In a nutshell

An excursion that combines walking in the forest with Ecuador’s traditional arts and crafts: an invigorating walk for the mind and body in the Pacoche nature reserve, with countless tropical birds and multi-coloured plants, which form the backdrop to small artisan villages where skilled craftsmen work with nature to offer products such as the famous Panama hat and small items carved out of coconut. An excursion for real connoisseurs!

Main stops

Pacoche Lodge: semi-arid desert, dry tropical forest and rainforest
Pacoche nature reserve with a wide variety of flora and fauna: howler monkeys, over 250 species of birds, orchids, ornamental plants and toquilla palm trees
Visit to the local handicraft centre
Trapiche: mill that extracts the juice from sugar cane
Light snack

The programme

We will leave the port of Manta on a comfortable air-conditioned coach and head to Pacoche Lodge. During the one-hour journey that separates us from our destination, we can enjoy the varied landscape that includes three different environments: the semi-arid desert with vast stretches of sand; an intermediate section of dry tropical forest with scrub and deciduous vegetation; and finally, the lush Pacoche rainforest, situated on a hill overlooking the coast.
Pacoche nature reserve spans approximately 11 hectares and is home to a wide variety of flora and fauna, which our expert guide is on hand to show us as soon as we enter the forest.
As we walk along the reserve’s paths, we will have our cameras at the ready to take photos of the howler monkeys that live in the forest and more than 250 species of birds including toucans and hummingbirds. We will also see beautiful vegetation around us, such as: orchids, bromeliads and ornamental plants revealing their magnificent colours, and even the toquilla palm, used to make the famous Panama hat.
We will continue our tour of the Pacoche nature reserve at a local handicraft centre where we will watch a double demonstration of how to make the Panama hat and the Tagua coconuts.
The Panama is a type of hat that is hand-woven using fibres from a dwarf palm, the toquilla palm, which is stretchy and bright. Produced in Ecuador, it takes the name of the city of Panama, which has been the main port for the sale of these hats for centuries. The production process has been the same for more than three centuries and involves several stages. Strands of toquilla straw of different thicknesses are woven together by hand to produce three types of Panama hat: Montecristi, Cuenca and Brisa. The Panama production process has been handed down from generation to generation, and the key elements are the varieties of straw selected and the ability and skill of the artisans.
After seeing how the hats are made, we will discover another of the area’s typical products, the Tagua coconut, which is typical of the South American forest and is also known as vegetable ivory. Once the fruit has dried out, its colour, consistency and appearance are very similar to animal ivory and it can easily be processed and dyed. It is used to produce mosaics, coatings, buttons, jewellery, dice, domino and chess pieces, religious figurines and toys. Then we will see a demonstration of how this nut is processed by skilled artisans that model it into a wide range of objects that we can buy as souvenirs.
During the excursion, we will also see a trapiche, a typical mill used to extract the juice from sugar cane, which is the used as an ingredient in the production of spirits.
At the end of the walk, and before we return to the ship, we will be served a light meal at Pacoche Lodge including fruit juice and typical local snacks.

Good to know

The excursion includes walks along steep and uneven paths with some steps, so participants must be physically fit.
The excursion is not recommended for guests who suffer from heart, hip, back or knee problems or wheelchair users.
Wild animal sightings are likely but not guaranteed.
Minimum age: 7 years old