We stopped here as part of a day your and really enjoyed it. It is run by volunteers, all German, who really seem to love the animals. The animals all seemed well cared for.
The Centre is located in the Jungle, you can only get there by canoe. Travel cost for two was $30 by motor canoe. The Centre only charged $4 for the quided tour. All the animals are native to the area and there are a lot to see.
They are doing great work here. The staff are very knowledgeable and friendly. The animals are well taken care of and healthy. It is a good way to safely get close to a diverse mix of Amazon animals.
I really like the idea behind Amazoonico and it could be that I went in with high expectations. The setting is amazing...only accessible by boat in the jungle. And the volunteers are great and fun to talk to during the tour. It was smaller than I expected and not as many animals. I was glad our tour stopped there and it was fun to see but I wouldn't go out of my way or book a water taxi just to visit this place.
I would like to recommend Amazoonico as it really is an animal rescue centre run by volunteers, not a profit making zoo. It gave us an opportunity to see many of the Amazon rainforest animals that are difficult to observe in the wild. Amazoonico also breeds pigs and talapia fish to provide local people with an alternative food to hunting local endangered species - a pro-active sustainable initiative!
This is a jungle animal rescue project run largely by volunteers from countries all around the world. It is a great way to learn about the problems with domestication of wild animals, as well as to hike through a gorgeous chunk of rain forest that they preserve to house their animals. Tours are available in several languages, due to the international nature of their volunteers. This is a MUST SEE in the region!
Only for conservation and bird enthusiasts. It's a long, slow, casual guided tour. The animals other than monkeys and birds are often not visible. Great cause,doing great work, but not an attraction that will interest everyone.
The volunteers are wonderful, and it was great to see an ocelot too, but it saddened me to see the animals in rather small enclosures. They are doing the best they can, but a third of the animals perish within the first couple of months, and it seems they are not able to release many of the animals back into the wild. The caiman and anaconda should have been long gone, but they cannot find the right spaces for it.I wish there was more that they could do, but with limited funds and young volunteers, this is probably as good as it will get for the poor animals...
I really like the idea behind Amazoonico. The visit was included in our tour of Ecuador and visit to Casa de Suisa. The setting is amazing...only accessible by boat in the jungle. It is not a large preserve, but the volunteers LOVE their animals. It was a really fun visit.
An adventure to get there, but it's really worth the trip. The staff is really nice, and know tons of things on the specific animals they show us, but also on the rain-forest in general. A wonderful experience!