Our stay at Tapir Lodge was a truly amazing & unique experience! There were just three of us staying in the lodge during the five days, making it a very personal experience - Kurt our guide was extremely knowledgeable and very passionate about wildlife! We were deep within the rain forest and it felt very remote giving the perfect opportunity to observe a wide variety of wildlife. We were lucky to encounter pink river dolphins in the flooded forest (which was the real highlight for me!)at sunset, a large caiman basking in the sun, a green anaconda, squirrel monkeys, saki monkeys, tamarins, many large spiders (including a turantula), a herd of up to 200 wild pigs (apparantly a very rare sight in that particular area!), a poision arrow frog, turtles, bats and a huge abundance of birdlife including macaws, parakeets, vultures, a tiger heron and humming birds. We were also soaked by a manatee when we accidentally startled it whilst travelling down the river at night which scared the life out of us all! The piranha fishing was also great fun! We were very looked after by the staff at the lodge and were provided with three delicious (three course) meals per day, we also had fresh drinking water available in our rooms along with electricity and hot showers. I advise that you take a walk around the boardwalks of the lodge at night with a torch where you will be able to view tree frogs, two large toads (that live in a hole nearby), many large spiders and leaf cutter ants working throughout the night! If you are in to your fauna and flora a trip to the Amazon is a must and the Cuyabeno Reserve is the perfect location!

The surroundings and wildlife here are amazing as you are deep in the rainforest so you have much better access to pristine untouched jungle. The wildlife is in abundance - we saw 5 different types of monkey, a tapir (which are really rare) pink river dolphins, caimen, snakes, pirahna, poison dart frogs, vultures, toucans, parrots, bats and much much more.

The lodge itself is as close as you will get to luxury in the middle of the jungle! The rooms are nice and comfortable and cleaned daily and the food is first class (3 courses for each meal - all freshly prepared to a high standard).

One of the advantages of this place is that it is in a black water area and there are no mosquitos. This can be a real problem in other parts of the Amazon. I didnt get bitten once in my whole 5 days there!

The treks and boat rides were varied and interesting and the guide was very knowledgeable and spoke fluent english, spanish and german (we heard of other places that had groups of 20 people with little or no english speaking guides) Our group size was small so that we could ask questions and had a much more personable service.

Overall, I couldnt recommend this place enough!

We went to Tapir lodge in august with LLama travel. The lodge is very comfortable and the food good. Our guide was Kurt (the owner) or his son and both were very informative. Because of its remoteness, there were not many tourists and you had a real sense of being in the middle of nowhere. We had seen the government advice but we were accompanied at every stage and never felt at risk. The sunset at the flooded forest was exceptional as was swimmimg in the "black" waters of the river. We were not troubled by mosquitos at all and saw plenty of wildlife including the pink river dolphins and monkeys scampering past our window at daybreak.

Tapir Lodge is remotely located in the Cuyabeno Preserve. You are accompanied by staff from the airport in Quito, from which you fly into Lago Agrio. The Lodge then provided a bus for the three hour ride to the entrance of the Cuyabeno Preserve, after which you switch to a motorized canoe for several hours, arriving at the Lodge towards dusk.
Kurt Beate, the owner of the Lodge, was our host and guide. Kurt is a very personable individual who was very attentive to the guests.
The Lodge is comprised of a series of thatched roof, attractive structures. The food was more than ample and very good. The guided trips on the river and into the forest were very informative and interesting. In addition, there were swims at dusk on the large "lake" formed by the convergence of several rivers.
While various governments have recommended against going into the Cuyabeno area due to its proximity to Colombia, the fact that we wer accompanied by staff throughout the journey eased our concerns.
We're very grateful we had the opportunity to see this fascinating part of the world and to have stayed at such a fine facility.