Wildlife and birding tour in Costa Rica with @avenativatours - We booked an 11-day trip with the amazing @CarlosLuisJimenezCruz ( @avenativatours @birdingincostarica ) through personal recommendation. We cannot praise him highly enough for the professional, friendly and extremely knowledgeable service he provided. Nothing was too much trouble. He tailor-made our trip to take account of the variety of experiences we wanted to include (zip-lining, kayaking, snorkelling, beach-time, hot-springs and waterfalls) and was flexible where necessary if we wanted or weather dictated a change. Options were available at all points to account for those of us who, for example, wanted to be up at 6am and out birding before breakfast, or for those who preferred a later start. He carefully planned our trip to avoid crowds in one of the busiest times of year and selected (with our agreement) suitably-priced and comfortable hotels. We were constantly amazed by his hawk-like observation skills – we would be driving along the road in the middle of nowhere and he would pull over, jump out of the van with his binoculars and there at the top of a random tree would be a sloth or a toucan that we would never have noticed otherwise. There was not a bird we saw (out of 180 or so) that he did not seem to know detailed information about. It was lovely to see his genuine and infectious enthusiasm for tracking down rare wildlife to show us (including the elusive Quetzal) and dedicate himself to finding us specific species we wanted to see. Everywhere we went, other tour guides would greet him warmly and we were told more than once by others that “Carlos is the best.” We absolutely agreed!