We've traveled many places around the world for birding and nature in recent years and experienced many guides. A week in Ecuador visiting Antisana, the cloud forests around Mindo and other locations in Pinchinca Province confirmed Neotropical Nature & Birding Trips guide Santiago Salazar as among the very best. Our group of 16 included serious birders and casual nature lovers, and it was the first trip for all of us since the pandemic began in early 2020. We could not have felt more comfortable during our entire time. Beyond being an exceptional birder and guide to finding birds, Santiago is very kind, great to be with, and attentive to all aspects of logistics and people's needs. I would go with into the countryside of Ecuador or Brazil with Santiago again at the drop of a hat.

If you ever find yourself birding in Ecuador or Brazil, remember Neotropical Nature and Birding Tours, and especially the name Santiago Salazar. We have used guides from Central America all the way to Scandinavia, and this guy was the best I have ever seen! Made it a marvelous trip!

I visited several places around Papallacta Pass to look for a large list of target birds with Santiago Salazar. Santiago was extremely knowledgeable of the area and knew exactly where to go to search for all of the special birds of the area. He was able to organize the trip extremely last minute (including getting us access to Cayambe-Coca National Park on a day it is normally closed to tourists). He knows the birds and natural history of the area extremely well. Anyone looking to visit this great area should definitely contact Santiago and Neotropical Nature & Birding Trips.

This was our last full day in Ecuador for this trip.Santiago is an excellent guide. I was hoping to find many birds on this trip and was not disappointed. But we also learned many things about plants, animals, and the area in general. Santiago picked us up nice and early to take us up to Papallacta, where he spent a great deal of effort looking for bears. And while we were ultimately unable to see them, we saw many great birds. I especially appreciate the effort Santiago put forth to find us the rarer key birds for this area. Our glimpse of the seed snipe was definitely a highlight of the trip. Our afternoon was spent in the Guango Lodge area. The meal served was excellent. The feeders were excellent. The birds were excellent. Everything was excellent. Santiago's enthusiastic about birds and nature, and that shows through. My wife and I were both caught up in it. I will be looking to Neotropical for future tours in the area. I cannot recommend them enough.

We had an extra day in Quito before our Amazon trip and decided to venture out to Antisana. Our amazing guide Santiago picked us up at our hotel exactly on time. Santiago is truly a gifted birder with an encyclopedic knowledge of Ecuador’s flora and fauna. In addition, his English is so good, he helped us understand all the challenges facing the park’s threatened bird species. The most exciting part was seeing five endangered Andean Condors perched on a cliff face. We also enjoyed a delicious lunch and hummingbird viewing. We would both love to travel with Neotropical Nature tours in the future!

Sebastian is a discerning, perspicacious, well-informed, and attentive guide with an authentic love of nature. He taught me about the flora and fauna of the Antisana area as well as practical tips on bird watching. We had clear views of the glaciers and peaks of both Antisana and Cotopaxi most of the day. We took views from various vantage points abs perspectives, telescope, binoculars, crouching down toward the ground. I especially liked a crevasse on the Antisana glacier, the smell of valerian, the textures of the different vegetation in the paramo, the image of Andean seagulls flying with the volcano peak in the background.

I did a six day private birding tour (from Quito and Mindo) with "Neotropical Nature & Birding Trips" last month (May 2021). Santiago Salazar, a co-founder of the company, was my guide. He is just fantastic at all levels. He is also a photographer himself which made the entire experience even better. He went out of his way to make sure that I return home with high quality photos of as many bird species as possible. Due to COVID-19, I had to change my plan several times and the company manager Gaby (Maria) handled everything efficiently. This is a company making sincere effort to promote ecotourism and conservation projects in Ecuador. I am already planning my next trip with them.