PODOCARPUS NATIONAL PARK: Podocarpus is Ecuador's southernmost national park.  It has a size of 1,462 km2 and it spans between the provinces of Loja and Zamora-Chinchipe.  It is named after the podocarpus tree, which is the only conifer native to Ecuador.   In fact, the park was established in 1982 with the goal of protecting some of the largest forests of this native tree.  The original source of quinine, the cinchona tree, is also found in the park.

The park ranges in elevation from 900 to 3600 meters above sea level, and extends from the mountain regions of the Andes to the highlands of the Amazon basin; hence, the park encompasses a wide variety of microclimates.  The temperature ranges from 8 to 15 degrees Celsius in the high zones to 20+ degrees Celsius in the low zones.  Podocarpus National Park shelters the headwaters that sustain more than half the population of southern Ecuador.  Four separate watersheds, including that of the city of Loja, depend on the park for their water.  Over 100 small lakes, which were formed in glacial depressions, dot the landscape of the park.

Podocarpus is the most important animal sanctuary in Southern Ecuador.  Spectacled bears, mountain tapirs, ocelots, pumas, deers and more than 600 bird species (40% of the total bird species of Ecuador) are found in the park.   Also, there are many migratory species registered at Podocarpus, such as the broad-winged hawk, the chimney swift, the eastern kingbird and the Swainson´s thrush.

Podocarpus National Park is located in a vulnerable region of high conservation priority.  The main threats to the park are poaching, illegal colonizing and mining.

The park has three main administration centers, which are located at  Cajanuma, San Francisco, and Bombuscaro.

The Arcoiris Ecological Foundation built an Environmental Education Center (E.E.C.)  at the San Francisco Area .  This center has among other things an environmental interpretation room, a kitchen, a dinning room, two large rooms, three small rooms, two showers and two toilets. While at this center the students will sleep on mattresses that will be placed on the floor of the center's two large rooms. We will also have tents available for those who prefer to sleep out-doors. 

We are proposing that the group stays three days at San Francisco.  

More survey work remains to be done in the Bombuscaro area, but to date, over 230 bird species have been identified.  Bombuscaro is one of the best places in Ecuador to see the coppery-crested jacamar, a rare species found in a narrow altitudinal range from Southern Colombia to Northern Peru.

The Bombuscaro area is specially known for its diversity of tropical tanagers.  Some 15 tanager species can be seen in mixed species flocks passing through the trees around the Park’s Administrative Center.

Bombuscaro has four cabins, three showers, three toilets, one kitchen, one conference room, and a collection of live orchids.  There is not enough cabin space for large groups, so most of the students will have to sleep in tents, which will be provided by us.  

We are proposing that you stay four and a half days at Bombuscaro because we believe that the Bombuscaro area is ideal for students to run  their projects.

The airport that serves the city of Loja is located in the town of Catamayo.  It takes one hour by plane to travel from Quito to Catamayo and 45 minutes by bus to travel from Catamayo to Loja. We are proposing to spend the second last night of our field course at an hotel in the city of Loja.

Here is where you will probably buy most of your souvenirs.  We will be visiting Otavalo on the second-last day of the our proposed field course.