Ecuador’s Mashpi Lodge has launched its highly anticipated Dragonfly canopy gondola.

The new product is designed to allow guests to enjoy captivating bird’s eye views of the 1,300 hectare Mashpi Rainforest Reserve via a cable-driven system of gondolas that glide above, below and through the tree canopy.

The experience takes guests up to 200 metres above the ground and travels two kilometres across the magical cloud forest with Mashpi’s resident naturalists to identify the sights and sounds of the forest.

Comprising three different stations and embarkation points located at different altitudes, guests can choose whether to combine a ride on The Dragonfly with a testing hike through the forest and along the riverbed, or to take the full two-hour return trip for a more relaxing experience, whilst still accessing hidden waterfalls, swimming holes and walking trails. 

Adhering to Mashpi’s sustainability ethos, The Dragonfly was carefully constructed over a period of 18 months largely by hand and without the use of any heavy machinery, to ensure minimal impact to the reserve and its wildlife.

Much like the lodge itself, The Dragonfly is powered by renewable energy and designed to blend seamlessly and silently into the surrounding forest.

The strikingly contemporary glass and steel structure features floor-to-ceiling windows, giving remarkable views of the forested mountains on one side and the rainforest up close on the other.