gr and openings

Canopy Bedrooms
electric buggies transport guests from the gates of
Ecuadors Mashpi Rainforest Biodiversity Reserve to the 3,200-acre parks first hotel. Opened in April, Mashpi Lodge is designed to have minimal impact on the surrounding Choc cloud forest. The complex of steel and glass stands on stilts among the trees, offering head-on views of the canopy from its spa, restaurant, and 22 rooms and suites. Two-night stays at Mashpi Lodge begin at $1,296 per person and include meals, conveyance from Quito (which is less than three hours by car), guided adventures, and educational lectures. Debuting in November, an open-air gondola will carry the lodges guests on a roughly mile-long route along the canopy. At the end of the ride, guests can disembark for hiking and biking excursions through the Choc forest. The forest, set at an elevation of about 3,000 feet in the Andes, is home to howler monkeys, sloths, butterflies, and some 500 species of birds. Nocturnal animals, including civets and pumas, can be spotted during Mashpis optional nighttime expeditions. Mashpi Lodge, 908.315.0422, www.mashpi lodge.com scott goetz

Perched on stilts among the treetops, Mashpi Lodge offers unprecedented access to Ecuadors Choc cloud forest.

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