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Although Tena is most commonly used as a launching pad for jungle tours in the upper Napo region, there are a few places nearby that you can visit independently. To the north of Tena , a trip to the nearby colonial town of Archidona can be combined with a visit to the Cuevas de Jumandy , the most developed and visitable of many caves in the area. Beyond Archidona, the scenery concertinas into a range of forested gullies and ridges as you pass between two remote protected areas. To the east, the Parque Nacional Sumaco Napo-Galeras , one of Ecuador's newest and wildest parks, harbours pristine Pleistocene areas, where there are incredible amounts of undiscovered species; the few scientific forays into its reaches have revealed a staggering forty percent of the plant samples taken to be new species. On clear days you'll see the cleft peak of Volcan Sumaco (3732m) soaring upwards from the wooded hills, marking the centre of the park. Dense forests and vertiginous ravines have so far kept human influence at bay, and access is difficult; one entrance is at Guagua Sumaco , on the Loreto road, which meets the Tena-Baeza road, about 30km north of Tena. You will need a guide, best found in Guagua Sumaco or one of the other villages along the Loreto road, As you continue north towards Baeza, you'll see the beautiful Reserva Ecologica Antisana to the west, its knife-edge ridges, with strips of brown marking fresh landslides through their tangled vegetation, rise steadily to prop up the unseen Andean peaks - the ice-capped summit of Volca Antisana (5758m) among them. The road reaches its highest point as it passes over the thickly forested Cordillera de los Huacamayos before descending to the village of Cosanga , sitting between the two reserves at the head of the green, cloudy Rio Cosanga valley. From the Cosanga the road winds northwards down the valley for around 15km to Baez . A couple of kilometres north of the village is the access road west to Places to stay with great bird-watching opportunities. Cabanas San Isidro , contactable in Quito at Carrion N21-01, between Juan Leon Mera and Reina Victoria (tel & fax 02/228902 or 547403, birdecua@hoy.net ; over $120 including full board), is a former cattle ranch, set in forested hills at around 2000m. Rooms have private bath, hot water and electricity, and singles are also offered ($90). Birds here include the white-rimmed brush-finch, the greater scythebill and the black-billed mountain-toucan. About 20km to the west beyond Cabanas San Isidro , the final kilometre of which you either have to do on foot or ride by mule, lies SierrAzul , contactable in Quito at Isla Floreana 128 and Avenida Shyris (tel 02/264484, fax 449464, sierrazul@access.net.ec ; $55 per person including full board, activities and guide), a lodge offering pleasant doubles with private bath and hot water, only a short walk from almost three thousand hectares of primary cloudforest, rich in bird and animal life. Two- or three-day programmes include mule riding, fishing, mountain biking and hikes led by bilingual naturalists. Heading south of Tena brings you to the road bridge at Puerto Napo , 7km to the south and the last for 100km before Coca over 6 hours downstream. Two dirt road branch off the main highway at this point, to service either side of the upper Rio. Along the northern bank, one runs for 17km as far as the port of Misahualli , the long-established embarkation point for tours of this region. On the southern shore, the other road passes several tourist cabanas and the Estacion Biologica Jatun Sacha before hitting the water at La Punta 28km down the line. You'll cross the river by canoe here, where the road continues, dribbling on for a couple of kilometres as far as Ahuano . From here on in, the only way to get downstream is by canoe or on foot.
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