The upper basin of the Pastaza River encompasses a diverse territory where ecosystems, communities, and many conservation and sustainable-development initiatives converge. Within this territory lies the Llanganates–Sangay Connectivity Corridor, a conservation landscape of approximately 92,000 hectares located in the transition between the Andes and the Ecuadorian Amazon (1). The corridor connects the Llanganates and Sangay national parks, safeguards seven ecosystems, includes areas of global hydrological and climatological importance, and holds one of the greatest concentrations of biodiversity on the planet (2–7).

Conservation in the basin, however, extends beyond the boundaries of the corridor. The territory brings together community reserves such as CEPLOA, private conservation properties, communities, local enterprises, and other regional initiatives that, from different positions, contribute to the knowledge, conservation, and sustainable management of biodiversity. This diversity of actors reflects that conservation in the upper Pastaza is a collective effort that unfolds both inside and outside formally recognized areas.

In the upper Pastaza River Basin, a collective that includes several organizations, universities, research centers, and citizens goes out into the forest at night with flashlights and a shared mission: to count how many species of frogs and snakes they can find over the course of the night. Among them are researchers, students, collectives, and neighbors who until recently would have preferred not to cross paths with these animals (8,9). This is how the heart of the Frog and Snake Festival works, an initiative born in the Ecuadorian Amazon to understand, value, and protect a group of vertebrates as important as it is overlooked.

Where the Festival Was Born

Amphibians and reptiles are among the most threatened groups of vertebrates on the planet, and Ecuador, despite being one of the countries with the greatest diversity, is no exception (10,11). Many of the country's species face the loss of their habitat, contamination of water sources, emerging diseases, and the advance of the city and the agricultural frontier. Furthermore, much of this species richness remains unknown to the population that lives alongside it, and no one protects what they do not know. Therefore, the conservation of these species depends to a great extent on the people who decide to come to know them and to make them known.

If we look a little closer, in the remnants of vegetation and urban forests that surround us there survive species that most people do not even know exist; in these places populations once believed extinct reappear, and new species are described, sometimes a few meters from our houses or streets (12–16). People are often more familiar with the charismatic fauna of other countries than that of their own territory.

The festival seeks to recover that identity, so that people recognize what lives around them, understand its role in the ecosystem, and value it. There is also a barrier to cross: the fear of frogs and snakes, which for decades have been associated with danger and rejection. They are key pieces of our ecosystems. Changing fear into curiosity and respect is a central part of what we do.

What We Do

The festival brings together different activities, seeking to involve people in different ways. The symposium is a space where research and work on the region's herpetofauna are shared through talks and posters. The heart of the festival is the night survey, which has been carried out in more than 15 ecological reserves across the three provinces. The methodology is simple: each group walks an assigned route accompanied by at least one expert and a local guide who knows the terrain well; the records are visual and auditory, without handling the animals; species are identified by photograph, with field guides and the experience of experts. Observations are recorded in the citizen-science application iNaturalist. To avoid duplicates, within each group a few designated people are responsible for uploading the observations. Furthermore, art and photography competitions are carried out, as well as workshops in which species are represented and recycled material is transformed into artwork. There are also science and craft fairs that bring together research, local enterprises, and culture with unique stands that bridge technical knowledge to the general public while activating the local economy.

Four festival scenes: a group portrait of course participants outdoors beside containers holding snakes, a speaker at a podium beneath a festival banner and three flags, an award presented to an older man standing beside an older woman and educational displays, and an audience seated for a talk
Figure 2. Festival activities. A. The Serpientes de Mera intensive course, held together with the festival in 2023 (9). B. Opening address at the symposium of the second festival. C. Presentation of an award to Genaro Peñafiel for his contribution to the conservation of local herpetofauna. D. Audience at the talks during the first festival. Photo: Dione Fiallos (A. and B.) and Alexander G. Bentley (C. and D.)
Four scenes from the festival's art and culture programme: visitors examining illustrated field guides and artwork laid out on a science fair table, painted works of snakes and frogs from the art competition displayed on an easel, a young boy holding up a crayon drawing he has made, and two guitarists performing outdoors beside a large butterfly cutout
Figure 3. Artistic and cultural component of the festival. A. Exhibition of educational material and art at the science fair. B. Works from the art competition. C. Children's drawing activity. D. EXISTE musical performance at the closing of the festival. Photo: Alexander G. Bentley (A., C., and D.) and Juan Pablo Reyes-Puig (B.)

So far the festival has accumulated close to 717 individual observations of around 90 species of amphibians and reptiles, with the participation of more than 300 people and the support of 35 allied institutions.

Four night-survey scenes: participants walking a forest stream by headlamp, a group examining a leaf together, a yellow-and-black harlequin toad on a leaf, and the head of a brown pit viper
Figure 4. Field outing and species recording. A. Group of participants during the night walk. B. Observation and recording. C. Atelopus colomai, the festival's emblematic species. D. Bothrocophias microphthalmus recorded in situ during night sampling. Photo: Alexander G. Bentley (A. and B.), Juan Pablo Reyes-Puig (C.), and Benjamin Hidalgo (D.)

How the Festival Works

The festival is an initiative driven by local actors committed to the conservation of the upper basin of the Pastaza River, a territory that spans the provinces of Pastaza, Tungurahua, and Morona Santiago. Its purpose is to promote the monitoring of herpetofauna, a group highly sensitive to changes in the environment and whose presence or absence reflects the state of the ecosystems, generating information that contributes to decision-making for conservation and the sustainable management of the territory.

The festival began as a small group of friends; from the second edition onward volunteers joined and an organizing committee was formed, a step that proved key to sustaining the process over time. Today that committee handles the arrangements and activities, builds alliances, and works through the self-management of resources. Thanks to this structure, what began as an idea has become a collective process that repeats every year. Behind it there is a broad and diverse network of actors: communities, universities, public and private organizations, small businesses, and citizens committed to conservation.

The Challenge

None of this has been perfect. The logistics of an event like this always leave things to be improved, and for that reason we pay close attention to the comments and suggestions of those who take part; that feedback, edition after edition, is part of how the festival has grown and refined itself.

Of the difficulties that we've encountered along the way, sustaining political engagement has been the greatest. From the beginning we sought to involve the authorities and local governments, convinced that a festival that generates information from the community should not stop with the observations, but should translate into decisions that protect the ecosystems. The reality is that despite several attempts at collaboration we have not managed to consolidate that support, and those who have sustained the process consistently have been the community, collectives, and organizations.

What Participants Take Away

For many participants, the night survey is their first experience in the field. The upper Pastaza has demanding routes, muddy trails, steep stretches, and long walks. Facing that terrain is in itself an experience that transforms. The day after the outing, when the group gathers, one of the most valuable moments of the festival begins: each person tells how it went for them, whether it rained all night on their route, whether the path was harder than expected, whether they saw a species that was completely new to them. Those stories, more than the figures, are the ones that remain.

The festival has also become a space where some people find their calling. Students and young people who arrive looking for an experience to help them decide where to direct their path finish the outing with a clearer answer. For some, that first contact becomes the starting point for a commitment to nature and its protection. Others, who arrived afraid of these animals, leave with curiosity and respect.

Perhaps the festival's greatest success is how it accomplishes multiple objectives all at once. Each monitoring effort generates data that, accumulated year after year, allows us not only to know which species inhabit the region, but also to understand the state and trends of their populations. At the same time, we train young people and students in field techniques, identification, and the diversity of herpetofauna. We create spaces where citizens, researchers, and students can meet one another, share ideas, and build new collaborations. The festival brings together science, culture, music, and art to transform the perception of animals that for many years have been treated with fear and rejection, while the tourism and cultural activities generate opportunities for restaurants, transport operators, hotels, guides, and other local enterprises. Taken together, all of this makes the festival a model of citizen participation in science: it strengthens the community, generates knowledge useful for conservation, and, above all, inspires a new generation to become researchers, educators, and defenders of nature within their own territory.

The Frog and Snake Festival of the Upper Pastaza River Basin continues, and its next edition will take place from 13 to 15 November 2026. We keep working so that more and more people come to know and value the herpetofauna living in their own backyards, and so that local and regional decision-makers do their part in protecting it.

Acknowledgments

We thank the allied institutions and organizations that have made it possible edition after edition: Fundación EcoMinga, Hampato Pacha, Club de Biología Estudiantil UEA, Club de Biodiversidad Amazónica, Finca la Argentina, Fundación Waska Amazonía, Fundación Oscar Efrén Reyes, Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad, Ninfa Amazónica, Laboratorio de Zoología Terrestre USFQ, Amphibian Survival Alliance, Aliwarmi SKIS, Palacio de Cristal de Mera, Finca Palmonte, Bosque Protector Oglán Alto de la Comunidad Etnobiológica Pablo López, Bosque Protector Guamag, Reserva Alto Anzu, Estación Biológica Pindo Mirador, Tamandua, Reserva Eco-social Chalwayaku, Photo Wildlife Tours, Fundación Cóndor Andino, Eco Arazzá, and the Red de Investigación del Corredor de Conectividad Llanganates-Sangay. To the communities and small businesses that open their territories and accompany the process, and to the volunteers and researchers.

References

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