Four people, two field sites, one slope of the Andes
TIVEC is a small local company in Napo, Ecuador. When you write to us, one of these four people answers. When you arrive, the same people are waiting.
Who will meet you
José Arturo Simbaña
Operations Director · guide
Ornithologist and administrator of Yanayacu Biological Station. He has been guiding and recording birds on this slope for 15 years, and a beetle described in 2026 — Besucheteidos simbanai — carries his name.
José Julián Simbaña
General Manager
Finance and administration, with a background in process auditing at SIME and Sertecpet. He handles bookings, quotes and invoicing — so institutions get the paperwork they need on time.
Zulema Gualinga
Operations Coordinator · kitchen
Hospitality and kitchen, trained at Sani Lodge, Anakonda Cruises and Makitakuy before joining Yanayacu. If a guest tells us the food was the best part of the trip, this is why.
Joel Tanguila
Field Assistant · local guide
Local guiding, trail maintenance and field support. He grew up here, and knows where things are before anyone goes looking for them.
Where this came from
TIVEC did not start as a tourism company. It started at Yanayacu Biological Station, in Cosanga, where José Arturo Simbaña worked alongside the ornithologist Harold F. Greeney for years — receiving researchers, keeping records and learning the forest bird by bird.
Visiting scientists kept asking the same questions: where do we sleep, who cooks, how do we get the equipment up there, who can guide us. Answering those questions well, over and over, is what became TIVEC.
That is why the company works the way it does. We came from the logistics of fieldwork, not from a brochure — and it shows in the parts of a trip most people only notice when they go wrong.
The legacy we continue
“TIVEC is inspired by the ornithological passion of José A. Simbaña and Harold F. Greeney; we are the evolution of a legacy. What began as a love for birds in Yanayacu and Narupayacu is today a platform that unites academic science with ancestral Amazonian wisdom.”
Harold F. Greeney
Ornithologist · Yanayacu Biological Station
José A. Simbaña
Operations Director · TIVEC
2
Field sites
740
Species across both eBird hotspots
2
Species named after this place
4.9 ★
On Google
Why people choose TIVEC
We live here
Not an agency booking a lodge on your behalf. The guides, the kitchen and the sites are ours, and we are on them every week.
Field science is the origin, not a label
Our records feed eBird and iNaturalist, and work done at Yanayacu has produced published species descriptions. You can check every claim we make.
We host very different visitors
A birder chasing a jacamar, a university field course and a family on a weekend need different things. We are used to all three, and we say honestly when a site is not right for you.
The money stays in the territory
Wages for local families, low-impact infrastructure, and forest kept standing because it is worth more that way. Your invoice is part of that arithmetic.
How a booking works
You write
Dates, group size and what you come for. WhatsApp or the form, whichever suits you.
We reply with a written plan
Within one business day: availability, itinerary and a total, with nothing hidden.
You confirm
A deposit holds the dates — the amount is set in your quote. Institutions receive a formal invoice.
We are there when you arrive
Same people, same names, same phone number you have been writing to.
Our principles, in practice
We used to describe our ethics with three words. Here is what each one actually means for you.
- Regeneration — controlled trails, ecological toilets and low-impact building, so more visitors does not mean more damage.
- Transparency — public species records, written quotes with a total, and an honest answer when a site is not right for your trip.
- Intercultural respect — local people are employed and trained as guides, cooks and coordinators, not hired as extras for a photograph.
Come and meet us
Send your dates, group size and main interest. We will tell you honestly whether this is the right place for what you are looking for.