The Three Forests Trail (3FT), known in Spanish as the Sendero Tres Bosques (S3B), is a community-sponsored ecotourism project in the coastal Manabí province of Ecuador.
3FT is the only trail in the entire ecologically-gifted country of Ecuador that offers active tourists the opportunity to explore a dry tropical forest, a cloud forest, and a rainforest all in the span of a single hike. The four
day guided walk winds uphill from the town of Tabuga to the cloud and rain-forests of the Jama-Coaque Ecological Reserve and then back down to the dry tropical forests of the Lalo Loor Dry Forest Reserve via a well-constructed path over the mountain ridges. Unlike many other nature hikes, the 3FT crosses private property in many of its sections. As such, it is a type of 'Conservation Tourism', because a fixed percentage of trail usage fees is passed along to the local land owners with forested property along the Three Forests Trail in exchange for commitments to not deforest their property. Beyond conservation incentives, 3FT also brings needed jobs to an economically depressed area by training, certifying and hiring guides and maintenance workers exclusively from surrounding communities. The main 3FT Office is located in the town of Tabuga, and is run by Geomaira, the administrator who coordinates all of the above activities.
