One of the wildest places in all of Ecuador, the province of Orellana is the beating heart of the Amazon, largely unexplored and untainted by the spreading tendrils of modern development, save for a few large mines, logging corporations, and the provincial capital of Puerto Francisco de Orellana.

In fact, Puerto Francisco de Orellana, also called El Coca, is likely to be the first place you visit in this cut-off corner of South America, and the last reach of civilisation before you go deeper into the rainforest. Surrounded by the Río Coca, Napo and Payamino along whose banks indigenous communities thrive, it's said to have once been the place from where brave Spanish conquistadors launched their search for the fabled city of gold, El Dorado. These days, its packed with Orellana tour guides who will let you spend relaxed evenings at the Malecón before taking you out to the feral rainforests on multi-night treks, to eco lodges stilted over fish-teeming rivers, to woodlands where toucans fly overhead and jaguars stalk the undergrowth.

True intrepid types will set their sights on the amazing Yasuni National Park, a major hotspot for biodiversity. Safaris in those parts could include glimpses of the rare napo saki, multicolored parrots, capuchins, spider monkeys – the list goes on.