;-} Guides

Beyond their well-known enthusiasm and professionalism, our guides are excellent birders and are also knowledgeable about plants, insects and natural history. We provide up-to-date knowledge about bird status and locations. The key to seeing your target species is knowing where the birds are and when. We bird on a daily basis and thus are very familiar with the status and locations of the birds. We use tapes and voice calls only as necessary to call birds into view and have a variety of scopes, tapes, recorders and night lamps for use as needed. Our goal is for YOU to see the wonderful birds of this amazingly biodiverse region.

Below are some of our clients’ comments about our guides.

“First of all I wanted to thank you for letting us enjoy your awesome lodge in Mindo area. I have to say that I had a wicked time and am happy with all the birds I saw. Charley was an awesome companion and guide, and I hope we can use his expertise for the upcoming bird tours. I will be sending the bird list and pictures as soon as I get organized…. I am very glad I met you and am very excited to work with you and Las Gralarias.” 17-24 May 2008, RF, Peterborough, Ontario, Canada.

“I thought compelled to write to thank you tremendously for all your help in organising such a magnificent trip to Ecuador. Despite the best efforts of Iberia we had a wonderfully organised trip, which gave us a real flavour of the incredibly varied geography and nature of the country. We particularly enjoyed our visit to Las Gralarias both for your warm hospitality and the birding. Birds like Toucan Barbet, Plate Billed Mountain Toucan, Yellow Breasted Antpitta and the flocks of tanagers and furnarids are not easily forgotten. We would be particularly grateful if you could pass on our sincere thanks to Charley and Edison for their expert guiding and of course to Juan Carlos for piloting us safely along some very interesting roads during our stay! We will definitely be back to Ecuador in the future as there are a whole range of places we would like to visit and we will undoubtedly use your expertise in planning any future trips. “ 14-30 Nov 2007, B&EH, Birmingham, UK

“ Las Gralarias is a wonderful place and has left me with some great memories, Charles is a superb person and guide with oceans of patience with us poor souls and of course extremely knowledgeable on his birds, so a big thankyou to you both for making everything work. Hacienda Cusin and that gorgeous old place where we had lunch near Antisana were I gather from Tim suggested by yourself were just brilliant. Finally a huge big thankyou for all your stirling efforts in sorting out the Quito/Guayaquil flight affair.” 12-26 Nov 2007, TL, UK

“Many thanks for working with Sharon, Alice, and me to put together such a fascinating trip. So many birds, so many habitats, so many new experiences. Accolades to Alejandro. He is a superb guide. His knowledge of birds, their habits and habitats is impressive, and he is informative about plants and animals as well. He is concerned that everyone sees the bird in question, is congenial, and unusually considerate...Juan Carlos also deserves praise, not only for his excellent driving but for his charming manner. A splendid trip!” 26 December – 5 January 2008, SW, New York City, NY USA

“Here we are back in Paris, shivering in freezing temperatures and remembering our memorable trip to Ecuador. I wanted to thank you for all your time and excellent organization in making it possible. It was absolutely fabulous: the beauty and variety of the birds, the friendliness and expertise of our three guides, the places we stayed at, the food (especially delicious at your place!), the transfers. We had a wonderful time at NWC and a great end to the trip at Cotopaxi and Papallata with absolutely stunning weather.” 20 Nov – 6 Dec 2007, S&JS, Paris, France.

“Now I have processed most of my 2500 photos I thought I would send you a small sample of thumbnails to illustrate what a great holiday we had. We would like to thank you again very much for the organisation and a big thanks to the guides. Everything went like clockwork and we would certainly recommend your services to others in the future. My bird count for the trip stands at 537, so many great sights and fond memories.” 29 September - 20 October 2007, D&SH, UK

“ Thanks for planning such a wonderful trip for all of us! Looking back it seems like they were 2 unbelievable vacations rolled into one. You did a fantastic job! All of the places we stayed were great, as was the food, and of course the birding was fantastic! My only regret was not being able to squeeze more time into each day, but I guess that's out of my control! Las Gralarias is fantastic Jane, you have done such a great job creating it. I really enjoyed birding with Pablo - he was serious, but a great guide. I think Gary was a little worn out by the pace of the birding, but the rest of us were right on target with it. The Galapagos trip was also great! It was like being on another planet! Even though I knew a fair amount about the galapagos and what to expect, nothing can prepare you for the actual experience! The Coral 1 was a great boat and we had a really good bunch of people on board. I am still swaying today! “ 1-17 Jun 2007, MAB, Houston, TX USA

“I want to thank you for arranging an excellent field trip [to Yanacocha] today. All aspects were excellent and I enjoyed both Alejandro's and Mynor's company. The birding wasn't excellent mostly due to timing and just a quiet day out there, but that's nothing you can control! We very much enjoyed the day and all came home happy.” 5 June 2007, TC, Saratoga, CA, USA

“We had a great time with Edison and during our stay at Las Gralarias-- Fabulous lodge – we will be back very very soon – had too much fun! …Thanks so much for the terrific hospitality.” 9-16 December 2006, FB & SB, Knoxville, TN, USA

“Everyday in our trip was so enjoyable. We saw a lot, we experienced and learned a lot. Thank you once more for arranging this wonderful trip for us. We are very much impressed by your substantial effort in habitat conservation, a difficult but meaningful task in nowadays world. Alejandro is great and Vito is a very good companion. Please send our thanks to them. We really hope to visit Ecuador and some other S. American countries if we have a long vacation.” 9-23 November 2006, R&PL, Hong Kong

“Everything was great. 241 lifers! Over 500 spp. seen, many of them very special endemics. …Manu was fantastic but not long enough. Very many thanks for the great organisation!...We can’t thank you enough for the really great trip [to Peru]! We were really happy with the trip...! We'll be back!” 21 April – 6 May 2006, S&TB, Queensland, Australia

“Just a thank you for a wonderful holiday. All of the arrangements worked extremely well and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Edison was a very good bird guide and found lots of new birds for us, we also enjoyed his friendly company. All of the transfers worked well and all of the accommodation was lovely. We liked everywhere so if was impossible to say which was our favourite! Thank you so much for your organisation. We hope to go back to Ecuador again so will of course be in touch.” 13 April – 3 May 2006, A&PE, UK

"Your organization and execution of the logistics went flawlessly, even when my arrival was delayed, and the Hotel Quito was a very satisfactory place to start and finish the tour. Edison was great - he is a good driver and didn't bounce us around on the bad roads, speaks English well, and sensed our abilities so that we didn't totally exhaust ourselves. Well, maybe we did, but it was fun doing it! .I ended up with over 150 new birds among the 375 species we saw or heard, so my personal objective of getting my world list to 3000 was easily achieved in the first few days. When you asked if there was anything I really wanted to see, I listed a few hummingbirds, Torrent Duck and Sunbittern. We got the hummers, except for the Sicklebill; were spectacularly successful, after a couple of tries, with the Torrent Ducks; and missed the Sunbittern. So that leaves a reason to come back. Thanks again for all your efforts in helping us have a successful trip." 18-30 March 2005, BL, Berkeley, CA, USA

"We do indeed have fond memories of Ecuador. It is one of the best birding trips we have taken. I am still tallying and recollecting all the birds we saw and going over the pictures we took. We saw a total of over 366 species, and I think about 350 of these were new to us (final tally pending). The tour was an outstanding experience from the first day to the last...All of this was thanks to the unceasing efforts of our exceptional guide Edison Buenaño, whose good nature and friendliness was very much appreciated. We particularly enjoyed walking the forest trails of Las Gralarias, especially the steep hillside across the road from your lodge and thank you for preserving this lovely area from development...All of this pleasant, rewarding and trouble-free trip we owe to your careful and thorough arrangements! It was so nice to be assured of every pick-up and destination and the very best locations and guides for birding. Thank you! We hope someday to make another trip to S. America under your guidance..." 18 Feb-4 Mar 2005, N&VM, Ithaca, NY, USA

“I have been planning to write you to tell you how much enjoyment we got from our trip to Ecuador. Our experiences were uniformly positive. Edison was a wonderful guide and an interesting person. With him, we identified many species (I am still tabulating them) including at least 31 species of hummingbirds---a highlight for us all. We had wonderful views of the Baudó Guan and were entertained by the call of the umbrellabird although we never got a glimpse of it. The lodge was lovely and the food good---no complaints at all. We'd love to go back and, hopefully, we will.” 28-29 Jan 2004, NC, Hummelstown, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.

“We do have fond memories of Ecuador and will definitely be back…Thank you for all the great work you did to ensure that we had a great and unforgettable trip! The food was great and most of the accommodations were very good…! However, Edison was one of the best parts of the trip. He is very personable and funny and enjoyed joking with us. He also knew plants and some insects well which we appreciated. He knew about the topography and all the volcanos. He also knew the history of his country well which we enjoyed...” 12 Oct-2 Nov 2003, TD, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, USA

“Edison is the best guide I’ve encountered. He has incredible vision and hearing skills. His enthusiasm for his work is amazing. He makes sure that every person sees the bird. His knowledge of plants was very impressive…I wouldn’t hesitate in the least to recommend him to anyone seeking a guide…Thanks for all your suggestions and for taking care of things for us!” 12 Nov-27 Oct 2003, CH, Portland, Oregon, USA

“We had a great time on the trip. Thanks to you and Edison. It was a wonderful time that we will always treasure. Thank you for all that you did in making suggestions, reservations, organizing, logistics, and the whole vision of the trip. We all thought Edison just made the trip a delight. He was everything we could have hoped for..”12 Nov-27 Oct 2003, VJ, Portland, Oregon, USA

“I apologize for not getting back to you sooner to tell you how much we enjoyed our trip and the great guide. I don't know where he gets his patience, particularly when he put us on a good bird and I still missed the picture. To show you how much we enjoyed ourselves, we would like to plan additional trips with photographic listing as our goal.... We had originally thought about Peru in August but after the Chiroboga Road experience, Peru dropped in our priorities [as] the height really bothered us. We would like to plan a trip to southern Ecuador…We would also like to plan a trip for next winter…maybe to Venezuela…” 10-22 Jan 2004, J&BL, Washington, D.C., U.S.A.

“It was great seeing you again. We had a wonderful trip. We had 290 species, combined...For a study list of about 600, that's not too bad. We each had 62 lifers, though not all the same birds. I have just finished adding to our database - we now have just over 500 species for Ecuador - that's after a total of about 25 days birding over the 3 years…We were very happy with the guiding and would be pleased to do another trip. I think our next trip will be to the south of Ecuador… I think the highlight of the trip was the ant swarm we encountered on the last day as it was our first ever. A really great experience. I also really liked coming across the Ochre-breasted Antpitta. Getting both Swallow-tailed and Lyre-tailed Nightjars was good too. On looking at the target bird list Paul had made, we got just under 50% of them….Overall, we were very happy with our trip and are certainly looking forward to our next one...” 29 Jan-8 Feb 2004, P&MM, Toronto, Canada