Flora and Fauna

The main attraction of Ecuador is the Andes – they stretch from the north to the south. They divide the country into three main regions: the pacific coast, the highlands and the Amazon rainforest. The fourth region being the Galapagos Islands (1'000km from the mainland), which originated from a volcano.
Due to extremes in the topography, and the height of certain areas in Ecuador, it is said to be one of the most varied land masses on earth, even though only it consists of 256'370 km2 and is the smallest country in the Andes. Apart from the tropical mountains and foggy forests that cover the Andes mountain range, you will find approx. 3’500 meters of highlands, and above this, a layer of ice that never melts. In the north is tropical rainforest and towards the south a thorny desert.
There are over 1 600 different species of birds, over 16 000 species of plants, 106 endemic reptiles, 138 endemic amphibians and over 6 000 species of butterfly.
Lamas and condore can be seen wild in Ecuador, as well as jaguars, monkeys, and snakes... the list goes on and on.