What To Expect

What‘s Included

Reviews

• Custom birding tour

  337edgard,,Dec 10, 2025

  - Review from Tripadvisor

  5.00

  As others have said, Richard is extremely knowledgeable and accommodating. Despite having an important engagement in the afternoon, he made sure we had an entertaining and educational trip to the cloud forest. We focused on seeing birds, and despite our schedule for a later start, we saw several dozen new to us species, many of which were endemic. Touring with Richard is highly recommended.

• Very knowledgeable local guide who shares his love of nature and people.

  sandrabY4551EE,,Nov 6, 2025

  - Review from Tripadvisor

  5.00

  My husband and I had two full days with Richard for a private tour, with him customizing the trip to match our interests. Richard grew up in the area and has a lot of personal connections and knowledge which greatly enhanced our experience. With his background and studies and personal experience, he was able to answer our many questions, whether that was identifying the 87 bird species we spotted, or discussing local and geopolitical history, describing the various biomes of Ecuador, and telling about the rich Ecuadorian culture. We learned a lot! Beyond the tour, we thoroughly enjoyed our time with Richard because he is a good human. We came away with a friend who cared about us and our experience in his beautiful homeland. Señor Bird Monk, thank you for your patience with our endless questions, your many kindnesses, your willingness to share so much about Ecuador. We will never forget you.

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

• A great day trip from Quito

  Jennifer D,,Oct 9, 2025

  - Review from Viator

  5.00

  Our guide, Juan Carlos, has excellent local knowledge. We went to see the hummingbirds, a sweaty (but very achievable) hike in the cloud forest, had an excellent lunch suggestion in Mindo and really enjoyed our coffee making tour in Quinde. It was well organised and a fun day trip from Quito.

• Don't hesitate, book it.

  Paradise57414537565,,Sep 26, 2025

  - Review from Tripadvisor

  5.00

  Richard was great. Not only was the day fun, it was very informative. Never a dull moment. Birding was easy, very easy. Richard does have flexible itineraries from nature to culture or a mix. From easy to hard outdoor activities. The itineraries are flexible and for you to decide. It was worth it for sure.

  

• Didn’t get to walk in the cloud forest at all!

  Heather W,,Jun 18, 2025

  - Review from Viator

  2.00

  We did not go birdwatching in the cloud forest. Our first stop was to a very nice woman’s yard, where she had set out lots of feeders. That was really cool, there were all kinds of hummingbirds and several tanagers. I’m glad we stopped there. Our guide (this is a company, not an individual) then took us to a butterfly greenhouse. I had been asking birds, was telling him how I had booked an extra day because I was so excited about the opportunity to see the birds of the Amazon. The butterfly garden was nice, but you can find similar things in any big town. I do like butterflies, but I saw a sign outside pointing to bird observation areas, nature hikes and things. A sunbittern flew overhead which was awesome, so I asked about that, could we go walking to look for birds? Our guide said, sure, and we walked up and down the road for 5-10 minutes, not on any kind of forest trail, just the street we happened to be on. That seemed to negate any other item listed on the itinerary. There was no nature walks, no waterfalls, no orchid farms, chocolate factories or ziplining. All of which we had talked about briefly. We ate lunch, which took a while, but he chose the restaurant. And then he was in a rush to get back. I did want to do a quick picture stop at the monument of the middle of the world, but he rushed us into the museum. The museum was also nice, but.. if our time was so limited where we could only pick one thing… what I really wanted to do was go birdwatching in the cloud forest. Like the title of the trip. Like walking in nature quietly to look for wildlife. Like the description of this in Viator seemed to indicate. We didn’t do that at all, and I don’t think our guide knew much about or was particularly interested in birds anyway. His focus seemed to be on general tours, like the populations of each city and what they manufacture and things. I was so disappointed. My recommendation to anyone looking to go birdwatching would be to find transportation to Mindo. They have a great bus system here. I doubt a taxi would cost the $320 it did for the 2 of us to take this tour either. Stay the night in Mindo and then find a tour company there maybe. There were a lot of little excursion companies advertising birding tours.

• Lovely and memorable day with the birds and nature

  Tammy B,,Jun 18, 2025

  - Review from Viator

  5.00

  We had a wonderful day with Richard. He customized our experience to what we are interested in and made good recommendations to avoid wasting time if, for example, he knew the birds would not be out in one location so he suggested a different one. He knows all the roads because he used to live there. We saw tons of hummingbirds as well as two different types of toucans, parrotlets and many others. Richard is so knowledgeable he just rattles off the names as we see them. He estimated we saw 45 different species of birds. We walked up the trail to the waterfall cascades with him commenting on the plants, birds, and wildlife along the way. There was also a stop to buy some chocolate and taste the liquers. We are so glad we did this in lieu of the standard cruise line city tour. When we described it to the other passengers who did the standard tour, several of them said they wished they had done the same thing. Recommendations: Make sure to bring water and hand sanitizer/wipes, as well as layers because it was chilly in the morning but hot a few hours later. Try to start as early as possible. We flew in late the night before so we started at 7:15 am, but I wish we had been able to start earlier.

• Thoroughly enjoyed our day in Mindo with Richard...

  Q549MEkarenh,,May 11, 2025

  - Review from Tripadvisor

  5.00

  We arranged this tour ahead of arriving to Mindo. Richard collected us from our hotel and our tour was excellent; we saw 3 different types of Toucans, a variety of tanagers, saffron Finch's, Pacific parrotlets, several types of woodpeckers, and various other endemic species, along with numerous hummingbirds, both at the feeding station and out in the 'wild'. We also got to see the 'cock of the rock' , which was a great treat. His knowledge of the area was interesting and informative, and he answered our questions as we continued our trip through the the day. Richard also suggested places to visit in Mindo during our stay based on our interests. We finished our trip with a stop at the chocolate tour/ shop, which ended our day perfectly. We had a thoroughly enjoyable day with Richard and would highly recommend. Thank you!

  

  

  

  

• Great private tour!

  Megan S,,May 4, 2025

  - Review from Viator

  5.00

  Richard was great and helped us create a memorable day out of our short time in Ecuador. He was very knowledgeable about birds and where to find them and ensured we were able to accomplish everything on our tour list visiting the cloud forest.

• Mindo Cloud Forest

  kristianj2020,,Mar 19, 2025

  - Review from Tripadvisor

  5.00

  Richard is an experienced and very knowledgeable guide. It has been our pleasure to experience Mindo Cloud Forest with him and to learn about the flora and fauna of Ecuador.

  

• Wonderful day on a private tour

  Karen U,,Mar 10, 2025

  - Review from Viator

  5.00

  Great day watching hummingbirds, toucans and so many more birds. Also enjoyed the butterflies, orchids, and chocolate in Mindo. Stopped for lunch at a spot with grilled trout and opportunities to see more birds.

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