From Quito you fly or bus east to Lago Agrio, the oil town also known as Nueva Loja. The flight takes thirty minutes; the bus, if you have the time and stamina, takes around seven hours along Andean switchbacks that grind your nerves before the jungle starts. Flights are cheap enough that most travelers fly. From Lago Agrio it is another one and a half to two hours by lodge-arranged transport to El Puente en Cuyabeno, the bridge that serves as the reserve's de facto front door. Coming from Banos further south, plan for roughly eight hours via Coca and Lago Agrio. The entrance itself is free - no park fee for nationals or foreigners - and no permits are needed for personal photos or films.

The most-visited stretch is the Cuyabeno River corridor feeding the Laguna Grande, the Big Lake, which anchors the network of 14 lagoons in the reserve's western half. From Laguna Grande you can slip into narrower lagoons like Caimancocha, Mateococha, and Canangueno through black-water canals where the trees rise straight out of the water. Trails come and go with the seasons, but the regulars are the Palma Roja loop, the Saladero de Dantas (tapir salt-lick), and the Quebrada la Hormiga. Further east, the Lagartococha River marks the Peruvian border and the reserve's eastern edge - its lagoons Imuya, Redondococha, and Delfincocha promise flooded jungle, monkeys, and birds that rarely see a lens. Zancudococha, in the reserve's lowest elevations near the Aguarico, is the largest lagoon in the Ecuadorian Amazon.

The reserve harbors 550 bird species, a record 307 tree species per hectare, 350 fish species, and more than 12,000 plants. You may see capuchin and red-handed howler monkeys, orabassu titis, spider monkeys, and sakis. You will certainly hear them. Tapir, capybara, jaguar (rarely), pink river dolphins that grow to two and a half meters and feed on fish and turtles, giant otters working the river in family pods, two species of sloth hanging motionless enough to be mistaken for branches. One thousand species of butterflies and moths. Hoatzins - prehistoric-looking birds that smell like cow manure - sitting in the igapo. Anacondas, boa constrictors, caiman along every muddy bank. The frogs alone include Amazon horned frogs, Tukeit Hill frogs, glass frogs you can see through, and cane toads the size of dinner plates.

Three indigenous peoples maintain communities within and around the reserve: the Cofan, the Secoya, and the Siona. Until the 1980s these communities lived almost entirely from fishing, hunting, and swidden farming. Ecotourism has changed that. The Siona community at Puerto Bolivar, on the Aguarico, the Cofan community at Sabalo, and the Kichwa community at Zancudococha all run or partner with community tourism programs. Visitors can paddle dugout canoes with community members, walk forest trails with guides who learned the plants from their grandparents, and buy crafts woven and carved from seeds, vines, and jungle materials. Shamanism is offered at some lodges - approach it with respect and realistic expectations. These are living traditions, not performances.

Food and lodging are organized through the ecolodges, which range in price from backpacker-bunks to eco-luxury. Bring your own drinking water, or let your operator organize it - the tap water is not drinkable. Mosquitoes are less bad here than in many Amazon reserves, and the area is malaria-free, but bring repellent anyway and start a sensible insect-bite regimen. The Cuyabeno operators have logged more than two decades of continuous tourism without a major incident, which says something about the professionalism of the guide network. Tell your guide and your accommodation about any allergies or medical conditions before you push off from shore. When you leave, transportation goes only as far as Lago Agrio. From there, Ecuador opens back up.