Guided tour - amaZOOnico - (Selva Viva / Ecuador)

amaZOOnico - Guided Tour
Come with us on a short tour through amaZOOnico ... The majority of tour operators that operate in the region include a tour of amaZOOnico as part of their itinerary. Hotels as far away as Archidona (at a distance of 50 km) send their tourists here. The main attraction of amaZOOnico is that it allows people to observe forest animals in their natural environment which for many of the species would normally be very difficult due to their rarity or shyness. A tour can vary in length between 30 and 90 minutes depending on the interest of the visitors and size of the group. All volunteers and trainees are involved in taking tours because usually all groups arrive together and each volunteer has its strengths in one of the foreign languages. We can offer tours in Swiss German, German, Spanish, English and French. After arriving by canoe tourists receive a warm welcome; not only from the volunteers but often also from the first animals. After a short introduction describing the centre and its work and some general rules the tour commences. Each tour is different AmaZOOnico is not a zoo but a rescue centre for animals of the Amazon in Ecuador, existing since 1993. It is a private project, which means that don’t receive any financial support from the Ecuadorian government. We are dependent on the entree fees and the donations given by the visitors like yourselves and organisations. With the entree fees we can cover the costs of the food for the animals and the donations we use for special necessities or improvements for the animals that need that at that time. Most of the animals coming to amaZOOnico are weak, undernourished and full of parasites. We try to cure them and, if possible, release them back into the forest, Selva Viva. If this is not possible we try to offer animals an environment as natural as possible. In reality releasing animals is not that easy: about half of the animals stay here. Sometimes because they get too used to humans and we cannot get “rid of them” as their behaviour is no longer normal or they remain ill. These animals stay here and we try to offer them as good living conditions as possible, either inside enclosures or outside freely in the park. There are two reasons to put them into enclosures: first of all it is necessary for the aggressive ones or those who eat meat because they can endanger other animals living outside or visitors. The second reason is that we have a lot of very weak animals which overestimate themselves and therefore have to be protected from the other animals outside. Many animals are living in semi captivity at the centre. If a group of tourists happens to have bad luck, it can be, that the capybaras are still sleeping somewhere unseen, or part of our monkey-gang is far away looking for food or hiding for the rain. For us this is exactly one of the special attractions of amaZOOnico as well. Every day is different and we like to respect the way the animals choice to be, if they wish, they can draw back whenever they like. As the variety of animals at amaZOOnico is always changing a bit- new animals arrive, animals are released or moved into other enclosures etc.- the tours are always a bit different.

amaZOOnico - Guided Tour

Come with us on a short tour through amaZOOnico ...

The majority of tour operators that operate in the region include a tour of amaZOOnico as part of their itinerary. Hotels as far away as Archidona (at a distance of 50 km) send their tourists here. The main attraction of amaZOOnico is that it allows people to observe forest animals in their natural environment which for many of the species would normally be very difficult due to their rarity or shyness. A tour can vary in length between 30 and 90 minutes depending on the interest of the visitors and size of the group. All volunteers and trainees are involved in taking tours because usually all groups arrive together and each volunteer has its strengths in one of the foreign languages. We can offer tours in Swiss German, German, Spanish, English and French.

After arriving by canoe tourists receive a warm welcome; not only from the volunteers but often also from the first animals. After a short introduction describing the centre and its work and some general rules the tour commences.

Each tour is different
AmaZOOnico is not a zoo but a rescue centre for animals of the Amazon in Ecuador, existing since 1993. It is a private project, which means that don’t receive any financial support from the Ecuadorian government. We are dependent on the entree fees and the donations given by the visitors like yourselves and organisations. With the entree fees we can cover the costs of the food for the animals and the donations we use for special necessities or improvements for the animals that need that at that time.

Most of the animals coming to amaZOOnico are weak, undernourished and full of parasites.
We try to cure them and, if possible, release them back into the forest, Selva Viva. If this is not possible we try to offer animals an environment as natural as possible.
In reality releasing animals is not that easy: about half of the animals stay here. Sometimes because they get too used to humans and we cannot get “rid of them” as their behaviour is no longer normal or they remain ill. These animals stay here and we try to offer them as good living conditions as possible, either inside enclosures or outside freely in the park.

There are two reasons to put them into enclosures: first of all it is necessary for the aggressive ones or those who eat meat because they can endanger other animals living outside or visitors. The second reason is that we have a lot of very weak animals which overestimate themselves and therefore have to be protected from the other animals outside.

Many animals are living in semi captivity at the centre. If a group of tourists happens to have bad luck, it can be, that the capybaras are still sleeping somewhere unseen, or part of our monkey-gang is far away looking for food or hiding for the rain. For us this is exactly one of the special attractions of amaZOOnico as well. Every day is different and we like to respect the way the animals choice to be, if they wish, they can draw back whenever they like. As the variety of animals at amaZOOnico is always changing a bit- new animals arrive, animals are released or moved into other enclosures etc.- the tours are always a bit different.