An experiential journey of culture and community storytelling with the Sapara people of the Ecuadorian Amazon.
Join Photographers Without Borders and the Sapara Cuya Cocha community for a life-changing storytelling experience in the Ecuadorian Amazon during a time the community gathers in gratitude for the abundance the earth and the rainforest provides. Guided by the team at Cuya Cocha Expedición en la Selva, you’ll be invited into a deeply immersive experience that will transform the way you see, listen, and tell stories.
WHAT YOU’LL EXPERIENCE
Participants will:
• Create a powerful story — blending images and words — to add to your professional or personal portfolio and to promote the work of Cuya Cocha Expedición en la Selva.
• Deepen your ethical storytelling practice, learning how to tell stories with communities, not about them.
• Learn about ethnobotany, dreams, linguistic preservation, ancestral territory, and youth empowerment form the Sapara cosmovisión.
• Experience daily life and culture in the heart of the Ecuadorian Amazon preserved by Sapara people.
IMPACT
We will be creating alongside a community tourism project created by the Sapara community of Cuya Cocha in the Ecuadorian Amazon. These immersive experiences are centered around reciprocity, adventure, and culture; breaking from mass tourism practices. In 2001, UNESCO recognized the Sapara Nation from the Ecuadorian and Peruvian Amazon as an “Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.” The stories and images created by Photo Expedition participants will directly support Cuya Cocha Expedición en la Selva in creating a visual archive that serves their future generations and global advocacy efforts, helping to fund linguistic preservation, territorial protection, youth empowerment programs, raise awareness, and inspire lasting change. Participants’ images will be donated to support Cuya Cocha community’s ongoing initiatives — ensuring that your work continues to make an impact long after your journey ends, and ensuring there is reciprocity embedded in the exchange.
TRIP DATES: april 14-23, 2027
COST: $5499 USD
Deadline to register: January 31, 2027