The following are excerpts from e-mails sent to me by contented visitors after returning home from natural history/birding trips to Costa Rica:
"Over dinner last night, Mary and I discussed this trip and independently decided that it was the BEST birding/nature trip we have ever had and we have had lots of them. I expected a lot and got a lot more then I expected. In addition to the splendid arrangements and all the birds, a major factor was that there were absolutely no hassles, because you dealt with them and we didn't have to. That was a really big bonus. This trip was stress-free, and we arrived home more relaxed than we have ever been after a trip. Thanks for the fine vacation."
"I wanted to thank you for making our first trip to Costa Rica such a memorable one. Between the eyelash viper, the poison dart frogs, the army ants, the fer-de lances, and, oh yes, the birds, I feel as though our trip could not have been more rewarding. Thanks for showing us such a great time. Your demeanor and knowledge of the natural history of the fauna and flora were superb. I feel like I learned more in two weeks with you than I would have learned in a semester in school. You really are impressive!"
"You may have guessed that I had some misgivings about using a guide. No, to be more precise, I had misgivings about spending ten days with a stranger. The anti-social part of my personality kept warning me that this experiment was doomed to fail. How could some guy we never met fit into the relationship that has taken my sister and me almost fifty years to develop? . . . Well, in my humble opinion, it worked amazingly well. I remembering whispering to Ann at one point something to the effect that even if you didn't know a damn thing about birds and where to find them, you seemed to instinctually know something almost as important, that is, when to talk and when not to. In other words, you could somehow sense when we needed and wanted information and also when we preferred to figure things out on our own. That in itself would have been enough to call our trip a success. So I consider everything else to be a bonus, including: your seemingly endless knowledge of birds, their habits, their habitats, and their vocalizations; your vast knowledge of almost every other type of fauna and flora that we encountered; your ability to discuss current events, politics, Costa Rican history, geography and geology; and your knack for telling some pretty good stories. All of it combined to make for an extremely informative and enjoyable time."
"All the people loved their experience in Costa Rica with you. Those who have traveled with me before said it was about the best trip we've done. The Bakers and Nancy have been several places with me. It was great co-leading with you again. Of course, I had a wonderful time."
"We cannot thank you enough for making our trip to Costa Rica so very special. It is a beautiful country filled with courteous and hospitable people. And, the birds...well, they were just plain awesome. You are a wealth of knowledge and we thank you for sharing so much of it with us. I was absolutely serious when I said that this trip is amongst the best trips we've ever taken. One of the best parts of the whole trip is that we had so much fun. I will never remember all of the 360 birds we saw or heard, but I will never forget the camaraderie we shared.
"All the way home, we kept talking about our next trip to Costa Rica, so you haven't seen the last of this group!
"Good job, Richard. And, thank you again for everything."
"When my Dad and I were pulling out of San Jose to go home I saw a Gray-breasted Martin flying around the airport, which brought our trip total for the week to 364 species. Thank you again for such a fantastic trip. You are great at what you do, in fact I have already recommended you to two people I know will be heading south in your direction."
"I'm still getting over the delerium of what I saw, heard, and otherwise experienced the last 10 days, and figure it'll be a long time before the routines of everyday life become foremost in my thoughts. It was a flawless trip, and one that exceeded my expectations in every aspect. Many thanks for your superlative guidance."
"Betty and I want to thank you once again for being such an excellent bird guide/driver/host/friend. You certainly exceeded our expectations, and that is seldom if ever done anymore. I hope we can keep our lines of communication flowing too. There are a lot of fascinating birding trips left to be taken, and you've pretty much hooked the two of us on the diversity and abundance of tropical species."
"I had a tremendous amount of fun in March and I'd really like to do it again. You were a fantastic guide."
"I still haven't done an official tally for our trip, but it is very close to 362 in nine days a year ago in July. One thing I have done is to mention (most favorably) you and your website and abilities to all who even might be interested in going to Costa Rica. I have nothing but wonderful memories that will last a lifetime, and if I'm lucky, will see you again one day."
"What an experience! I hope you are aware of how much you are doing to enhance the quality of life of many senior citizens. I truly appreciate your vast knowledge, not only of birds, but in many other areas as well. I'm grateful for your patience, your sense of humor, and the fact that you encouraged us to think for ourselves.
"As we climbed out of San Jose above the rain forest, I looked down and saw a Quetzal looking up and laughing, "Aha, I saw you, but you didn't see me!"
"Thank you again, and I hope our paths will cross again someday."
"Ari and I had a terrific time in Costa Rica, and we agree that much of it is due to you. Your guiding is great, plus you're just a neat person to be around. Ari thinks that either you were really interested in the bryophyte stuff (tickling him to no end), or else were kind enough and good enough to seem so convincing." [I really was interested, no kidding.]
- Susan and Ari Kornfeld Visit Susan and Ari's web site: Perspective
"The following is a systematic list for 327 species seen or heard in 6 1/2 days of birding by myself and Alan Ziegler, and our guide Richard Garrigues. I would like to thank Richard not only for his expert knowledge of the Costa Rican avifauna and seamless handling of the logistics of the trip, but for his good company as well. I would not hesitate to recommend him as a guide for anyone travelling to this country." (from the trip report)
"First of all thanks for the great birding (264 species in 5 days) and the great places encountered. Have never had a more motivated guide, much less one that is able to identify birds quickly and accurately. Great optics and the tape recorder was great. Truly a top guide!!!!!!!"
"I just want to thank you for making our last day in Costa Rica so wonderful. Given our contraints - leaving at 9AM and getting back at 4PM - I thought that we had a terrific time. We ended up seeing 32 new species, not bad considering, and that wasn't counting things like the Emerald Tanager that just flew by. I really liked the opportunity to study the birds for such a long while.
"I was particularly pleased that our [outing] was easy physically on Carole, yet gave her plenty of opportunity to see just as much as we did. I will not hesitate to recommend your services and feel free to use me as a reference for those who care to inquire."
"I really enjoyed the birding. Total for the 4 outings I did was 196 species, including 50 life birds and 65 Costa Rican life birds. Not too bad. See you later. "
"Thanks for the enlightening and enriching tour of your very lovely country and the furthering of my education and hobby in the discovery of the bird of the neotropics."
"Thank you for your guiding at Costa Rica. I was enjoying birding with you."
- Koji Tagi [Koji is one of Japan's most accomplished birders. Click there ® Å to visit his web site ]
"Thanks for yoeman service on an excellent trip. I'm looking forward to spending some time tonight reviewing all the great things we saw. Its hard to imagine that we did all that in 2 weeks!"
"It was a wonderful trip and we thank you for all your contributions to making it so - we learned so much and had such a good time doing it!"
"We really feel fortunate to have had your guidance and to have benefitted from your years of ecological experience in CR."
"Thanks again, Richard. We enjoyed all the birds and the extra steps you took to make it a wonderful experience."
- Judith Sullivan and Jerry LeTendre
"Thanks for a great CR trip. It was a great success."
- Annmarie Housley of Full Circle Tours
"I thought I'd take this opportunity to tell you that you really made the trip for us. Thank you."
"This was a great trip and I enjoyed your company."
"I have run many birding trips to Costa Rica and when my partner could not make two of them he recommended Richard Garrigues. Richard exhibited not only a fantastic knowledge about the birds but was able easily to adjust to the varying levels of abilities among my group members. He was also most diplomatic and effective in handling some group dynamics problems. I would have no hesitation in employing him again."
- Joe Crichton of Wild Bird Tours
"We think often of our great trip and it did get great reviews among our friends."