Leo Chaves

Leo received his formal education at the University of Costa Rica and the National Institute of Learning. He has been a field guide for 13 years and the last 5 years Leo has been recording bird sounds all over the country's different habitats. He is a member of the Costa Rican Association of Ornithology. His love is ornithology; he took several courses and seminars at the university but he admits that most of his knowledge comes from teaching himself. For over four years Leo has used his knowledge about birds and plants to administer lectures, short courses, and special training sessions for other guides. He has guided birdwatcher groups and naturalist groups for many different companies and universities. He has also written a number of scientific papers on Costa Rican's birds and natural history. Leo feels privileged to have gone birding in The Andes and The Amazon Forest in Ecuador three years ago. Leo genuinely loves guiding students, families, nature lovers…

Jimmy Tosso

Jimmy has traveled extensively throughout Europe and Latin America; he has visited Spain, England, Italy, France, Holland, Turkey, Germany, Greece, Mexico, and Panama. This has helped him acquire a very good understanding of other cultures which he has been able to apply as a tour guide. Jimmy admits that Italy was his favorite destination which he first visited over 12 years ago, when he first discovered his talent for Italian cooking. Jimmy is fluent in English, Italian and French. He obtained his guide license 13 years ago from the National Institute of Learning. With an exceptional sense of humor, he excels in sharing his knowledge on Costa Rican culture and nature in a refined and unique manner. Jimmy has lead groups of all different nationalities, making him an expert in the Costa Rican guiding field. Costa Rica Sun Tours is very proud to have Jimmy as one of our guides.

César Sánchez

Cesar is a young, gifted biologist, naturalist and birdwatcher. Cesar has a bachelor's degree in biology from the University of Costa Rica, and he is now working on his thesis, "Study of Thrushes Songs"; this is the first study, within the field of Bioacoustics, which has been studied in Costa Rica. He is also an assistant in the Ornithology Department at the University of Costa Rica. Cesar has enjoyed being a tour guide for several years all over the country. One of his favorite experiences was when he was a resident guide at the famous birding lodge, Rancho Naturalista, in Turrialba valley. Cesar also had a special internship at Hawk Mountain Sanctuary in Pennsylvania. Last year he participated at the annual Neotropical Raptor Conference in Panama City. Cesar is the ideal guide for any nature-oriented group.

José R. Calvo Samayoa

José R. Calvo Samayoa, also known as "Indio", is one of the best bird-watching naturalist guides in Costa Rica. He is officially certified by the National Institute of Learning. Indio has been leading natural history tours all over Costa Rica and in most of Central America (Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama) for the past 15 years. He claims, "I'm a well-rounded naturalist with an extreme passion for rainforest ecology, ornithology, nature photography, climate and geology."

Marco Fallas

Marco is a native of a small suburb of Costa Rica called Desamparados. He started working in the field of tourism about 14 years ago, the last 10 years as a guide. He has acquired great knowledge of nature. Marco is especially great at spotting wildlife in every forest type in Costa Rica and is very handy to have around while birding! His enthusiasm is contagious; Marco puts an unbelievable amount of time and energy into all of his tours- leaving his customers with unforgettable memories. We refer to him is our Pura Vida (full of life) guide.

Carlos Calvo

His love for nature began many years ago, when he started working as a volunteer for The National Park System, protecting the rainforest and sea turtles of Tortuguero. He also volunteered in Guayabo and lived in Monteverde for a while. Then, he decided to show this beautiful country to everyone. He studied English at the University of Costa Rica and tour-guiding at the National Institute of Learning, and throughout the years he has taken courses on Costa Rican culture, history, ornithology and natural history (among others).

He is a certified tour guide who has been working in the field for more than 8 years. He has learned and seen many things ( more than 600 different Costa Rican birds, for example) and he has guided in almost every National Park of Costa Rica. He thinks it is a lot easier when you love what you do. He loves this country, its culture and its nature and he would love to show it to you!

Esteban Carranza

Esteban has a passion for nature and for his country, he received his training with the National Institute of Biodiversity, and currently studies Management of Natural Resources. Apart from English and Spanish, he speaks French and Italian and is now learning German. He lived in Monteverde where he first worked as naturalist guide at the Santa Elena Reserve in the cloud forest. Esteban is also an Attorney at Law, but he found his true calling in nature. He is easy going, and has a good sense of humor, you will find he puts a great deal of energy and love into what he does.

Maguil Cespedes

Maguil Cespedes Castro is 35 years old – he was born in San Jose on October 24, 1968. He is single, fluent in Spanish, English and Portuguese, has a basic knowledge of Dutch and German.

He started guiding 10 years ago – a year before graduating with a Bachelor’s Degree in Biology from the University of Costa Rica. He also completed a Master’s Degree in 2001 in Biology – on the genetic structure of the big leaf mahogany. He starting guiding for Costa Rica Sun Tours in 2001.

In addition to guiding he has been a Teaching Assistant both at the University and the O.T.S. ( Organization of Tropical Studies) to an Introduction to Flora of CR and a Tropical Biology course. He was also an academic coordinator for the Central American Institute for Biology and Conservation from 1999-2001 and a consultant to the Fundacion Neotropica – a non-profit conservation organization in San Jose. He has also had experience with both the Ostional Pacific Ridley Turtle and Caribbean Conservation Green Sea Turtle Tagging Projects.