Mindo (also known as the Mindo Valley) is a mountainous watershed in the western slopes of the

Andes The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the List of longest mountain chains on Earth, longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range ...

, where two of the most biologically diverse ecoregions in the world meet: the Chocoan lowlands and the Tropical Andes. In this transitional area — which covers an area of and ranges from

above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of a location's vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) in reference to a vertical datum based on a historic mean sea level. In geodesy, it is formalized as orthometric height. The zero level ...

— three rivers (Mindo, Saloya and Cinto) and hundreds of streams irrigate the landscape, which is a patchwork of

cloud forest A cloud forest, also called a water forest, primas forest, or tropical montane cloud forest, is a generally tropical or subtropical, evergreen, Montane forest, montane, Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, moist forest characteri ...

secondary forest A secondary forest (or second-growth forest) is a forest or woodland area which has regenerated through largely natural processes after human-caused Disturbance (ecology), disturbances, such as Logging, timber harvest or agriculture clearing, or ...

s, agricultural land, and human settlements. Politically, Mindo is a collection of rural parishes (Gualea, Nanegal, Nanegalito, Pacto) that make up the Noroccidental Administrative Zone of Quito Canton, and parts of Los Bancos Canton within Pichincha Province in the northern sierra region of

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

Tourism

The Mindo Valley is among the most heavily visited tourist locations in Ecuador. Mindo was recently named the Ruta de Cacao by The Ecuadorian Ministerio de Turismo. Nearly 200,000 tourists visit the area annually to enjoy activities such as

rafting Rafting and whitewater rafting are recreational outdoor activities which use an inflatable raft to navigate a river or other body of water. This is often done on whitewater or different degrees of rough water. Dealing with risk is often a ...

, tubing, trekking, mountain biking,

canyoning Canyoning (canyoneering in the United States, kloofing in South Africa) is a sport that involves traveling through canyons using a variety of techniques, such as walking, scrambling, climbing, jumping, abseiling (rappelling), swimming, and raft ...

, horseback riding,

birdwatching Birdwatching, or birding, is the observing of birds, either as a recreational activity or as a form of citizen science. A birdwatcher may observe by using their naked eye, by using a visual enhancement device such as binoculars or a telescop ...

, and chocolate making. Besides its well-developed tourism infrastructure, it offers several private reserves and lodges known for their montane forests, waterfalls and unique cloud forest biodiversity. Much of the land is privately protected, and an additional falls within the Mindo-Nambillo Ecological Reserve (). File:Mindo-Cloud-Forest-05.jpg, Landscape in Mindo Image:Tubing in South America.JPG, Tubing in Mindo Image:Zip lining in Mindo, Ecuador.JPG, Zip lining Image:Ecuador_Mindo_Bamboo_house.jpg, A bamboo and palm thatch house in Mindo Image:Waterfall in Mindo.JPG, Waterfall in the Mindo-Nambillo

References

External links

* Parishes of Ecuador Geography of Pichincha Province Tourist attractions in Pichincha Province {{Ecuador-geo-stub