WHAT HAPPENED TO SAN RAFAEL, largest WATERFALL in Ecuador. ( check out video)

Incredible to witness this savage changes on our own backyard , after a big water event in early January 2020 the emblematic 200m San Rafael waterfall literally disappeared from where it used to be , this natural dam created by the Volcan Reventador hundreds or thousands of years ago finally gave up to the force of the water and the erosion caused by the falls.

One of the largest hydroelectric projects in South America and Ecuador is located irresponsibly a few miles just upstream of this site, the lack of proper studies in general for all projects that happen in Ecuador , never considered that this may happen. It will be interesting to see what happens with the Dam site as the erosion of the river bed is moving upstream super fast. The next rainy season will determine how far up is this erosion gonna go and what other changes in the area will happen. The 2 oil pipes that carry the crude oil from the Amazon to the coast also look compromised not too far up from the implosion of the sink hole. They may need to get creative before the river carves its way throughout the sediment bottom of the river.

We want the COCA CODO SYNCLAIR to stay where it is, as it requires all the water that comes down all creeeks and tributaries of the Quijos , so no other projects can be placed upstream , although there is a lot of hydro proposals that threat our playgrounds. Time will tell if the river will carve itself all the way up again and take down this monster project that has been just one more of the millionaire projects that Rafael Correa’s government used to flush millions of dollars out the MEGA budgets they created for this projects, so big that Ecuador had never seen anything such. Sadly the project started failling shortly after it started operating and to this date is not been able to produce what it was projected. Showing one more time the incapacity of the Ecuadorian government to follow through with with any offerings. The politics in this country are so corrupt as they are in all others, the problem is that our country is so rich, and people so ignorant that there is no one paying attention to whats happening.

First Descent of the RIO MADGALENA , coastal Ecuador

FRESH STASH for 2020, Looking forward to the rainy season on the coastal side this year , this RIO MADGALENA looks simply FANTASTIC and the best part is that ENVIRONMENTAL PERMITS CANCELED FOR MINING COMPANY.

This river is been paddled just a few times and unfortunately is currently threatened by the construction of a dam and a gold/silver mine on the headwaters. It is part of the LOS CEDROS protected area and that is our only hope that this can be protected. It is not all bad news as the permits are cancelled for now but this can change so the more kayaking we get around here the better as we can show this communities the importance of having a healthy river and tourism is a good option for little communities. Los Cedros Biological Reserve consists of 17,000 acres of premontane wet tropical forest and cloud forest. Of this, 2,650 acres is formerly colonized land, while the remainder is primary forest. The reserve is a southern buffer zone for the 450,000 acre Cotocachi-Cayapas Ecological Reserve, and both are part of the Choco Phytogeographical Zone. The Choco region is one of the most biologically diverse and endemic habitats on Earth.

Check out this video and this website , get involved.

http://reservaloscedros.org/2019/06/environmental-permits-canceled-for-mining-company-all-new-wi-fi-at-reserve/

https://www.facebook.com/kiah.schaepe/videos/10156764066400977/

ZAMORA , premiere of the documetary about the first descent of the rio ZAMORA

TODD WELLS AND GALEN VOLCKHAUSEN achieved one of the most amazing missions in Ecuador in 2017, the mighty Rio Zamora never paddled before finally exposed by this two talented kayakers.

during a spur of dry weather in the Amazon jungle we travelled South to see what can we find and sure enough the bed rock exposed on the bottom of this amazing gorge was exactly what the boys wanted to see. the rio Zamora drains a vast area of the southers jungles of Ecuador and everything ends up on this huge river running South to North and rushing East , first to the Santiago then the Marañon and eventually the Amazon before it reaches out the Atlantic.

Stay alert on the presentation of this amazing documentary Todd Wells is been wworking on for a couple years to tell the story about their adventure.

Ecuador Kayaking

Read about our community service with World Class Kayak Academy and the COFANES community of the Aguarico River:

https://worldclassacademy.com/the-sinague-community-a-world-class-service-learning-project/

We have it all when we talk about rivers and whitewater, the high concentration of rivers in such a small area with the extreme geography and amazing geology makes of Ecuador one of the top 5 world's best whitewater kayaking destinations.  Everyone has fun here from beginners to pro's, you decide how much fun and how big you want to go. In general you will find continuous whitewater, pristine, clean, round boulder gardens with endless fun and boofs. There are so many rivers to choose from once you are down here it's just amazing and all depends on the amount of precipitation.  We are usually more concerned about having too much water!! 

The Andes split the country in 3 main regions, Costa Sierra and Oriente this last one being the on the East slopes of the massive mountain range are the headwaters of the Amazonas river the biggest volume river in the world, all this water coming down from the Andes are part of our playgrounds and the best and closest place for any kayaker that come to visit Ecuador.

The Coastal side starts running in FEBRUARY and provides with some world class kayaking for all styles of boating. Water quality is not that good but if you stay on the upper runs you can have a great time.
Kayaking goes year around but a most kayakers visit Ecuador between Oct-March, the amounts of precipitation are variable but there is always kayaking.
 The Quijos Valley keeps good water levels for most of the year and is the most popular hub for whitewater kayakers in Ecuador.  Tena is only 2 hours away south east  dropping into the tropical jungle to 1500 feet (600m) where water is warm and weather is HOT. 
Baños has a lot of good steep creeking, big volume and remote runs, and also delivers a very rowdy party scene.

#ecuador #kayaking