Don’t Miss Iguana Park In Guayaquil Ecuador
Guayaquil is known for its “Iguana Park” (Parque Seminario) which is packed with iguanas. Coming from Canada we haven’t seen many iguanas, so visiting the park was a treat.
(You may want to read about taxi safety and rates in Guayaquil as well.)
Iguanas Everywhere!
While we were visiting Guayaquil we hired a van to take us to the Malecon. Our driver made an unexpected stop along the way.
When we stopped at Iguana Park we didn’t really know where we were.
Check out: 34 beautiful photos of Guayaquil
We thought the driver was just pulling over for a minute. He pulled up in front of a park and said “you can get out and look around if you want, I’m just going to circle back around in a minute.”
So we all jumped out to take a look at the pretty little park.
As we walked in we saw iguanas everywhere! They were in the trees, on the grass, on the statue of Simón Bolívar… we knew it had to be Iguana Park because we had read about it while researching Guayaquil.
It was a nice surprise! We were not expecting to see anything like that at what we thought was just a normal little park. The park is just like many of the other small parks we’ve seen in the center of cities here in Ecuador.
Except it’s full of iguanas! You really wouldn’t expect it in the middle of the city.
We were amazed to see so many iguanas in one place. It was so interesting to watch them walking around, bobbing their heads up and down and just lazing in the sun looking like little green statues.
Iguana Fruit Trees!?
The trees were full of Iguanas! It reminded me of a search and find game… “how many iguanas can you spot hidden in this tree?” They blended in so well! The trees looked like they were full of large ripe iguana fruit. I see parts of 12 in this shot.
As ripe fruit sometimes falls to the ground… so do iguanas.
While my friend and I were checking out the large squirrels that also make Iguana Park their home, a large iguana slipped and fell out of the tree. It came so close to landing right on her head! It came down with a thump and ran away as we both squealed and jumped away from it.
So while visiting Iguana Park, beware of falling iguanas!
Don’t Miss Iguana Park in Guayaquil
We were so happy that we decided to get out and take a look when our driver made that unexpected stop!
The park isn’t very big, but its worth seeing. If you have children all the better. They will be taken with the iguanas, squirrels, turtles and fish in the fish pond. They probably won’t forget Iguana Park any time soon.
What’s the weather like? Here’s the guide to Guayaquil weather.
Where is Parque de Las Iguanas?
Iguana Park (Parque de Las Iguanas) is located in Guayaquil at 10 de Agosto Avenue and Chile Avenue. (You might also like reading about where to stay in Guayaquil and the Guayaquil airport)
Have you visited Iguana Park? Please share your thoughts with us by commenting on this post.
Coming in March and retiring in May. Please email me if you can help with info to make my March trip more productive. So excited to live there.
Hi,
First off, I want to thank you for the great information you have been sharing. Thank you so much!
I am planning to go to Ecuador with my family, and have been gathering information from your Blog and other resources also. For us Cuenca seems to be a great place to live, but I was wondering about Guayaquil also, since we would love to be next to the sea! Do you, or anyone here, as information about the living conditions there?
Again thank you for sharing your story.
All the Best!
I have never been to Ecuador but my friend has been there. He says it’s a beautiful places and underrated by tourists. There are so many beautiful places to visit there.
Brian&Dena… If anybody asks you “What is Guayaquil like?” show them this video that I like very much. Real images of coastal life, not the glossed up image of International Living, and the song is good, too, better if you understand the lyrics. This is why Guayaquileños don’t like living in the sierra. Guayaquil!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnkRA_DnFgY
Can you attach the link again? It didn’t show in your last comment.
I enjoyed every minute of this park iguana so to speak. That is one big squirrel . take a pretty good cat to get the upper hand of him. Lou.
What about the golf courses in Guayaquil, La Costa Country Club etc.? Do they have web sites?
My wife and I travelled to Ecuador in 2008. We spent about four weeks exploring the beautiful country. when we visited Guayaquil we saw all the Iguanas in one area of the city. I think it was on a church grounds but I may have forgotten where we saw them all.
Guayaquil was a fun visit …. We especially enjoyed strolling the beautiful malecon along the riverside. We took a bus to the beach at Playa and to our surprise Carnival was to start in two days. We did find a hotel room (lucky) since all the other rooms in town were booked. We enjoyed our time at Playa and left the following day. We again were very lucky to have left the following day. Traffic was backed up all the way to Guayaquil on the way back.
We live in Panama on the Caribbean coast (7 years) and we are getting ready to make a change. We are thinking strongly about Cuenca Ecuador now. We will be heading back to Ecuador as soon as practical.
I love the Iguana Park. Thanks for sharing this with your readers. Can I have your permission to reprint it at adventuress-travel-magazine, crediting you, of course? Isn’t Ecuador just full of wonderful adventures? 🙂
So glad you enjoyed this. While we don’t allow full reprints, you can share a brief excerpt (and photo) and a link back to the main article. Republishing content will earn you penalties from the search engines.
All the best!