We had the most amazing experience from start to finish and the Anakonda was the perfect place to stay and experience the river! The Anakonda is beautiful - our cabin had a comfortable bed, small private balcony and bathroom with both a tub (by the window looking out on to the river Napo) and a shower. The room was cleaned and freshened up multiple times a day! Our guide, Avel, is a professional and an expert and has the eyes of a hawk! We went on night jungle walks where we saw lots of snakes, spiders, frogs, capybara. During the day, on our canoe rides which took us into the smaller tributaries and narrow creeks, we spotted beautiful butterflies, birds, river otters, marmots, sloths and monkeys. We fished for Piranha! Kayaked! It was heaven! The parrot clay lick was a real highlight and absolutely worth the early rise! We did not see another tourist for days! After each outing and upon return to the Anakonda we were greeted each time with fresh juice, clean towels and very good food. Jefferson, the barman, made great cocktails in the evenings! We tried new things such as a Caipirinha made with Caña Manabita, an Ecuadorean liquor made from sugar cane. Esteban, the director of the boat and the Captain, Alexis, are consummate professionals with a great focus on the safety and comfort of the guests. (Lifejackets were mandatory on the canoe at all times). Shout-outs too to Emilio, our canoe captain, and Juan Carlo and Nellie. This was a vacation in a million.

First, we were to be on the Manatee, which has balconies. WHEN WE ARRIVED they said sorry, you're on the Anakonda w/no balconies. Second, we spent THREE or our 5 days (really 4.5 because we had to leave so early on the 5th day) tied up, no cruising at all, so might as well been at a lodge (where most likely we would have seen much more wildlife) The crusing we did do was down the Napo a bit and then BACK up to pick up another group of passengers. They told us this was because the river was too shallow. OK, fine but there should have been some warning that this might happen. The crew is lovely, housekeeping is outstanding, food is fair. Excursions yielded 2 sightings of monkeys far off, a momentary glimpse of the river dolphin, a few birds and that's it. No sloths, capyberas, otters, snakes, poison dart frogs, armadillos or anything else in this "most bio-diverse" place. We spent 2.5 hr on day one sitting in silence in a pavillion waiting for parrots to come to the clay lick. NOT WORTH 2 hrs!!!! I uess the wildlife is not really their fault but from the adverts it looks like it will be everywhere. It is not. No safety protocols on excursions, our guide didn't even have a radio. A one point the boat didn't come back to get us and we sat in the dark on the shore while our guide tried to signal main boat w/ a laser pointer. This was supposed to be the trip of a lifetime. It was not.