Tucked away in the Northwest corner of South America, Ecuador's modest size (253,370 sq. km) belies the diversity of its peoples, geography, flora and fauna. Ecuador holds an ethnically diverse population of 12.4 million people composed of Mestizo, Indigenous (over 40 indigenous nations including the Quichua, Huaroani, Shuar (Jivar), Achuar, Cofan, Siona, Secoya, Otavalenos, Tchatchilas (Colorados), Zaparo, Slasacas, Canaris, Saraguro and Chachi) Spanish and African-Ecuadorians. The official language spoken in Ecuador is Spanish, however Quichua, the language of the Incas is still commonly spoken among the indigenous people.

Geographically, mainland Ecuador can be divided into three regions El Oriente or the East (Amazon), La Sierra (Andes Mountains) central and La Costa (Pacific Coast) on the west. Approximately 1000 km off the coast of Ecuador lies the Galapagos Islands Archipelago. And within these regions, discover an astounding array of flora and fauna found nowhere else hiding in the mangrove swamps, nestling beneath the cloud forest canopy or basking under the golden sun.

• Most diversity of volcanoes
• Highest concentration of rivers per square mile
• 10% of all tree species on earth
• 18,250 species of plants
• 1,500 bird species found here of the 9,000 known species in the world
• 304 species of mammals
• 374 species of reptiles
• 402 species of amphibians
• 706 species of freshwater fish
• 2% of Amazon Basin found in Ecuador, but hosts 1/3 of all bird species in the entire Amazon region