Mindo Cloud Forest Day Tours - PRIVATE - Richard Hernandez

We had a wonderful trip to Mindo with Richard. He is a professional guide who truly knows his stuff and was attentive to all our wishes. The Mindo cloud forests are a must-visit for anyone traveling to Ecuador; I would recommend spending at least one night there so you can hear the birds singing in the quiet of the forest in the morning. There are plenty of opportunities for outdoor activities and trekking. We especially loved the hummingbird farm—it’s an experience our children will remember for the rest of their lives!

Richard was incredibly helpful, informative, and clearly passionate about what he does (especially about birds and indigenous people) He also listened to what we wanted to see and made sure to take us to the places we were most interested in. Highly recommend!

We spent ten hours with Richard on our trip to Mindo. He asked us what we wanted to do and that’s exactly what we did. We took a short hike to visit a waterfall and saw hummingbirds, butterflies, orchids, and really interesting plants. We went to a butterfly garden where you were allowed to let the butterflies sit on your fingers. We visited a hummingbird reserved where you can feed them from your hand. And, we visited a chocolate factory where we tasted fifteen different varieties. It was a fantastic day with a fun, intelligent, professional, safe, and well-informed guide. Your time with Richard will be well spent.

I booked 2 trips with Richard, traveling with a friend. The first was to see the Inti Raymi festival around Otavalo, and the second to see a combination of archeological and wildlife sites around Mindo. I'll start by describing the content of each tour. Before the Inti Raymi festival, Richard sent me a brief itinerary which included many of the components of the festival, such as the ritual bathing and Warmi Puncha, but described them as happening over 2 days, rather than what actually happens which is over a week. This is something I would have expected him to check/know ahead of time, and meant that we did not actually see all the things we had hoped to. For the archeological and wildlife tour, I should explain that this operates differently in Ecuador than other areas I have been to. In particular, around Mindo there are many small private reserves, where the owners allow access for payment and often have feeding stations for birds, with hides or chairs to give close access. The experience is very different to being in a national park for example and having to find birds and animals in a really 'wild' situation. Almost all of the activities I did as part of the tour (archeological sites, chocolate tour, night walk, butterfly garden etc) had their own guides, and in most cases Richard did not actually attend, let alone provide guiding assistance. If I had known this in advance, I definitely would not have booked Richard, paying for what I expected was a high degree of wildlife expertise. It would have been much cheaper and more enjoyable to just book a driver to take us to the different sites. There is no doubt that Richard is an experienced birder. However the only time we actually got to see this expertise is when he found a family of 4 toucans, which we were able to see in the extreme distance through a scope. As soon as we saw these, he considered the task finished drove us back. I now want to say something about how it felt doing a tour with Richard. If you are considering booking, I highly recommend you read all the one star reviews. Their experiences where very similar to mine. When done well, guides can give you insights, share their knowledge and enthusiasms, and allow you to see much more than you ever would by yourself. I certainly had this experience with other wildlife guides in Ecuador. However, that was not my experience with Richard, and often I felt trapped, almost like a hostage in the car, during his stream of consciousness rambling and intrusive personal questions. In many ways I regret not cancelling the 2nd tour with him, and only did not do so because he made it clear he would not repay the 50% deposit I had paid, which was quite expensive. Some examples: he talked a great deal about himself, including claiming healing powers, and the ability to see the future, his health issues (at one point he announced he would show us photographs of his scars/injuries so we could better understand his suffering- fortunately this didn't happen), his very important and rich clients (including mentioning multiple times 'friends of Hillary Clinton'), how much is car cost, mansplaining matriarchy, gossip about people along the way, who we either met once or not at all (X is not sleeping with his wife, Y is a lesbian, but serves good food, how he had to stop associating with Z after she took up with an afro-ecuadorian 'stallion"..). He also mentioned the sexual prowess of his father several times, and explained that an American pope had been elected because the main problem with the Catholic church was in America. I asked what problem that was, in his opinion, and he explained that some American catholics were too indulgent of gays, and there was too much pedophilia. He also explained at one point that the reason Ecuador had not won its World Cup game against Curacao was that God was unhappy there was so much much corruption and prostitution in Ecuador. However apparently God changed his mind against Germany (likely because of Richard's prayers). Of course, there are cultural differences between people, but some if some of Richard's comments or questions had been made in my workplace, they would have been swiftly reported to HR. An example: in the Inti Raymi tour, Richard encouraged my friend to take a ritual bath, which she did not want to do. To explain this she said that she did not have a change of dry clothes, to which he answered that he could lend her his underwear, because he wasn't wearing any. He seemed to consider this funny rather than highly inappropriate. At various points in the trip Richard made comments about problems with "Karens and Cougars". He even explained that he often had to use a microphone and camera in his car to protect himself from sexual harassment claims and/or women making passes at him. The latter suggestion is of course, not technically impossible, but personally I find it exceptionally unlikely. I have thought about my experiences on this trip a lot subsequently, and come to the conclusion that people have likely raised the same issues as I am doing with Richard before- the sleazy comments and stories, the intrusive questions etc- and he has genuinely not understood the problem, or considered it a problem of the client, not himself (eg they were 'a Karen' or ''a Cougar"). But if you are a guide working almost entirely with people from a different culture, it is surely necessary to be able to understand their perspective. What makes a good tour is much more than the wildlife you see, its also about feeling comfortable and treated respectfully. Sadly, that did not happen on my trips with Richard.

The trip was very well organised. We were picked up from our Airbnb right on time. The hummingbirds were amazing and we got to feed them. The butterfly farm was fascinating. There was a nice hike to a stunning waterfall. Andres was very knowledgeable

AMAZING. Best day birding I've ever had and Richard is the perfect guide. Passionate, selfless and extremely knowledgeable. Clocked up 68 beautiful birds I ve never seen and wanted to see and provably will never see again. All happened in 5 hours. An experience I will never forget, Thank you Richard.

We did a Wonderful day tour of Mindo Forest veryinteresting we saw a lot of Flowers birds fall we did a hike in the Forest we went to a Wonderful restaurant in Mindo big thanks to Richard with his photographies tips hé is a pro to find birds in the trees.

Richard was an incredible guide for our day of exploring! He asked us about our interests and built the schedule around our priorities, making sure we had plenty of time to enjoy birds, butterflies, and the center of the world. Plus a great stop for lunch! He is full of knowledge about not just birds but the cloud forest and Ecuadorian history as well. Plus, a great sense of humor!

Richard was a great host who helped us see beautiful hummingbirds, butterflies, and unique plant species. Overall, having a guide to go through Mindo and the surrounding cloud forrest is very worth it to help identify the right places and transportation! I would love to do another trip with Richard if we return to the area!

As others have said, Richard is extremely knowledgeable and accommodating. Despite having an important engagement in the afternoon, he made sure we had an entertaining and educational trip to the cloud forest. We focused on seeing birds, and despite our schedule for a later start, we saw several dozen new to us species, many of which were endemic. Touring with Richard is highly recommended.