Kapawi Amazon Lodge

The latter half of the 19th century saw the growth of the rubber industry in the Amazon basin, but because of its inaccessibility and remoteness the Achuar’s territory was not affected.

In 1941, however, war broke out between Ecuador and Peru and the Achuar found themselves divided into two “nationalities”. But for the most part the Achuar continued to live in extreme isolation from the outside world, and their territory was considered “terra incognita” until the late 1960’s.

Between 1968 and 1970, Catholics and Evangelicals began to enter Achuar territory with an evangelizing intent and although they were met with limited success, they did initiate a process of increasing intercultural contact that would slowly begin to change the Achuar’s’ way of living.

Since 1991, the majority of the Achuar in Ecuador belong to a political organization called NAE (formerly known as Federation of Ecuadorian Achuar Nationalities) and the Achuar people that NAE represents are organized into 16 regional associations that contain a total of 83 communities and approximately 8000 Achuar people.

They built the hotel in 1993 using local materials, traditional techniques and low-impact, environmentally friendly technologies, and 90 percent of hotel staff come from local communities.