In order to fully experience the best of three incredibly diverse regions of Ecuador, this trip involves an ample amount of travel to and from the Ecuadorian mainland, the Amazon and the Galápagos Islands (including two round-trip flights, one of which requires us to get going as early as 4 am). Depending on your departure date, we take commercial flights on twin-jet planes operated by Aeroregional, LATAM Ecuador or Avianca Airlines. Please note that flight schedules can change with little advance warning, which may require us to adjust our activities on a travel day.

Wildlife in the Amazon is liveliest during the early morning, late afternoon and evening. Accordingly, most of our activities start around 6 or 7 a.m., allowing optimal animal encounters in the cooler hours while giving you some time to relax midday. Galápagos activities are scheduled each day for morning and a section of the afternoon, leaving you with a good portion of the evening to enjoy the hotel and the local town.

The main form of travel for activities in the Amazon and Galápagos is by boat. Our Amazon ship cruises on calm river waters while our Galápagos boats sail through open ocean, so bring medication if you’re prone to motion sickness.

The Amazon and Galápagos Islands are fascinating places, yet at times logistically challenging, especially with national park regulations in the Galápagos. Itinerary changes are quite common. In the Amazon, our daily itinerary is based on scheduled sailing and port arrival times, which in turn are determined by the naturally shifting water level of the Napo River. Low water levels result in slower sailing, extra cruising time or possible shifts in activity timing. As a result, some days have more opportunities for land exploration while others have a little more sailing time. Should any unforeseen change happen during your river cruise, we’ll work closely with the Anakonda’s captain and staff, who are very experienced in going with the flow. And if we encounter changes to planned activities, your Trip Leader will be at the ready to adjust or find alternative activities.

We provide plenty of walking options so that you can walk at your chosen pace throughout the trip. However, in the Amazon and Galápagos, in accordance with national park environmental protection regulations, hikers must stay in designated areas and be accompanied by our local naturalist.

During the river cruise portion of your trip, the Anakonda ship is your floating luxury hotel, letting you visit many locations along the Amazon’s Napo River without having to pack up your bags! We’ve limited our Backroads group size to 18, but just like any hotel, we’ll be sharing the ship with other guests. This 40-passenger ship is custom-designed with inviting common spaces so you’ll have room for relaxing and socializing with other guests.

In contrast to our usual land-only based trips, which have similar room categories, the Anakonda offers two suite stateroom categories: Deluxe and Standard. The four top-tier Deluxe Suites come at an additional cost and often fill fast. If reserving one is important to you, we suggest booking as early as possible to increase your chances; however even then Deluxe Suite availability is not guaranteed.