Flora & Fauna
Flora & Fauna
Flora & Fauna
Flora & Fauna
Flora & Fauna
Cultural Engagement
An important aspect of ecotourism is the engagement with an area’s people and culture in a sustainable and productive way. We strive to create this experience for visitors through our on-site activities, as well as partnerships with local communities, farmers, and businesses.
Activity
Overview of regional history and culture
Sustainable agriculture
Interactive workshop
Traditional Cooking
Meditations
Yoga
Clay Therapy
Spanish Workshop
Omaere Ethnobotanical Park
Madre Tierra/ Yaku Runa Indigenous community
Location
On-site
On-site
Off-site
On-site
On-site
On-site
On-site
On-site
Off-site
Off-site
Time period
Half day
Half
OR
Full day
Half day
Flexible, starting with
30 minute
sessions
Flexible, starting with
30 minute
sessions
Quarter to Half day
Flexible, starting with
30 minute
sessions
Full day
Full day
Description
A discussion of the history, customs, and traditions of the upper Amazon that will lay a foundation for understanding the region in its current state.
Half days will be on-site and will include a workshop, tour of the food forest and other cultivated areas, fruit/coffee harvesting, and more.
Learn about how people have prepared food for thousands of years, then enjoy eating what we make!
Meditations can be as extensive and frequent as you desire. At the very least, we do morning meditations to start the day off right!
Wake up on the right side of the bed with sunrise yoga paired with a meditation. Coming soon, we will have a yoga/meditation platform extending out from the upstairs of the field lab with scaping views of jungle mountains and volcanoes.
Join us at Sumak's clay spa - a natural outcrop of white clay just 100 meters from the station. Paint up and soak in the clay pools before we continue down to the river to clean up.
Serious about spanish? Short, daily workshops following a morning meditation has proven to be an effective way to advance your language skills
Learn about indiginous traditions, medicines, constructions, and general way of life.
We will travel to the nearby town of Madre Tierra to learn about traditional customs, clothing, food, dances, and more!
Activities
The Pastaza province of Ecuador has seven autonomous indigenous nations, making it one of the most culturally diverse regions on earth. Several communities near Sumak have community tourism projects that both help them maintain their customs and traditions, as well as help other people learn about them!
Visiting Yaku Runa, a community in Madre Tierra, you’ll share in a traditional Guayusa tea ceremony, learn how to blow a poison dart gun, sample edible and medicinal plants, enjoy a traditional indigenous meal, purchase skilled artisan works, and more! Another day trip may also spark your interest. The Omaere Ethnobotanical Park in Puyo has extensive interpretation and activities surrounding the cultural-botanical interface within the Shuar, Achuar, and Kichwa nations.
Permaculture is an integrated system of sustainable agriculture, ecological construction, and healthy living that uses the natural patterns and predispositions of one’s environment/ ecosystem. At Sumak we have over 50 cultivates, and within the next 5 years our food forest may be producing up to four times as much food as a typical monoculture. With Pedro, our resident specialist in permaculture, you’ll learn about our ecological constructions, methods of sustainable planting, nutrient cycles, harvesting practices, and more.
Working with all that food may make you hungry… Not to worry, back to the house to make a tasty treat. How about a humita (tamale) with coffee after harvesting the corn and coffee beans on site!? Eating organic, homegrown produce is a great way to connect with nature. Want to take it one step further? Sunrise yoga sessions and waterfall meditations will refresh your soul and energy in a way you didn’t know you needed.
Prices
The cost of your visit will depend on the activities and extent of guiding required to facilitate your visit. Rates look better when you bring more friends!
Check out our starting prices here, and contact us directly to put together your next adventure!
