TROPIC: travel with a different flavour

ECUADOR is history, fascinating indigenous cultures, slow winding rivers and lush tropical forests, spectacular snow capped volcanoes and some of the most exciting wildlife on earth.

TROPIC IS COMMITTMENT: DEPENDABILITY, CONSCIENTIOUSNESS, ACCOUNTABILITY TROPIC IS EXPLORATION: QUEST, VOYAGE, JOURNEY TROPIC IS UNIQUE: DISTINCTIVE, AUTHENTIC, EXCLUSIVE

COMMITMENT TROPIC

Tropic provides personalised experiences, not just travel products. Tropic’s promise is to show you this spectacular country in a way you have never seen before.

Tropic’s guiding principles are what the company is all about:

• implementing the principles of sustainability: promoting the conservation of fragile natural environments while improving the well being of local communities.
• Supporting local communities and their efforts to protect their lands and culture.
• Promoting the conservation of plant and animal life everywhere we operate.

As part of its commitment to quality TROPIC provides:

• Made to measure travel plans,
• One of a kind experiences,
• High quality personalised service
• Top flight guides, naturalists, ornithologists, and anthropologists
• Unique cultural exchanges
• Involvement with the people and communities that make it happen.

EXPLORATION TROPIC

TROPIC provides exclusive encounters and unique experiences for travellers with a spirit of adventure, who are keen to explore all the variety this spectacular country has to offer: the enchantment of the cloud forests with their profusion of animals and birds, the lushness of the Amazon with its rivers and ancient forest peoples, the high Andes and their spectacular snow capped mountains, clear lakes and traditional hospitality. And to make sure visitors enjoy their adventures to the fullest, Tropic provides all these experiences with special, exclusive walking and trekking tours, kayaking, mountain biking and horseback riding activities.

Travel with TROPIC is also about people and environments. With TROPIC you will make a connection with local people, contribute directly to conserving precious and threatened environments, help foster respect for native and traditional peoples and cultures, and support local projects that provide benefits for the communities you visit.

Visitors will make an ongoing connection with local people, and to help support their efforts to conserve their natural environment and traditional ways of living.

GALAPAGOS ISLANDS: the path less travelled

A visit to the Galapagos Islands with Tropic is a fascinating and unique adventure: the path less travelled. Tropic’s staff has nearly 30 years experience providing travellers with out of the ordinary experiences on these unique islands. Our commitment is to make this a once in a lifetime experience for visitors by providing small groups with high quality transportation, comfortable accommodation, and excellent food, as well as a real appreciation of the flora and fauna of the archipelago in the company of selected, experienced, guides.

The Islands

The Galapagos Islands are deservedly famous for their spectacular wildlife. And to make sure visitors make the most of this unique experience, Tropic provides certified boats that guarantee sustainable practices, small intimate groups, the best bilingual naturalist guides, excellent cooks, and high quality accommodation.

But TROPIC also offers clients something out of the ordinary: a walking tour that gives travellers the opportunity to see a different side of the islands. This local initiative provides an exclusive, more authentic, experience, a chance to not only see the islands and their wildlife but also get to know some of the people and characters that populate this peaceful island on a permanent basis.

Underwater Galapagos

Underwater Galapagos is as fantastic as Galapagos ashore. The combination of ocean fishes, birds, mammals and reptiles sets Galapagos apart from other marine environments. Here Tropic offers divers and snorkelers the chance to share the water with penguins, sea lions, marine iguanas, sea turtles, giant mantas, shoals of brilliantly coloured fish, sperm whales, humpbacks and schools of hammerheads.

Considered one of the seven wonders of the underwater world by the ocean explorers’ organisation, the Galapagos Marine Reserve offers unique and exciting underwater experiences for the adventurous traveller.

THE CLOUD FOREST: romantic escapes

TROPIC offers a number of exotic escapes to this enchanted environment only an hour from Quito. In the luxuriant, always mysterious cloud forests of the Ecuadorian Andes, visitors will be able to relax, explore and enjoy a lavish enchanted land of giant nodding ferns and brilliant orchids that will surprise and delight them. This is also an internationally recognised ‘important breeding area’ for birds: more than 390 species have been seen in the area’s extensive primary forests, among them 30 species of hummingbird, as well as toucans, and the famous Cock of the Rock. And to make sure visitors get the most out of their stay here, Tropic provides activities such as adventure hikes with spectacular mountain top views over the forest, and mountain bikes to take visitors deep into the heart of the cloud forest, where with a little luck they will see one of the rare spectacled bears whose habitat this is.

THE ANDEAN HIGHLANDS: traditional world

In the Andean highlands Tropic will take visitors on expeditions into the surrounding national parks, native communities and indigenous markets located within this traditional indigenous world. Travellers can explore amid the hustle and bustle of a local market in the morning and spend the afternoon kayaking, hiking or biking and admiring the mountain peaks.

Otavalo: indian colours

The Indian market in Otavalo is famous for its craft work, and is a must for all visitors to the northern mountains of Ecuador. Here, under the watchful gaze of the majestic Mount Imbabura, visitors will find the quiet and harmony typical of this primarily Quichua speaking region. This is the place for relaxing on the grass and sampling a glass of wine while admiring the view, or kayaking in the still waters of deep volcanic craters, and when night falls, soaking in the hot tub, or sitting by a roaring fire listening to Andean folk music surrounded by spectacular Andean mountains. And when it’s time to eat, visitors will be treated to tasty home cooked meals based on traditional Ecuadorian and international recipes, all featuring farm-fresh organic products.

Chimborazo and Cotopaxi: mountain visions

In the heart of Ecuador's "Avenue of the Volcanoes", just one hour south of the historic colonial city of Quito, in the region of Mt. Cotopaxi, the world’s highest active volcano, TROPIC offers traditional mountain hospitality with a dose of adventure. Here travellers can choose between hiking and mountain biking in the clouds, riding horses with the local ‘ chagras’ or Andean cowboys, and ziplines that take you flying over the spectacular mountain scenery. Close to the truly majestic snow capped Mount Cotopaxi, visitors will experience an authentic taste of Ecuador’s colonial past during their stay in the comfortable accommodation provided by a real working ranch house built in colonial style, and nestled in the unsurpassed beauty of this region of the Andes. Further to the South, in the villages that lie in the magnificent scenery of the foothills of snow capped Mount Chimborazo, Ecuador’s highest peak, travellers will come to know the life of the local Quichua communities: their colourful markets, ancient traditions, attractive textile work with its colourful historical designs, and, above all, time-honoured hospitality. Visitors can also climb Chimborazo in the company of the famous ice man, who still transports chunks of ice from the mountain to the local market. Here too is the Inca trail, no longer a major transportation route, but full of natural and cultural treasures, as well as other attractions such as the Llama Museum, run by the women of a local indigenous community, who will show visitors why this animal is known as the ‘Queen of the Andes’.

THE AMAZON: rainforest home

The Amazon is one of Ecuador’s treasures. Wide winding rivers, the steamy heat of exuberant tropical rainforests, and an abundance of colourful plant and wildlife, is what Tropic’s Amazon is all about, and while only a small part of the Amazon is within Ecuador’s borders, colourful birds abound here and species diversity is off the charts. But the Amazon offers more than just exciting wildlife. Here Tropic offers visitors a unique opportunity to share time with people from ancient Amazon forest cultures: the Huaorani, the Secoya and other native people that share and preserve this globally important ecosystem. Travellers will see this special world through the eyes of the people that live here, and learn what it means to have the rainforest as a home and have to fight to preserve it.

In the Amazon Tropic offers visitors the chance to stay in intimate traditional lodges nestled in the rainforest, that provide comfortable cabins and tasty, hygienically prepared food. Travellers will have the opportunity to kayak on slow Amazon rivers, walk through the forest in the company of people from an age old culture who still maintain their traditional lifestyle, learn traditional skills, and come to know the plants and animals whose habitat this is.

PACIFIC COAST: ocean rapture

Ecuador’s Pacific Coast has everything, and all within easy reach of Guayaquil, the country’s largest city and newest tourist destination, with its comfortable hotels, and impressive boardwalk flanking the broad, slow flowing River Guayas. On the Pacific coast TROPIC offers visitors sun and sand, tropical rainforests with their colourful animals and birds, beach front hotels and hostels, and of course, the enticingly warm waves of the Pacific Ocean. And after the beach TROPIC will show travellers the famous Isla de la Plata, the Galapagos in miniature where Sir Francis Drake is supposed to have hidden a large treasure; coral reefs with their shoals of magnificently coloured fish; the chance to kayak; tours through the magical mangrove forests and, best of all, whale watching expeditions between June and October, when these magnificent creatures come to Ecuador’s coast to calve. And if that’s not enough, there’ s the chance to explore historic pre-Inca archaeological sites, some belonging to cultures more than 2,000 years old.

UNIQUE TROPIC: travel with a different flavour

Since 1994 Tropic has been a leader in the field of eco tourism, offering authentic, unique experiences for travellers looking for a more specialized, more active, more involved type of experience.

The company’s programmes have been recognised internationally for their innovation and commitment:

• ETC 2013 Responsible Tourism Showcase – 1st Place
• Commended for Sustainability 2012 – LATA
• Highly Commended Accommodation for Local Communities -The Virgin Holidays Responsible Travel Award 2010
• Best Company in Innovation 2010 – LATA
• Highly Commended Operator for Cultural Engagement -The
• Virgin Holidays Responsible Travel Award 2009
• Trips of a Lifetime award by Travel & Leisure 2010
• Best Sustainable Tourism Project 2009 – LATA
• Best Adventure Travel Companies on Earth by National
• Geographic 2009
• Best Sustainable Tourism Project 2008 – LATA

SUSTAINABLE TOURISM

Your support will directly contribute to conservation efforts, local community projects, and foster respect for native and traditional peoples. Visitors will have an opportunity to make an ongoing connection with local people, and help support efforts to conserve their natural environment and traditional ways of living.

OUR GUARANTEE Tropic’s commitment is guaranteed quality, quality from the beginning to the end of every travel process: every location, every tour, every client.

Our programs are customized by our professional team, closely scrutinized by management, and coordinated with each individual guide, driver and service provider.

The entire staff is at the service of our clients, and is trained and able to provide solutions to all their requirements or needs during their stay. Our objective is to provide continuous supervision of the progress of our clients’ travel and guarantee their satisfaction.

Our bilingual naturalist guides are among the finest in the world. They have been working with us for many years, leading educational nature and adventure tours with visitors from all over the world, communicating in English, Spanish, German and French. Each bilingual naturalist guide brings his or her own vision and field of expertise to the interpretation of Ecuador's environments, history and culture.