I just returned from leading a photo tour to Ecuador in South America. For 10 days we trekked through cloud forests with trees covered in mosses, lichens and bromeliads that towered over 100 feet tall. We crossed mountains at elevations over 13,000 feet and encountered hundreds of raging rivers.
The country is only about the size of Colorado, yet I was amazed at how many different landscapes we saw. In a single day we went from steamy lowland forests up to the high, windswept grasslands called páramo, where cushion plants and tough grasses hug the ground to survive the cold. Snowcapped volcanoes poked above the clouds, and every mountainside had a waterfall.
Nature Smart: Ecuadorian photo tour
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