Elissa M. Landre, Director - Mass Audubon's - Broadmoor Wildlife Sanctuary
Mary, Carla and Karen,

You were all a great organizing and support team for the Mass Audubon Peru trip last month.

Our operations manager, Mary, earned special thanks when a schedule transportation strike threatened to keep us from getting to Machu Picchu. I don’t know how she managed to get us on flights from Boca Manu, on a late train from a distant station, to Machu Picchu the evening before the strike, and into hotel rooms. Everything had to be rescheduled and she did this smoothly and so the travelers hardly knew there was a problem.

Manu Expeditions, and especially their operations manager, as real professionals. Travel in Peru is not easy or predictable, and knowing she was keeping track and making things work out allowed Renzo and me to focus on nature and not worry about logistics.
A huge Thank You!

Anita Ericson - Sweden
I have now been at home a week after the birding tour in Peru. I just want to tell you that I am very, very satified with the trip! Fabrice was an excellent guide who worked very hard to try to show us all the birds. Before the trip I filled in the form what birds I wanted to see during the trip. I wrote antpittas, antthrushes and trumpeters. And I managed to see no less than FIVE species of antpittas, three antthrushes and a group of five trumpeters in the last minute. I think that is fabulous Please send my warmest regards to Fabrice!

Kevin and Janie Vaughan
Just a quick note to say how much we enjoyed our trips in Peru and Chile. Found Silverio a great guide and had a great trip with him. Your support guys on the Birdquest trip were a good team and certainly added to the enjoyment of the trip and we had a most enjoyable visit with the guys you organised for us in Chile. Appreciated the fact that the vehicles had seatbelts for the passengers.

Alistair McGiven - United Kingdom
Just wanted to let you know that I had a really fantastic trip with Renzo. We saw over 340 species in 7 days including all the main target species - Plantcutter, White-Winged Guan, Marvellous Spatulatail, both Crescentchests, Little Inca-Finch etc. Renzo was really nice company and a top class birder. His knowledge of birdsong was invaluable, particularly for the flycatchers. I enjoyed travelling with him.

Ron Jensen - Canada
I want to say thank you very much for a wonderful birding experience, your enthusiasm and seemingly endless energy for finding those hard to see species. I hope to have the opportunity to participate in another birding trip which you are involved. I would like to hear of your trips with potential for others to join.

Richard Goldman
We been back from our trip with Fabrice for a few days and I wanted to give you some feedback. First, Fabrice was an exceptional guide, one of the best that we've encountered in many years of travel. We appreciated and were impressed by his depth of knowledge and enthusiasm, not just about birds but also about other creatures, plants and the whole ecosystem. He made sure that we were well taken care of everywhere that we stayed. And he was just great fun to travel with. We'll look forward to being with him again some day. My wife and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. It felt like a great adventure and I was able to come up with some great photo images. The food and accommodations were for the most part better than we had expected.

Derek and David Sparkes - UK
My brother and I have just returned from a month's birdwatching on two of your Peruvian tours with Huw Lloyd as our guide. Other than two small issues (see later) the experience was marvellous and the organisation superb. Huw was an unbelievably talented birder and the driver, cook and boatmen were excellent. We saw cartloads of birds and had a great time.

Maria Rodríguez - USA
Just a note to let you know that I had a fantastic time on the Cloud Forest birding trip in SE Peru. Silverio is a brilliant guide and did his utmost to make sure that each of us had a chance to see the birds. Aside from his excellent birding skills.

Moody family - USA
2. We had a wonderful trip and Renzo was a fabulous guide, really funny (something we definitely prize), incredibly knowledgeable, and just a fine person we can now call friend. We haven’t had time to update our life list yet, but I’m estimating we saw at least 275 lifers and most we really got to observe. Renzo had a wealth of information to share and is so good at finding the birds

Maureen and Riley Atkins - USA
We want to acknowledge the guides, Huw, Silverio, and Percy. Each reflects the high professional standards we expected from Manu Expeditions. What was an added bonus was the personal touch each contributed to make our trip enjoyable and a success. Huw’s discussions about his efforts to protect polylepis forests throughout the Andes was encouraging. Our dinner conversations with Silverio about his leadership to develop his community’s ecotourism business were revealing about what is happening in Amazonia

Bill Porteous - Panama
Saw some excellent birds, and I saw them all superbly well, and I was really well looked after. Renzo is a first class guide, as you know, and Aurelio a first class cook, providing something different and really tasty at every meal. I understand that Emiliano is a relatively new employee, so I need to tell you that he is a real marvel. He took that little bus through some seriously bad stretches of road calmly and in perfect safety, and he never put a foot wrong during the whole trip. Great stuff!

Joe Crighton - Canada
Had to pass along our heartfelt thanks to you and your organization. Things went perfectly. Lynda and I were so impressed with all your people. Especially Mary and Marco. Mary guided us through your operation. She was friendly, gracious and professional. We were impressed and look forward to seeing her again. A couple of more people to praise were Jesus on the river but especially Rudy our bus driver on the Manu Road.

Riley Atkins - USA
We also want to acknowledge the guides, Huw, Silverio, and Percy. Each reflects the high professional standards we expected from Manu Expeditions. What was an added bonus was the personal touch each contributed to make our trip enjoyable and a success. Huw’s discussions about his efforts to protect polylepis forests throughout the Andes was encouraging. Our dinner conversations with Silverio about his leadership to develop his community’s ecotourism business were revealing about what is happening in Amazonia. And Percy’s extra efforts on a hot day to ensure we saw all the birds at Huecarpay Lake was appreciated.

Guy Moody - USA
We had a wonderful trip and Renzo was a fabulous guide, really funny (something we definitely prize), incredibly knowledgeable, and just a fine person we can now call friend. We haven’t had time to update our life list yet, but I’m estimating we saw at least 275 lifers and most we really got to observe. Renzo had a wealth of information to share and is so good at finding the birds. We also loved our morning with Wilma at Machu Picchu. She, too, shared a wealth of information with us. I can’t say enough about the quality of the service we received from our drivers, the boat service, staff at the lodges, and of course, Renzo.

Kathleen Houghton - USA
We have just returned from Peru and a perfect birding trip to the Manu area. Everything went smoothly, thanks to your excellent planning and the skilled drivers and guide. Huw is a talented, good-humored guide who kindly adjusted the tour to our limited birding experience.

Jill Klein - USA
My husband and I and two other couple just returned from a three week birding expedition in Peru with your organization. I wanted to let you know that we thoroughly enjoyed our trip, but it would not have been as wonderful if not for our guide, Eustace Barnes. His unique take on everything, from geography, all things natural and life in general was savored by all. His able leadership and ability to navigate everything from mountain passes to Rain Forest Trails was extraordinary and I, for one, always felt safe and informed. Regarding the birding aspect of the trip, he surpassed our expectations, charmed us with his expertise in spotting and calling birds and kept us itching for more.

Charlotte and Marchal Fuller - USA
Dear Barry, This e-mail should have been written last fall. I believe that I have the names right: Donato was our cook and Americo was our driver on a trip with Eustace into NW Peru last September. Both Marchal and I want you to know how outstanding these two are. They were helpful above and beyond and always pleasant.Each did his job professionally and with excellence. This added enormously to our sense of security and pleasure. The trip was a huge success, and both of these men played a significant part in it. Many thanks to all three of you.

Gary Graham - National Audubon - USA
Thanks again for an incredible experience on our Audubon Nature Odyssey trip to Manu and Machu Picchu! The Renzo/Silverio team provided the best birding and nature experience that anyone could possibly hope for. The combination of your birding expertise, unparalleled in my view, and people skills provided our group with exceptional birdwatching in a very user-friendly manner where all our participants excelled. Silverio’s quiet confidence, “eagle eyes”, and natural ease with people impressed all of us in meaningful way. Everyone really enjoyed the total trip summarized by one of our participants who has birded around the world with many of the famous birding leaders who stated that you guys were the best birding guides she had ever experienced.

John Rothman
I just got back from the Northern Peru trip led by Huw. I wanted to report how much I enjoyed th trip. Huw was excellent with the birds as well as with the group.

Jean and Roger Staples - UK
Just a few lines to thank you for a great 4 week tour. We had high expectations of this trip, both in terms of birding, and the experience as a whole. We were not disappointed. Renzo's birding skills were exceeded only by his personal charm, and Silverio's ability to find stationary birds in dense understory was remarkable. Their patience and help enabled us to see and identify birds which would otherwise have been well beyond our knowledge and skills. Also remarkable was the fact that the whole tour went through with hardly a hitch. Given the circumstances and the terrain, this was no mean achievement. I am very glad, that I opted to go with Manu Expeditions. Thank you very much indeed, for what was, for us, a fabulous birding experience.

Simon Peile - South Africa
The trip went very well and Huw deserves a lot of credit for that. Having myself led trips around Peru and other South American countries in the past I know the complexities involved. To have someone like Huw who can combine his significant knowledge of the birds and their calls with the patience to guide a group of bird tourists, while also being able to manage the logistics and the group dynamics is, I am sure, rare.

Kraig Kemper
Barry - Kathy and I wanted to thank all of you for a great October trip to Tumbes and Northern Peru. Besides great birds (Lemon-rumped Tanager, Marvelous Spatuletail Plain-tailed Warbling Finch,etc), interesting habitats (the Manglares de Tumbes, the Tumbes Reserve Area)and spectacular landscapes (view of the Maranon from Abra Barra Negro), the trip was made even more special by your staff.  Guillermo, Hilmar, Ramiro, Raul, and Fortunato were wonderful; they were always courteous, helpful and supportive in addition to providing great food and excellent driving.  Having had my own business now for 25 years, I know I am only as good as the staff representing me and you are fortunate to have such staff!

Nick Blackwood - UK
Renzo was simply marvelous. The most attentive, unfailingly courteous, unendingly patient, enthusiastic, amusing and professional guide it has been my privilege to bird with and his knowledge of the birds and their calls, wildlife in general and the bush was simply astonishing.

Tim Fitzpatrick
I wanted to let you know that Mary and the supporting cast did a great job with my recent Manu birding trip. Both Huw and Renzo were excellent both with the birds and the participants.

Lynn Lakso - USA
Dear Friends at Manu Expeditions,
Thank you for making a dream come true. My trip to the Mountains of Manu was truly extraordinary. Renzo Zeppilli is the best birding guide I have met. In addition he is a very competent and caring person. He answered my many questions about birds, ecologyy, Peruvian history, and farming practices knowledgeably and cheerfully. As the slowest birder in the group, I truly appeciate his extra efforts to insure I saw every bird possible.

Nick Blackwood - UK
What a wonderful three weeks - thank you. Exciting, exhausting, enthralling,
overwhelming, hot, wet, bright, biting, glorious, inspiring, imposing ....
You´ll have heard it all before. Renzo was simply marvellous. The most attentive, unfailingly courteous, unendingly patient, enthusiastic, amusing and professional guide it has been my privilege to bird with. And his knowledge of the birds and their calls, wildlife in general and the bush was simply astonishing. The whole trip was carried off so efficiently - not a single hitch in three weeks. Anyway I wish you and the whole of your group a very happy Christmas and successfulnew year. This is not the last you have heard of me.

Richard Hughes - Burbank CA, USA
You ( Huw Lloyd) are a real "class act". Of course, it goes without saying, that your birding expertize, and your skills as a guide are simply superb. But your skills with people go far beyond that. From the very beginning, it was apparent to me that you sized up each person in the group, and somehow tried to deliver their expections. You certainly managed to deliver mine.

David Speiser - USA
I did want to thank you for a great trip. Overall, we had a great time and the birds certainly did not disappoint. In Peru, including my day on the coast I saw or heard over 600 species. I will highly recommend your services and hope to return to the Northern part of Peru in the near future.

Chris Goodie - UK
Just a mailette to send you a belated but nonetheless huge THANK-YOU to you and your team for organising our recent 'Gooddie-and-friends' Rosenberg-extravaganza trip so flawlessly. The logistics are pretty complicated relative to other trips I've done, and everything was done with a seamless attention to detail; your field and backroom staff are a credit to Manu Expeditions to a man/woman. Having spent so long planning the damn thing our expectations were pretty high, but the reality exceeded even our lofty imaginings.

Melissa Banthorpe - UK
We had a brilliant time in Peru and have only praise for the way in which it all went. Renzo was a superb guide as well as being someone we really got on with well.

Joan Renninger
Our guides were superb Huw was particularly adept in his verbal descriptions of bird locations - I could find the birds easily by following his directions.

Ann and Dick Walker
Please keep us informed of any birding trips in the future. We would really enjoy another birding trip with you.

Ramsay Koury
The bird guides were excellent and did there best to show us as many birds as possible. The birding was good to excellent

Cindy Williams
The guide was exceptional in all aspects, especially on finding and identifying birds and took great care of us

Phyllis Wilburn
The logistics of the trip were incredible and Manu Expeditions should be commended for putting it all together. The people and services at the lodges were fantastic and the food unbelievable. All in all I saw 270 new species of birds.

Adam Winer
I was also on the Northern Peru Birding tour your company organized and I need to say I was blown away by the quality of the ground crew supplied for us, as was everyone else in our group. They went far above and beyond the call of duty.

Keith Dawson
I was impressed by the ability of the guides to find and show us the special and rare endemic birds on the North Peru tour - excellent job. Your guides certainly are great birders.

George Kinter - USA
A short note to say that the Manu trip exceeded my expectations, birdwise (despite my declining abilities), mammalwise (highlighted, as you probably know, by a long and close view of a handsome male jaguar lounging on a riverbank), and peoplewise (from Renzo Zeppilli, who had incredible knowledge not only of birds, their habits and calls, but also many other aspects of the rainforest, to everyone else from Manu Expedicions who worked so hard to make our trip the success it was). My thanks go to all involved.