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The Oriente , Ecuador's slice of the Amazonian basin, occupies almost half of the country, but is home to less than five percent of the population, around 480,000 people. Consisting of six provinces - Sucumbios, Napo and Orellana in the northern Oriente , Pastaza, Morona-Santiago and Zamora-Chinchipe in the southern Oriente - and nine nature reserves including the two largest mainland protected areas, Parque Nacional Yasuni and the Reserva Faunistica Cuyabeno , the Oriente drops from the highest peaks of the eastern Andean flank at well over 5000m down to the sweltering lowland rainforests at around 300m that in places stretch for more than 250km to the borders of Colombia and Peru. The huge range in elevation and temperature allows for a bewildering diversity of flora and fauna within the region. In the alto (high) Oriente , broadly defined as anywhere above 600m, the windswept paramo - above 3000m and resembling the sodden Scottish moors - gives way to dripping montane forests, swathed in mist and draped with mosses and epiphytes. Waterfalls plunge into broadening valleys and eventually the mountain ridges taper away into the bajo (low) Oriente like talons sinking into the deep velvet of a vast emerald wilderness, Ecuador's Amazonian jungle , one of the country's most thrilling attractions. Jungle tours - the reason that most travellers come to the Oriente - range from simple day-trips nipping into pockets of forest close to towns to rugged ten-day treks involving camping in the remotest tracts of primary jungle in the far-eastern reserves. Most involve guided hikes through lush forests and navigating coiling rivers and lagoons in dugout canoes, sometimes done at night to see the red eyes of caiman and hear the deafening chorus of the nocturnal creatures. The most pristine areas, namely the Reserva Faunistica Cuyabeno and the Parque Nacional Yasuni , are best reached from the pioneer oil towns Lago Agrio and Coca respectively, and demand at least four or five days to enjoy properly. Closer to Quito, and favoured by those with limited time on their hands, Tena and Misahualli are near smaller, more accessible patches of forest. Visits to or stays with indigenous communities are also likely to figure in tours from Tena. Tourism is much less developed in the southern Oriente, and Macas , home to a handful of operators, is the best place in this region to arrange a tour. The oil infrastructure has made the Ecuadorian Amazon one of the most easily accessed rainforest areas in the continent, with its centres of jungle tourism all within a day's bus journey of Quito. There are two main routes to the Oriente . The first leaves the capital and descends into the Amazon basin from the Papallacta pass, splitting at Baeza, north to Lago Agrio (and then Coca), and south to Tena and the faster way to Coca. The second drops from Ambato through Banos to Puyo and Macas in the southern Oriente.
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