As few as 50 years ago the Waorani (or Huaorani) people of Ecuador’s eastern jungle were living without any contact with the rest of the world. In that half a century much has unfortunately changed for these fearsome warriors of el Oriente. Due to encroachment on their territory, there are fewer than 2000 Waorani living on their remaining piece of land; 600,000 hectares of rainforest between the Napo and Curaray rivers.

Tragically, oil companies discovered that the biodiverse lands of these hunter-gatherers were sitting on top of huge oil reserves so environmentally destructive roads and oil stations were built. And, to make matters worse, the companies hundreds of kilometers of pipelines spill oil, and they spill it a lot. Although the Ecuadorian government now gives the Waorani territorial rights to their land, the impoverished government owns the rights to the minerals and oil under that land. This is a place with overlooked life to be discovered and where our efforts to document that life can join with the Waorani’s fight to protect it!  So, come and meet the home of The Warriors of the Wildneress and all it’s inhabitants.