Amazon Rainforest:
Huaorani Territory

Yasuni National Park Photo Expedition

The ogre-faced or web casting spider (Dinopus) spins an egg sac. This is one of our favorite subjects.

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.

You will learn how to take photos like this one of an Amazon tree boa (Corallus hortulanus) which not only shows all the diagnostic features used to identify it, but artistically, well, cool!
You will learn how to photograph subjects on a white background, like this velvet worm, or Onycophora,

Details

Location: Shiripuno Lodge and other locations on the Shiripuno River in the Huarani territory.

Dates: TBA

Subjects: Tree frogs, black water rivers, black caiman, and much more.

Cost: $3,600. Single room supplement $400.

Skill Level: Intermediate to Professional

Level of Accommodation: Rustic

Physical exertion needed: Moderate

Maximum number of participants: 6 per instructor, 10 maximum.

Costs Included: Everything from Quito Airport and back, including all transportation, guides, canoe trips, personalized instruction, safe and comfortable accommodations.

Expenses Not Included: Flights to Quito, Ecuador, and then to Coca; all personal items, alcoholic beverages, all photo gear, and required traveler’s insurance.

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