You will leave Quito at around 8:00AM in a private private car with your tour guide. From here you will venture towards the Mindo Valley, which is among the most heavily visited locations in Ecuador. Nearly 200,000 tourists visit the area annually to enjoy activities such as rafting, tubing, trekking, mountain biking, canyoning, horseback riding, bird watching, and herping. Much of the land is privately protected, and an additional 86 square kilometers falls within the Mindo-Nambillo Ecological Reserve. Mindo is a mountainous watershed situated in the western slopes of the Andes, where two of the most biologically diverse eco-regions in the world meet: the Chocoan lowlands and the Tropical Andes. This transitional preserve covers an area of 268 square kilometers and ranges from 960–3,440 meters above sea level. Three rivers (Mindo, Saloya and Cinto) and hundreds of streams irrigate the landscape, which consists of a patchwork of cloud forests, secondary forests, agricultural land, and human settlements.