Natural History Walk in the Cloud Forest in Monteverde

Jonathan was an amazing guide. We were two families with three small children and he was so kind and patient with all of us. He was very passionate about conservation and knowledgeable about the forest as he grew up there. We certainly wouldn’t have seen the wildlife we saw without having a guide and we all enjoyed learning from him

My wife and I had an amazing tour of the cloud forest, and we couldn't have asked for a better guide than Jonathan. He was incredibly friendly, patient, and his knowledge of the area is second to none. His wealth of interesting facts kept us fully engaged throughout the entire walk. We would definitely recommend Jonathan to anyone looking for an insightful and memorable tour!

Amazing experience with Jonathan. He is a well rounded biologist who is an amazing birder and naturalist. He does such a great job of explaining, and connecting the ecological systems. We couldn’t ask for a better experience!

Everything was perfect! Jonathan has a huge knowledge of all plants and animals and spent a lot of time with us to get the best view of all animals around. Would recommend him and his tour to everyone.

Jonathan was our guide in late January 2025. My wife and I were traveling with my parents and we were all super excited to visit this unique biotope. If you're on the fence about going, I would say get with it, like now. This biotope is quickly shrinking and disappearing due to climate change and lower overall precipitation. Apparently the science says if rain patterns don't improve soon, the cloud forest biotope will be majority no longer cloud forest within ~20 years.... boo! The tourist section of the preserve is only about ~2% of the total protected area, but only scientists can go off path and into the thicket. Even then, Jonathan said there are still some areas in the forest that no modern man has been in for decades. That is awesome! Anyways we could not have had a better guide for the time we had in the park. Suggest you get to the site early as parking is at a premium and only those of us on site early AM got close parking. Others were having to schlep it up the steep hill in the muggy conditions or wait for the bus. We saw the usual monkeys and sloths, and apparently at least (2) very rare birds, names unknown I'm not a "bird guy", ... at least that is what all the guys with $10K camera lenses were telling us as we looked at the birds. You're not always guaranteed rare animal sightings, but on our tour date Jonathan was the guide getting to all the "cool" animals before the other guides. We even saw a real life parasitic Cordyceps fungus - neat! To sum it all up - our entire family was very pleased with the time and effort Jonathan gave to us as our tour guide. His communication skills and English were excellent. He was also very accommodating and knowledgeable of the park and it biodiversity. My wife and I said we would 100% hire him out again when we come back in a couple years. Jonathan's online listings may be new, but he is not a new guide. He reported to have 20+ years experience guiding in the area and I think that experience showed both in his ability to spot flora/fauna, but also to answer all of my seemingly endless and semi-complex questions about the system, its components, current research in the park, and future outlooks for humans and flora/fauna of the area. Extremely fun and enlightening conversation was had by all. PS. - Thank you again Jonathan for fixing our mistake with the entry tickets early in the AM (our families mistake) - Jonathan was quick to offer help and get us squared away and on to our tour in a timely manner. He even borrowed a fellow tour guides motorbike to ride down the hill and buy all of our tickets in the short line for tour guides only. Very appreciative for the help, ¡Salud! & Pura Vida.

Our guide, Jonathan, was excellent! We were interested in not only the flora and fauna of the forest but information about the culture, history, and people of this area and Costa Rica in general, and he was very willing to share information and knowledge. He pointed out many species that we had not yet seen during our trip and we were excited to see a resplendent quetzal! We appreciated his attentiveness and willingness to answer so many of our questions. He was truly a pleasant person to spend our morning with in Monteverde. We highly recommend him as your guide!