Sangay National Park

Sangay covers around five thousand square kilometres on the eastern cordillera and takes in three volcanoes, Sangay itself, Tungurahua and El Altar, with the land falling from ice at over 5,000 metres through paramo and cloud forest to Amazon lowland below 1,000, and that gradient is why it was inscribed as World Heritage in 1983. Sangay is one of the most continuously active volcanoes on earth, erupting almost without pause for decades, and it is remote and rarely climbed. The park holds mountain tapir, spectacled bear, giant otter and a long bird list. Most visitors see only its edges: the Altar trek and the paramo lakes from the west, or the forest and rivers from Macas in the east.

What you actually see

• Three volcanoes in one park - Sangay, Tungurahua and El Altar.
• Ice to rainforest - the full eastern-slope gradient.
• A continuously erupting volcano - Sangay's decades of activity.
• Mountain tapir and spectacled bear - the large mammals of the slope.

When to go

June to September for the highland side; the eastern forest is wet year round. A day for edges, several for anything deeper. Sangay itself needs an expedition and is dangerous.

Honest expectations

Most of the park is roadless and effectively unvisitable. Climbing Sangay means ballistic risk from constant eruption and is not a normal objective. Trails are muddy and unmarked. Rain is the default.

Nearby

Riobamba and Penipe are west; Macas lies east.