Isla Corazon

Isla Corazon sits in the Chone estuary and takes its name from its shape, and it is one of the better community conservation stories on the Ecuadorian coast: after most of the estuary's mangroves were cleared for shrimp ponds, a fishing community replanted the island and now manages it, running the only access. Visitors go by boat and then along a boardwalk built through the mangrove tunnel, learning the four mangrove species and the crabs and molluscs of the mud, before circling the island at dusk when several thousand frigatebirds come in to roost, the males inflating red throat pouches in the breeding season. Herons, ibis and pelicans use the same trees.

What you actually see

• Thousands of frigatebirds at roost - the colony filling the mangroves.
• Red throat pouches in season - the breeding display of the males.
• The mangrove boardwalk - the tunnel through the replanted trees.
• Community-run conservation - the fishers who replanted the island.

When to go

Year round; late afternoon for the roost, which is the whole point of the trip. Half a day. Trips must be booked with the community association in advance.

Honest expectations

Access is only by community boat and only when they run; turning up unannounced usually fails. Mosquitoes and no-see-ums in the mangrove are severe. Estuary water is silty and shrimp ponds surround the area.

Nearby

Bahia de Caraquez is west; Canoa lies north.