Indians, Oil, and Politics: A Recent History of Ecuador
Allen Gerlach
The Panama Hat Trail
Tom Miller
The Kayaker's Guide to Ecuador
Don Beveridge, Larry Vermeeren, Darcy Gaechter, Nancy Hiemstra
We wrote the book on river running in Ecuador. The 2nd edition just came out in November, 2006! Order it now as a way to anticipate or remember your favorite runs. The new guidebook is 118 pages long, and covers over 60 runs in the Baeza, Tena and Santo Domingo regions. It also includes helpful logistical information if you are planning a self-guided trip. The book costs $20 plus shipping.
for example. Ankle biters need bare skin, and you guessed it, usually attack the ankles. Tall socks deter them nicely. To be invincible, wear thin polypro, or light weight sun pants while you are paddling (Patagonia Gi II work great). Ankle biters are worse on the lower elevation rivers around Tena.