Sumaco Napo-Galeras National Park

Sumaco is a volcano of 3,990 metres standing well east of the main Andean chain, surrounded on all sides by lowland rainforest, and that isolation makes it biologically unusual and physically hard to reach: the trek to the summit takes three to four days each way through unbroken forest that gets steadily more stunted with altitude, on a trail that is mud from beginning to end, with basic refuges along the way. Very few people do it. The wider park and its biosphere reserve hold spectacled bear, jaguar, tapir and a long endemic-heavy bird list, and the lower reaches near Wawa Sumaco can be walked in a day from community-run lodges without committing to the mountain.

What you actually see

• A volcano isolated in rainforest - Sumaco standing east of the Andes.
• Forest changing with altitude - lowland to elfin woodland on one climb.
• Basic refuges on the trail - the shelters used on the multi-day trek.
• Day walks from Wawa Sumaco - the lower forest without the summit.

When to go

Year round; there is no dry season here, only less wet stretches. Four to five days for the summit, a day for the lower forest. Guides from the community are required and porters are usual.

Honest expectations

The trek is genuinely hard: continuous deep mud, leeches, rain every day and refuges that are shelters rather than comforts. The summit is usually in cloud. Very few operators run it and independent attempts are unwise.

Nearby

Archidona is south-west; Coca lies east.