Spillover

Black sludge also coats the vegetation alongside a road leading to the village of Guiyero in Yasuni National Park, one of the most diverse biospheres in the world.

"It's time to say enough! They've abused us," said Ene Nenquimo, vice-president of the Waorani Nationality of Ecuador, wearing a headdress of multi-colored feathers. The oil spill occurred in June, according to environmentalists, the latest of many in the reserve.

"Big lizards died," lamented Pablo Ahua, 44, one of the nearly 100 indigenous people who live in Guiyero, near one of the reserve's oil wells.