MASHPI LODGE, ECUADOR RAINFOREST - THE WORLD'S BEST LUXURY ADVENTURE HOTEL (inc. WILD SWIMMING!)

Wow, what can I say? The glass, award-winning boutique 24-room eco hotel that is Mashpi Lodge took my breath away. It's set deep in the Ecuadorean cloud forest and is a bumpy three-hour car journey from the capital of Ecuador Quito, but that bumpy journey is well worth it. Most guests stay here for two nights/48 hours, which is probably about the right length of time. The price you pay includes full board and ALL the adventures which are guided by the hotel's expert naturalists. This video gives an overview of Mashpi Lodge which, in my opinion, is the world's best luxury adventure hotel. The film looks first at the hotel - the rooms and the dining room as well as the seating areas. Everywhere comes with an amazing view and because the hotel's made of glass it feels like you're actually in the jungle as opposed to in a building. The glass helps bring the outside in. The view from my floor-to-ceiling bedroom windows was extraordinary. My film features the adventures I did - there are others, but these are the ones I personally chose. I like to be active and went for the more hard core options, but there are more laid-back ones available too. The first was a ride on the 'Sky Bike' which is a one-of-a-kind 'bike' which you pedal above the forest's canopy and clouds. It's a lot of hard work and a lot of scary fun, as long as you don't look down. The bike takes about ten minutes there and ten minutes back. Most people ride them tandem, but I rode mine solo. Then I went on a night walk with the guides to see what wildlife we could find hidden in the forest. We saw lots of different species of tiny frogs, some of them which were new species discovered here - one of these tiny frogs is the loudest in the world despite its teeny size. We also saw spiders and even a hairy tarantula. Arachnophobes beware of watching this video. I also went on an awesome 3-hour hike one day which took us down the muddy ravines of the forest right to the basin where we waded through the river. The hike took us to Glass Frog Falls, a wonderful waterfall deep in the jungle. Despite the fact it was raining - it's often raining in the cloud forest! - it was a wonderful spot for wild swimming and it wasn't cold either. It was perhaps my favorite wild swim ever. Other adventures included breakfast with the hummingbirds ( I have some amazing footage of these tiny birds whose wings flap so fast that I put the camera on slo-mo to capture it better) and a chance to see some other amazing birds (this is a bird lovers paradise) as well as some of the forest's mammals. My final adventure is what's called the Dragonfly Cable Car. It's an hour-long aerial tram which takes you above the forest's canopy and offers the most awesome birds-eye view of the jungle. Last but not least I look at the food, which is DELICIOUS. It's gourmet Ecuadorean haute cuisine and both lunch and dinner are three-course, waiter-served affairs. And if you've time to squeeze it in, Mashpi Lodge has a hot tub in the jungle too. This is pretty special and worth booking up. It doesn't cost extra, but it's hard to get a slot! All in all this is one amazing place for luxury adventure and is a great hotel to treat yourself too after a cruise to the Galapagos and/or a stay in Quito. I can't recommend it highly enough. Here is Mashpi Lodge's website: https://www.mashpilodge.com/about/ I came here after a 10-day expedition cruise to the Galapagos with the Norwegian cruise line Hurtigruten: https://www.hurtigruten.com/en-gb/expeditions/