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The rainforests in Payamino covers an area of approximately 16.000 hectares (almost 40.000 acres) and is sorrounded by the 205.000 hectares large Sumaco-Galeras Biosphere Reserve. The territory ranges in altitude from 200 metres above sea level in the lower areas to 1.500 m.a.s.l. as you head north and west towards the Sumaco volcano. This means that the forest lies at a transitional zone between the cloud forests of the eastern Andean slopes and lowland Amazonian rainforest, and is home to wildlife from both environments.

The Payamino River, the largest watercourse in the territory, meanders to the east towards the Napo River, one of the Amazon’s major tributaries. It is among the cleanest rivers in the area, as many rivers as it has not yet been polluted by oilspills, human waste and erosion from logging and human settlements, unlike many other waterways in the Ecuadorean Amazon

The Payamino region and forest is proving to be extremely diverse in both animal and plant kingdom and the forest is still home to populations of monkeys (woolly, spider and howler monkeys), ocelots, peccaries, tapis, capybaras and jaguars as well as pacas, agoutis, squirrels, anteaters, armadillos, otters, deer, lizards and a rich birdlife with more than 300 species of toucans, parrots, guans, curassows and other birds.