Steve and Joy Urban
Florida, USA
We highly recommend Ramiro as a birding guide. On our first trip with him, he led our custom itinerary tour for four to Manu in Peru. The trip has been a highlight of our birding lives. Having experienced his expertise and enthusiasm in Peru, we did a second custom trip for 3 to Noel Kempff in Bolivia. Ramiro is a client-focused guide who makes your wants and needs his number one priority. He knows the areas he birds well and is successful at finding highly sought after species and more.
Janet Margaret Castle
Ottawa, Canada
I have been so lucky to have met Ramiro and enjoyed his leadership for six tours in Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador. Before I met Ramiro, I was researching birding guides in Peru and was looking for specific families. Of Ramiro it was said «if anyone can find that bird in Peru it will be Ramiro Yabar» The bird was the Sharpbill and Ramiro did find it on our very first trip. I have had incredible experiences birding with Ramiro ever since. Ramiro is a passionate, determined birder. He has devoted his life to sharing his vast knowledge with others. He is courteous and patient, making sure that his clients see the birds they came to find. Best of all, Ramiro is tireless and does not know the meaning of the word «quit». I highly recommend Ramiro for personal tours or for group tours. I have travelled widely on a lot of tours and can safely say that Ramiro ranks among the best of leaders.
Rigdon Currie
California, U.S.A.
Ramiro Yabar is an excellent bird guide capable of organizing all aspects of a birding/nature trip in the neo-tropics. He has guided me and friends on three custom trips to Costa Rica, Southern and Northern Peru. He selects excellent lodges, is friends with the locals, knows the birding spots, what birds are likely there and all of the birds. I recall with great pleasure when we had just about struck out on the Diademed Sandpiper-Plover in the Peruvian highlands that Ramiro struck up a conversation with another birder who had seen the bird recently and led us to it. Even though an intense and serious guide, Ramiro is a genuinely nice person with broad interests and a great pleasure to be with.
Rigdon Currie
Carlsbad, CA. USA
Bart B. Brown
Texas, U.S.A.
Ramiro is an excellent ornithologist and bird guide. He was recommended to me by Costa Rica Gateway when I determined I should bird Peru. Besides the hundreds of species we have seen together on my many excursions with him it is his quality as one of the finest people I have ever known that rates him highest in my regard. Here is my story.
I travel alone to seek new birds and birding experiences. On my first birding trip to Peru the Manu River flooded and closed the roads back to Lima. We left immediately but were halted by mudslides and had to hike out. Ramiro abandoned his car to get me to the area where he could arrange transportation for me to return to the highway and where he had his family come take me to the Cusco airport. Very few would take care of a client as Ramiro took care of me.
I have returned to Peru many times to bird with Ramiro.
Bart B. Brown
Dallas, Texas 75205
Tim Walsh
U.S.A.
My wife and I have taken two private tours with Ramiro – The Northern Andes Route and the Manu Biosphere and the Manu Road – both 3 week tours for groups of 8 & 6 persons into stunning scenery and outstanding birding – over 1,100 species, including many endemics, for the two tours. I wanted a Peruvian birding guide with knowledge of the routes, the species, and locations. Ramiro was always easy to reach and responsive as we worked through details of the tours. I never had any doubt our birding adventures would be trips of a lifetime. Ramiro knows the birds and has a personal rapport with the local guides. He is fun to travel with, the tour drivers are terrific, both know the land, and you will be provided an up to date checklist. Ramiro’s tours will not disappoint and most likely will exceed what you think a birding tour can be. I plan on a tour with Ramiro of western Amazonia near Iquitos for our next Peruvian birding adventure.
Lynn and John
Canada
We first met Ramiro in Costa Rica in 1999 and when we decided to visit Peru we contacted him via email. We travelled twice with Ramiro and his drivers Justo and Baldo. During the first trip in 2009, we visited Lima and area, Manchu Picchu, and the Madre de Dios area. For the second trip in 2011, we visited Trujillo, then drove into the upper Amazon visiting Tarapoto and from there we drove north into Ecuador with a final stop at Tapichalaca Lodge. Obviously there were many other stops along the way during both trips. We thoroughly enjoyed Ramiro with his extensive knowledge and his ability to find birds and other wildlife. We were always amazed by Justo and Baldo as not only were they excellent driver’s, they had an amazing ability to produce a great meal in the middle of nowhere! During our travels in Central and South America, we have had the services of numerous guides but Ramiro stands out as one of the best! He has excellent people skills and not only did we see a lot of birds, we learned about the history and culture of Peru.
Mary Boulanger
U.S.A.
I have been on five trips with Ramiro Yabar: three exclusively in Peru, one to southern Ecuador and northern Peru, and one to Bolivia. He is an amazing guide who has shown me somewhere around 1300 birds in Peru. He has all the attributes you want in a guide and then some. For example, he has only to see a bird once and he remembers it forever. He will even remember when and where you saw that Lanceolated Monklet. He remembers the songs and calls as well and habits and habitats, too.
Also, Ramiro is extremely patient if you are having trouble seeing a bird. However, he can be really fast when you need fast! On a fine day on the Manu Road, I yelled descriptions of birds at him and he came right back with an ID. It was a fast and furious flock. For the slower times, Ramiro patiently calls and looks for the target birds you want. He even gets you out of your sick bed by saying, “Mary, you must get up and come with us. You need these birds!!” Of course, I got up and saw the birds. In addition, he will take you out during siesta time if he sees some activity that means a flock is right there.
Obviously, I could go on and on. Personally, I prefer a local guide. The experience of being with a Peruvian in Peru makes the whole trip have a deeper context. I have brought along friends who have birded all over the world for many years, and they think Ramiro is excellent, too.
Mary Boulanger/Littleton, NH/May 6, 2018
Chuck Probst
Maui, Hawaii
I have had the pleasure and privilege of birding with Ramiro on 2 extended trips in Peru and Southern Ecuador. Our trips were all seamless logistically and did he find the birds! He knew all the expected sites for the specific species but many times we’d be driving and a faint call from the roadside would alert him and we’d stop and sure enough he’d find a sought for skulker. In addition he’s a pleasure with whom to travel with a great sense of humor and an interesting conversationalist. I look forward to further birding with him.
Real Bisson
Quebec, Canada.
Excellent voyage d’ornitho en compagnie de notre guide Ramiro à l’automne 2015. Notre guide s’est occupé de tous les aspects logistiques en plus de nous montrer la majorité des espèces endémiques présentes dans le nord du Pérou. C’était très agréable de discuter avec Ramiro, un gars du pays.
Carolle Mathieu
Gatineau, Canada
We made all arrangements by email with Ramiro in order to explore Northern Peru in quest of endemic and regional specialities. Our guide demonstrated a great knowledge of birds and birding sites. Transportation and accommodation for 8 people were suitable and comfortable. Thanks to Ramiro for that enjoyable learning experience to the nature and culture of Peru.
Nick Burfield
United Kingdom
“Ramiro put together a customised trip for my wife and I. He arranged everything down to the last detail and in every respect the trip went according to plan and was a huge success. We saw 625 bird species in just 18 days as well as some excellent mammals and reptiles and stayed in some stunning locations. Ramiro worked extremely hard every day to find us the target species we had identified but also made sure we had time to enjoy some very special moments. He is also great company and we really enjoyed our time together. I have birded many locations with lots of travel companies and individual guides in Europe, Africa, Asia and South America and I can honestly say the trip with Ramiro was the best of my life.”
Clyde Morris and Joelle Buffa
Arizona USA
We highly recommend Ramiro as a bird guide. We took two trips around Peru with him. The 2013 tour was 17-day trip in Northern Peru, and we enjoyed it so much we went back again for another private 20-day tour of Southern Peru in 2014. He showed us 841 species on these trips. We would like to go with him again, perhaps to other countries.
He took us birding along the coast, Chaparri, Tarapoto, Abra Patricia, both sides of the Andes, Manu Road, Amazonia Lodge where he grew up, Manu Wildlife Center and many other sites.
Ramiro is easy to work with in arranging an itinerary based on his vast experience and knowledge of his country and our interests/target species. He is very responsive during the planning phase, and attentive in all phases.
It was a pleasure traveling with him. He is easy to spend time with and willing to share both his country’s history and his experiences growing up there. He is an example of why it is always best to go with an in-country guide: his experience and knowledge shine throughout the trip.
He knows his birds. He knows their calls, distribution, where best to go to get the targets and endemics. His birding skills are amazing.
His logistics and contingency planning are equally amazing. We always stayed in comfortable lodges or small boutique hotels, close to birding spots with excellent food. During our Northern Peru trip a landslide closed the road between Lemaybamba and our intended next birding destination of Celendín – a birding hotspot with many of our targets. Other birding tour groups we met chose to drop Celendín from their itinerary. Not Ramiro! He and the driver came up with “Plan B”, taking a much longer and less direct route (stopping on the way to pick up tamales made special for us by the driver’s family!) so that we could bird every area promised.
During our Southern Peru trip, we had a family health emergency back in the USA. We needed to make a number of phone calls to assist our elderly relative even though we were on the remote Manu Road and on the Rio de Madre River. Ramiro worked miracles finding the rare locations where our cell phone would work and when that wasn’t possible, he found a satellite phone for us to use. Though we ended up not needing to return prematurely to the States, he had made contingency plans to get us out using his local contacts and vast knowledge of the area while continuing to guide the rest of our group as schedled. We are forever grateful.
Terry and Marci Fuller
U.S.A
Ramiro is an excellent guide and wonderful person. He is a skilled birder and also fun to travel with. He is professional and personable. He will prioritize getting the birds you need.
He has boundless energy for birding. The image of him stopping, pointing, and softly calling out «motion» is a fond memory from our two trips to Peru with him.
Flamingos in icy winds at 16,000 feet, hummingbirds from the porch of his families Amazonia Lodge, hiking up a valley at 14,000 feet to bypass the blocked road, and stalking elusive antpittas are all cherished memories because of his extra effort.
Easily the preferred Peruvian guide.
Sam and Andy Courcelles
Winnipeg, Canada
We traveled to Peru in November of 2016. We were a group of five, three of whom are keen birders, and one of our goals was a trip into the Manu National Park. When I started the process of finding a guide, Ramiro’s name and fame came up repeatedly, and I contacted him. His response was prompt, and from that very first email he kept in touch answering my numerous questions with calm reassurance. It became a comfortable decision to go with him, and we are all very happy we did.
We left from Cusco, birding along the Manu Road down to the Madre de Dios river and, from there, to the Amaziona Lodge. What a thrilling adventure that drive, with the invincible Justo at the wheel, was. I loved it all.
Ramiro knows his birds, and our birders were pleased with the many species he found for them. He is a wonderful guide; his knowledge of area we explored and its diverse species is admirable. And, just as importantly, he is an easy companion, a good man to travel with. Our nine days with Ramiro remain the highlight of our month long stay in Peru, and we’d do it again in a heartbeat.
Eric Decker
U.S.A
I have been traveling the world and birding for most of the past 20+ years.over those years I have traveled with many of the best known birding tour companies. Ramiro organized and led two separate tours that I was on to Peru including Lima to the Madre de Dios and the legendary Manu Road down into Amazonia and a comprehensive tour of Northern Peru. Both of these tours were outstanding and rank among the best I have ever been on. Ramiro is an excellent guide and person with a clear love for his native Peru and its astonishing bird life.
Jeff Marks, Oregon and Montana
U.S.A
Beginning in July 2018, I’ve spent more than 6 weeks in the field with Ramiro looking at birds. The first trip was a small private tour to the highlands of central Peru, which went so well that I contracted with Ramiro to lead a two-week tour to the same area for my nonprofit the following year. That trip went so well (we saw 46 endemics out of a possible 52 given our itinerary!) that I invited Ramiro to join one of my birding tours in Senegal, which he did in January 2020. I have two more trips to Peru fully booked with Ramiro in 2020 and 2021 and hope to work with him for many years to come.
I no longer think of Ramiro as my “local guide in Peru.” Rather, I think of him as my trusted friend with whom I happen to work from time to time. I simply cannot say enough good things about this man. He is highly knowledgeable about the avifauna of Peru (and of other adjacent countries), knows how to find good birds and get his clients great views of them, and is extremely well organized in planning itineraries and making bookings in very nice lodgings. In addition, his drivers are highly skilled, safe, and personable, and in one case, with Julio Benites, are also gourmet cooks and professional mechanics!
Last, Ramiro is genuinely a very pleasant and thoughtful human being. He is always calm, polite, professional, and helpful. Too, he has a great sense of humor and of humility. I have enjoyed every moment I have spent with him in the field, and I sincerely hope I will spend many weeks afield with him in the coming years.
Jeff Marks, PhD
Executive Director
Montana Bird Advocacy