Terms & Conditions
These terms describe what we commit to, what we need from you, and how risk is shared on an expedition into one of the most remote places you can legally travel. Please read them before you pay anything.
These terms describe what we commit to, what we need from you, and how risk is shared on an expedition into one of the most remote places you can legally travel. Please read them before you pay anything.
The three things most travellers want to know first. The full terms follow below.
Younger travellers are very welcome with a parent or legal guardian, who signs the waiver on their behalf.
A health declaration, a signed waiver and informed consent, and your travel insurance details if it applies.
Insurance is not mandatory, but it is strongly recommended. If we have to mount an emergency extraction from the jungle and get you to a hospital, or arrange any other service, the cost of it is yours where you are uninsured.
Travel The Amazon is an Ecuadorian-owned eco-tourism operator based in Coca, in the province of Orellana, running expeditions in the Cuyabeno region of the Ecuadorian Amazon since 2014. We are registered as a tourism operator trading as ADVENTURE & SPECIALIZED TRAVELAMAZON TOUR OPERATOR S.A.S., RUC 1191797803001.
These terms govern every expedition, tour, transfer and service we sell, whether booked through this website, by email, or through an agent. They apply together with our Reservation & Cancellation Policy, which forms part of this agreement and governs all payment, cancellation, postponement and transfer questions.
By paying a reservation fee you confirm that you have read these terms, that you accept them on your own behalf and on behalf of everyone in your booking, and that you have the authority to do so.
Where these terms and our Reservation & Cancellation Policy overlap, the Reservation & Cancellation Policy governs on anything to do with money, deadlines and dates. These terms govern everything else.
A contract exists between us from the moment we issue written confirmation of your booking after receiving your reservation fee. Nothing is reserved before that — an enquiry, a quote, a held date or a conversation is not a booking.
If you book for other people, you become the lead traveller. You are our single point of contact, you are responsible for all payments due on the booking, and you undertake to pass on to every other traveller everything we send you, including these terms.
Everything you tell us must be accurate: full names exactly as they appear in passports, passport numbers, nationalities and dates of birth. Entry to the reserve requires us to file a passenger manifest in advance with the park authorities and, where applicable, with the host community. A name that does not match a passport can mean a traveller is refused entry at the checkpoint, and we cannot be responsible for that outcome.
All prices are quoted and settled in United States Dollars, Ecuador's official currency. Bank charges, card fees and currency-conversion costs are yours.
Unless your written itinerary says otherwise, your expedition price includes all accommodation for the nights stated, all meals and drinking water from the first to the last service listed, all guiding by our bilingual naturalist guides and local community guides, all excursions in the published itinerary, all river transport, park entrance and community fees, the ground transfer between Coca and the river at the start and end of your expedition, and the use of rubber boots, ponchos and life jackets.
International or domestic flights, hotel nights before or after the expedition, any transfer other than the Coca–river leg, travel insurance, vaccinations and medication, alcoholic drinks and soft drinks unless stated, laundry, tips, souvenirs and handicraft purchases, and anything of a personal nature.
Once we have confirmed your booking in writing and received your reservation fee, your price is fixed.
Our reservation fee, payment schedule, cancellation ladder, postponement window, transfer terms and force majeure provisions are set out in full in our Reservation & Cancellation Policy. That document is part of this agreement. Please read it before you book.
You are responsible for holding a valid passport, any visa Ecuador requires of your nationality, and any onward-travel documentation. We recommend a passport valid for at least six months beyond your return date.
Requirements change without notice, and it is your responsibility to verify what applies to you at the time you travel. We do not give immigration advice and we cannot accept liability, or make any refund, where a traveller is denied boarding, denied entry to Ecuador, or denied entry to a protected area for want of documentation.
Carry your original passport with you into the reserve. Even though they are extremely uncommon, checkpoints might require it, and a photograph or photocopy is not always accepted.
Our expeditions take place at some distance from any road, hospital or pharmacy. Days involve walking on uneven, muddy and root-crossed forest trails, long periods seated in motorised and paddle canoes, climbing in and out of boats from riverbanks, heat, humidity, sun exposure and insects. You should be in reasonable general health and able to move independently, or travel with a companion able to assist you.
Every traveller must complete our health declaration before departure. It asks about allergies and sensitivities, current and chronic illness, past injuries and surgery, medication and supplements, blood type, dietary needs, and your emergency contacts. Complete it honestly and completely — it exists so that our guides can look after you, and so that a doctor can be told the right things quickly if something goes wrong.
You must disclose in writing, at the time of booking, any medical condition, disability, pregnancy, allergy, dietary restriction or mobility limitation that could affect your participation or that of others. We will always try to accommodate you, and we will tell you plainly if we cannot. Where a condition is disclosed late or not at all and it turns out to make participation unsafe, we may decline to carry you or end your participation, and the cancellation terms will apply as though you had cancelled.
We are not medically qualified and we do not give medical advice. Consult a travel-health clinic well before you travel, and ask specifically about yellow fever and malaria prophylaxis for the Ecuadorian Amazon, ideally at least four to six weeks before departure.
Nothing in this section is a general exclusion of travellers. We do not discriminate on grounds of race, nationality, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, age or disability, and we will work with you to make an expedition possible wherever it can be made safe.
Amazon expedition travel carries risks that cannot be eliminated, and you accept them as part of the experience. Before departure every traveller must sign our Informed Consent and Waiver of Liability and Hold Harmless Agreement, which we provide with your welcome pack. Signing it is a condition of travel, in line with Ecuador's Reglamento de Operación Turística de Aventura.
The risks you are accepting include, without limitation:
You accept these risks voluntarily and on your own behalf, and for your family, heirs and personal representatives. To the fullest extent Ecuadorian law allows, you release Travel The Amazon, its owners, officers, employees, guides, boat crews, agents and community partners from claims arising out of loss, injury, illness, damage or death sustained in connection with your expedition.
What this waiver does not do. It does not exclude our liability for death or personal injury caused by our own gross negligence or wilful misconduct, nor any liability that Ecuadorian law does not permit us to exclude. If any part of the waiver is held unenforceable, the remainder continues to apply.
Comprehensive travel insurance is not mandatory in order to travel with us, and a good number of our travellers arrive without it. It is, however, strongly recommended, and we would rather say why than simply repeat the advice.
Where you travel uninsured, you carry the financial consequences yourself. Any cost arising from an emergency is payable by you, directly and in full — including emergency extraction from the jungle, the boats, crew, fuel and ground transport that extraction requires, hospital and medical treatment, medication, accommodation for you or a companion, changed flights, and repatriation. Evacuation from the areas we operate in is genuinely expensive, and it is not a cost we can absorb on your behalf.
As a minimum: emergency medical treatment and hospitalisation; emergency medical evacuation and repatriation to a level of at least US$100,000; and trip cancellation, curtailment and interruption. We also recommend cover for baggage, personal effects, camera equipment and personal liability.
If you do take out a policy, buy it when you book rather than later — cover taken out after a booking exists will usually not respond to a cancellation — and please send us your insurer's name, policy number and 24-hour emergency telephone number before departure. In an emergency, having that on file lets us start the claim while we are still getting you out.
Travellers under 18 are welcome, and the Amazon is a remarkable place to be a young person. They must travel accompanied by a parent or legal guardian, who must sign the waiver and the informed consent on their behalf and remains responsible for their supervision, behaviour and safety throughout.
Where Ecuadorian law requires additional written authorisation from a legal representative for a minor to participate in adventure tourism activities or to travel within Ecuador, it is your responsibility to provide it, correctly executed, before departure.
We recommend our expeditions for children aged 8 and above. That is a guideline rather than a rule — we can and do receive younger guests, because every child and every family is different. Francis, Travel The Amazon's co-founder, and all of his local partners have lived in the jungle and raised and educated their children and babies here, at the rhythm of nature, on boats, on hikes and camping in the rainforest. Talk to us about your family and we will tell you honestly what we think will work.
Some excursions carry minimum ages for safety reasons, and our guides may exclude a child from a specific activity on that basis.
This is expedition travel in a national reserve, not a resort holiday, and a certain amount of flexibility is built into it by necessity rather than choice.
Our guides are exceptionally good and our itineraries are designed around the best chances, but no sighting of any species can be promised. Sightings are not a service and their absence is not a shortfall. That being said, wildlife populations in the remote areas we visit are exceptional, and you can expect to see a very wide array of species. We see at least the pink river dolphins, some species of monkeys, macaws, caimans and many other species in over 95% of our trips.
River level, rainfall, flooding, fallen trees, boat mechanics, emergencies, group capability and community events can all require an excursion to be re-timed, re-routed, substituted or cancelled. Where that happens, your guide will offer the best available alternative. Customer satisfaction is at the core of everything we do, so we will do everything possible to offer all we had promised. Flexibility is part of what you are buying though, and no refund arises for a substituted activity of comparable value.
There is no reliable mobile signal, and open wi-fi is only available when the generator is turned on at the lodge, and at certain glamping platforms. Most other areas we operate in do not have any kind of connectivity. Certain bespoke itineraries and others like Into the Lush and Trails of the Flooded Forest have no connectivity at all. Please tell family and colleagues before you travel that connection will be scarce and not to expect any communication, and do not plan anything that depends on being contactable.
There will be no hot water. Power and lighting depend on generators and solar systems and may be limited to certain hours or interrupted. Some insects will make it indoors, but you will always have a mosquito net or mesh covering where you sleep.
We may make minor changes to an itinerary at any time. Where we need to make a significant change before departure — a change of dates, a change of region, or a change affecting a material part of the itinerary — we will tell you as soon as we can and you may accept the change, move to alternative dates, or cancel and receive a full refund of everything you have paid us.
We rarely cancel a departure, but we will do so without hesitation where we judge that conditions make it unsafe. Our obligations and options where we cancel, and where force majeure prevents a departure, are set out in our Reservation & Cancellation Policy.
Where an expedition is described as requiring a minimum number of travellers, we will confirm or cancel on that basis no later than 30 days before departure.
Your guide and expedition leader have final authority on all matters of safety and itinerary while you are with us. Their instructions are not advisory. Please follow them, stay with the group, and tell your guide before you go anywhere.
We may end a traveller's participation immediately, at any point, where their behaviour is unsafe, illegal, or is materially damaging the experience of others or our relationship with a host community. In that event there is no refund, and the cost of getting that traveller out of the reserve and back to Coca is theirs.
You are responsible for damage you cause to our equipment, boats or accommodation, and for damage caused to third-party property while in our care.
Our expeditions run on indigenous community land inside protected areas, under permits, and the relationships that make them possible took years to build. Certain things are simply not negotiable:
Ecuadorian law prohibits the removal of biological material from protected areas and the trade in wildlife products. Breach of these rules can end your participation under section 12, and can have consequences under Ecuadorian law that we cannot shield you from.
Modest consumption of alcohol is permitted at the lodge in the evening where it is available. Alcohol is not permitted on excursions, on the river, or before any activity, and your guide may refuse participation to anyone they judge to be impaired. If you choose to drink, you accept the additional risk that follows.
Illegal drugs are absolutely prohibited, at any point in your expedition. Ecuadorian narcotics law is severe, our permits and our communities' standing depend on compliance, and the consequence of breach here is immediate removal at your cost and, where the law requires it, referral to the authorities.
Firearms, hunting and fishing equipment other than what we provide, drones flown without our prior written consent and any required permit, and single-use plastics are not permitted.
Bring one soft duffel or backpack plus a daypack. Hard-shell suitcases do not work well in these conditions, but if it is all you have, we will make it work. Excess luggage can normally be left in secure storage in Coca or at your Quito hotel — ask us in advance. Where a domestic flight forms part of your journey, that airline's baggage allowance and charges are between you and the airline.
Everything you bring into the reserve, you bring at your own risk. We are not responsible for loss, theft, water damage or damage in transit to luggage, cameras, phones, laptops, drones, jewellery, cash, documents or any other personal property. Rain, spray and humidity are ordinary conditions here, not exceptional ones — bring dry bags and waterproof cases, and insure anything valuable. Where we are liable for property loss despite this, our liability is limited to US$500 per traveller.
Do not bring valuables you would be upset to lose. Leave what you can in Quito.
Where we book a flight, hotel, transfer or any other service supplied by a third party on your behalf, we act as your agent. That supplier's own terms apply, and their cancellation terms are usually far less forgiving than ours. Amounts we pay to third-party suppliers on your behalf are dealt with in our Reservation & Cancellation Policy.
We are not responsible for losses or additional costs caused by delay, cancellation or change to any flight, bus or other transport to or from Coca or Lago Agrio, whether we booked it or you did.
Arrive the day before. This is the single most common way an expedition goes wrong, and it is almost always avoidable. A same-day connection into the Amazon is not a plan we can support, and a missed departure is treated as a no-show under the Reservation & Cancellation Policy.
We select our suppliers and community partners with care, but we do not control them, and we are not liable for their independent acts and omissions.
Our guides carry first-aid kits and are trained in wilderness first aid. Our lodges and camps are hours from a hospital.
By signing the health declaration you authorise us to obtain emergency medical treatment for you and to administer basic over-the-counter first aid where we judge it necessary and you are unable to consent. If you do not wish to give that authority, tell us in writing before departure.
The full cost of any medical treatment, medication, evacuation, transport or repatriation is yours, including where we arrange or advance it on your behalf. Evacuation from our operating areas is expensive and depends on conditions and daylight. This is what travel insurance is for — see section 8.
Your guides take photographs on most departures and we would love to share them. When we photograph or film travellers in the course of an expedition, we may use those images in our marketing, on our website and on social media. If you would rather we did not, please tell us in a written letter or email before the trip.
Photographs and film you take are yours for personal use. Commercial photography, filming, drone use and any journalistic or research work require our prior written consent and, where the community concerned requires it, theirs — please raise it well before you travel.
We collect only what we need to run your expedition safely and lawfully: your contact and identity details, passport data for the park manifest, payment information, emergency contacts, and the health and dietary information on your health declaration.
Your health information will not be shared with anyone other than authorised medical professionals in the event of an emergency or health crisis, and those of our team, guides and partners directly concerned with your care, safety and nutrition. We share only what is necessary, and only for that purpose.
We share identity data with park and naval authorities and host communities where entry requires it, and with airlines, hotels and transport suppliers where we are booking on your behalf. We do not sell your data to anyone.
We handle personal data in accordance with Ecuador's Ley Orgánica de Protección de Datos Personales. You may ask us at any time what we hold about you, ask us to correct it, or ask us to delete it once we no longer need it for legal or accounting purposes. Write to info@traveltheamazon.com.
We are liable for failing to provide the services we contracted to provide, or for providing them negligently, subject to the limits in these terms.
To the fullest extent Ecuadorian law allows, our total liability arising out of any booking is limited to the amount you paid us for that booking, and we are not liable for indirect or consequential loss, loss of enjoyment, disappointment or distress, loss of earnings, or the cost of any service not supplied by us.
We are not liable for anything arising out of: your own acts or omissions, including failure to follow a guide's instruction; the independent acts or omissions of a third-party supplier or of a person unconnected with the provision of your expedition; force majeure; or a circumstance we could not have foreseen or avoided even with all due care.
Nothing in these terms limits our liability for death or personal injury caused by our gross negligence or wilful misconduct, or any liability that cannot lawfully be limited. Where a provision of these terms is unenforceable, it is severed and the remainder continues in force.
Neither party is liable for failure to perform caused by an event beyond its reasonable control, including natural disaster, flood, landslide, extreme weather, fire, volcanic activity, earthquake, epidemic or pandemic, war, terrorism, civil or political unrest, strike, road or river closure, government or park-authority action, and failure of transport or infrastructure.
The consequences for your booking are set out in our Reservation & Cancellation Policy.
If something is wrong, tell your guide while you are still with us. Almost everything can be fixed on the spot, and almost nothing can be fixed after you have gone home.
If it is not resolved to your satisfaction, write to us at info@traveltheamazon.com within 30 days of the end of your expedition, with your booking reference and as much detail as you can give. We will acknowledge within 5 business days and give you a substantive reply within 30 days.
We will always try to resolve a dispute directly and in good faith. Where that fails, we will attempt mediation before either party begins proceedings.
These terms, and any contract formed under them, are governed by the laws of the Republic of Ecuador. The courts of Shushufindi, Ecuador, have exclusive jurisdiction.
Nothing in this section removes a consumer protection that the law of your country of residence gives you and does not allow to be contracted out of.
We may update these terms. The version that applies to your booking is the version published on the date we confirmed it in writing, and we will send you a copy if you ask. The date of the current version appears at the top of this page.
Travel The Amazon
ADVENTURE & SPECIALIZED TRAVELAMAZON TOUR OPERATOR S.A.S. · RUC 1191797803001
info@traveltheamazon.com · +593 98 6666 800
Coca, Orellana, Ecuador
If anything here is unclear, or your circumstances don't fit neatly into these terms, tell us. We would much rather answer the question now than have you discover it later.