Day 23-25: The End - Tuesday, Wedneday, Thursday 13-15th February 2018
An early start on Tuesday saw us reverse the journey we had taken to get to Sacha Lodge. Our early morning fast canoe ride on Rio Napo, driven by Miguel, was drier than on the way in (panchos not required) and we saw more wildlife - though again it was mostly egrets. Once back at the garden hotel in Puembo, we had time to wander around the gardens and explore the immediate vicinity of the hotel to a limited extent.
On the Naturetrek itinerary we were supposed to leave the hotel at 8am on Wednesday, have a tour of the colonial centre of Quito and then go straight to the airport. This did not sound to me like good preparation for a long-haul flight. And we had moved hotel, specifically so as to be close to the airport - it seemed like madness to me to then drive 45mins - 1 hour each way into the city centre, especially as it was carnival day. I had asked the rest of the team how keen they were to do the city tour and it turns out that everyone would prefer to spend a relaxed morning at the hotel - which is what we did - including time for a group photo in front of the hotel. Arrangements were made for us to be picked up at 2pm for our transfer to the airport. The return KLM flight stops at Guayaquil (40 minutes in the wrong direction) for refuelling. Then the long flight to Amsterdam and we finally arrived at Heathrow around 4pm on Thursday. All travel arrangement had gone very smoothly up to this point. Unfortunately, we then spent 3 hours on the M25.
All-in-all this was a fabulous holiday, with wonderful wildlife, dramatic scenery and fine travelling companions. We had a thoroughly enjoyable 3 and bit weeks. |