Lady’s Mashpi Lodge Review

Mashpi Lodge is magical. Traveling to Ecuador’s cloud forest, I’m amazed at the changes in landscape. From urban chaos in Quito to dry desolation at the equator, the road winds into the mountains and reveals a misty forest full of birds and butterflies.

Mashpi Lodge

In the forest sits Mashpi Lodge, a beautiful haven of luxury tucked away in the foliage.

The lodge sits in 3,000 acres of former logging territory rescued by its owner, Metropolitan Touring, which invited me here for a complimentary stay.

The company repurposed it into an ecotourism reserve with over 500 species of birds, and new animal species are being discovered all the time.

As soon as I walk into Mashpi Lodge, which was designed by local architect Alfredo Ribadeneira, I fall in love with its open spaces, clean lines, and floor-to-ceiling windows.

My room is tucked away at the back, and has full views into the cloud forest. Apart from a slight damp smell, it’s perfect.

Mashpi Reserve

But I don’t spend much in my room while I’m in the Mashpi Reserve. There are too many things to do and see here, from hiking to waterfalls to cycling over the forest canopy on a specially designed sky bike.

My three days at Mashpi Lodge are filled with activity, and only some of it is mine. The forest is teeming with life, and everything from moths to millipedes, snakes to singing birds comes out to say hello.

In fact, one particular snake we come across on a night hike is thought to be a new specie. Similar snakes have been found at lower altitudes, but scientists have long suspected that there is another up here.

It’s incredibly exciting to watch the team from Mashpi Lodge lure the Eyelash Palm-Pitviper into a container to run DNA tests.

I’ve traveled all over the world, but this is the fist time I’ve been present for the potential discovery of a new specie. It’s pretty amazing.

And that’s the best part about being in the Mashpi Reserve; there are so many species here it’s hard to comprehend.

We go birding each morning with the lodge’s expert guides, and every time a bird flies past, it’s a different specie. The same goes for the butterflies in the Life Center and the hummingbirds at the feeders.

The plant life around Mashpi Lodge is equally varied, what with Ecuador having the most known species of orchids in the world.

There are 4,300 of them (and counting, if the snake discovery is any indication). Around them are all kinds of ferns and trees that make up the cloud forest in Ecuador.

The only downside to so much foliage is that it hides the larger animals and mammals a bit too well.

On our first night at Mashpi Lodge we watch a presentation about the wealth of wildlife in the area, from pumas and agoutis to ocelots and anteaters. But we don’t see any while we’re visiting, which is a bit disappointing.

Nature is unpredictable, though, and the abundance of bird, insect, and reptile life we come across goes a long way to make up for it.

Mashpi Lodge Dining

As does the lodge itself, which not only provides us with shelter, but also meals.

The chef makes some of the best sushi I’ve ever had, and excellent Ecuadorian food as well. Paired with the sky-high windows of the dining room, every meal here is a treat.

Mashpi Lodge and Beyond

When it’s time to leave Mashpi Lodge and the cloud forest, I’m sad to travel back to Quito.

The only thing that makes me feel better is that the next stop on my Ecuador itinerary is the Galapagos. And if there’s one place where the wildlife can rival that of this forest, it’s those islands.

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