While visiting Baños we heard of a monkey sanctuary in the nearby town of Puyo. Now there is something you should know about Luis; he loves monkeys. He has always wanted a pet monkey, so monkey sanctuary is a must visit for us.

The sanctuary is actually in the outskirts of Puyo, and as it turns out there is other rehabilitating wildlife there not just monkeys. The sanctuary consists of a few acres of fenced in property where most monkeys can roam freely. There are a few very large cages for some of the monkeys that are less socialized and more likely to hurt human visitors or other monkeys. The place is run by Fundacion los Monos, Selva y Vida and they keep funded by donations and from the entrance fees to the sanctuary. There are several volunteers from all nationalities living in the premises, which is kinda cool until you find out there are very few spots on the premises (including the house) that don’t have monkey dung and urine.

The place is awesome! Most of the monkeys are curious and super friendly. In fact Lacey had a female cling on to her for most of our tour of the facility and the only way to get her off was offering her food.

We opted to do the self guided tour of the facility and whilst walking by a creek we picked up another friend! A river otter that fancied itself a puppy dog. As soon as the otter saw us he swam to shore, ran up to us and started “barking” non-stop and rubbing up on our feet. It was awesome! He followed us for most of the walk around the place “barking” most of the way. Due to his incessant barking and true to our cheesy nature we named the otter Sir Barks a Lot (I know we are cheesemeisters).

A stroll through the woods with a monkey and a river otter from Lost World Expedition on Vimeo.

It was a great experience. We were visited by all the different monkeys at the sanctuary and Luis even had a Coatimundi and a spider monkey jump on his lap. Amazing day! Enjoy the photos