I walked through the still waters of the lagoon in front of La Selva Eco Lodge and Retreat, a resort deep within the Yasuni Biosphere Reserve, one of the planet’s most bioreserved places in the Ecuadorian Amazon. With binoculars pressed to my eyes, I tried to be half as skilled as the local guide who had paddled us down the river before dawn. He was a local child from the Quechua tribe, who, while concentrating on spinning a spinning submarine, somehow noticed a couple of dead, barking trees sleeping in the branches, along with two- and three-legged sloths that looked like birds.
My goal was to find something rare without the help of Yasuni’s 610 bird species and more than 700 different species of fish, mammals, reptiles, and amphibians. La Selva’s greatest treasure was the endangered giant otters, which recently returned to the lagoon for the first time in 15 years. Still, they made themselves rare. Here there always seemed to be a rarer, more or less, counterpart to a familiar animal: giant anteaters, giant armadillos, pygmy monkeys.
With over 700 different species of fish, mammals, reptiles, and amphibians at Yasuni, you’re practically guaranteed a wildlife sighting.
I was startled by gunshots. I almost capsized the canoe. I realized that the sound came from an arapima, one of the largest freshwater fish in the world, sometimes reaching 10 feet in length. His tail slapped the surface of the water, marking it of La Peche area After calming myself down, something rocked my boat.
Prior to March 2020, La Selva guests swam in the lagoon. But when the property closed for half a year during the pandemic, black caimans moved in. La Selva always had caimans, but only less aggressive and less territorial dwarf and white species. When the staff and visitors returned to the lodge, Black Cummins refused to leave. The forest had reclaimed his land and La Selva was forced to develop. They built a cage-in-pool in front of the resort.
I again capsized the boat once more. Was it a black caiman looking for lunch? I tried to understand the logic. I was the only person paddling a multi-hull canoe, with the weight down my back. The boat was not planning properly. I must have struck a shallow log in deep brown waters. That’s what I told myself. I passed through the binoculars again, hoping the forest surrounded me.
To get to La Selva, I took a 30-minute plane ride from Quito to Cocoa. A 2.5-hour speedboat ride down the massive Napo River, one of nine tributaries that feed the Amazon River. And another 30-minute canoe ride, still in the middle of the rain. “Remote” doesn’t begin to describe this location, though the payoff is natural luxury: nature’s beauty in restoration.
Planes, speedboats, and canoes will get you to La Selva.
Wildlife abounds around La Selva’s property. The lodge sits on 23 acres and its promenade runs on another 23 acres. This is because of how La Selva treats the forest.
“The forest is giving us back what it’s receiving,” said Evan Zomerga, managing director of Golden Experiences & Travel, the company that bought La Selva in 2022. “For example, the bamboo-walled and palm-thatched rooms have fans instead of air conditioning. The number of generators needed to run the air conditioners would need to be doubled. La Selva made other decisions to attract animals, such as at night,” said Evan Zomerga, managing director of Golden Experiences and Travel, the company that bought La Selva in 2022. Like doing away with generators and running the property on rechargeable electric batteries. They also plan to reduce carbon emissions by 15 percent each year, and keep glass to a minimum, as it’s a huge killer of birds and insects.
After canoeing the lake, I opted for a more peaceful afternoon. I took a yoga class and posed in Shavasana while the rain played timpani with banana leaves. I sat on the raised dining deck with bird books, trying to identify all the sharp honeycreepers and coots that landed on the tree where the blond squirrel monkeys ate. I took a chocolate class and learned the simple process of turning fermented cacao beans into chocolate.
The chicken-sized hootzen with its elegant mohawk is a common bird in this part of the forest.
Beyond business and the natural world, La Selva is also dedicated to the local Quechua community. Quechua permit La Selva In land use – one of three permits to work in Yasun. and allows the lodge to bring tours to their village. Eighty-five percent of La Selva’s staff are Quechua. The lodge also helps the Quechua build a schoolhouse. Provides yearbooks and supplies to students. Elevates Quechua women in entrepreneurial roles. And brings the teeth to deal with the local community. By providing the Quechua with additional education and alternative sources of income, they are denied the chance to hunt more incredible animals in the rainforest. All those giant creatures that are intruding.
As night approached, my group of eight returned to the forest with our local guide, Chikoki, and our naturalist guide, Paul. In the dark, the forest is terrifyingly interesting. We encountered grasshoppers and insects that looked like leaves and sticks. We found the “code” for chikoki-faced-faced spiders that cast webs like spider-man and unknown spiders without any webs, meant the fast, deadly, predatory kind. Which means keep your distance. Which was difficult because we were ushered onto a forest trail and warned not to touch anything.
Daylight gave us a different world. In a 125-foot-tall tower perched in the branches of a kapok tree, we—the Chikoki—herd their young through the branches as a troop of all manner of toucans and scarlet digger howler monkeys. Even the tree itself was an ecosystem, shepherded by bromeliads and hibernating orchids wherever host plants could be found. “There’s more life on a tree than in some countries,” Paul said without exaggeration.
La Selva’s restaurant takes “dining with a view” to a new level.
I found the trees incredible. On one walk, Paul pressed us against a tree near a tree, calling his black oystercatcher. Sangri de Drago. SAP was a treatment for infections, and was considered a cure for some cancers. A rare Bell Key carrier also produced SAP that turned out to be well… nothing. Yet when boiled, the sap turned black and could be used as a poison on the tips of darts and spears. Nothing is wasted.
It was as incredible for me to consider the logistics of building and running La Selva as we were surrounded. Besides what comes from the forest, everything from decorations to furniture to the steel used to build the observation tower had to travel this way. Laundry, refuse, and some staff make this trip daily.
When I heard all this, I worried about food, figuring any chef who was sent into the jungle couldn’t cut it in most city kitchens. But from the yuca bread to the curry to the free arapima, the chef would have gotten a Michelin star if the reviewers traveled with machetes. When he served dessert, every bite was savored with the jungle course.
La Selva starts at $600 per person per night.
