Many of our tours each year are private tours for groups of friends, bird clubs, churches, zoos, nature centers and others. Our in-country guides lead these tours.

DO YOU OFFER SELF GUIDED TOURS?

Each year we set up self-guided tours for individuals who want to go on their own, or need to travel economically. We will work with you to design an itinerary that fits your needs, arrange hotel reservations, transfers or rental car reservations, air tickets and provide invaluable advice relevant to your trip. We also arrange for trips that are partially on your own, and partially in a guided tour.

WHAT IS THE PACE OF YOUR TOURS?

This varies from tour to tour. General nature tours are up early, and take a break an hour before lunch until around 3:00pm. Evenings are generally free, with spotlighting offered in some areas. Our birding tours typically start very early, and take very little time off except as heat or heavy rain dictate. We regularly go out at night, or in the dark of the very early morning in search of nocturnal species.

Even our most serious birding groups also stop to enjoy mammals, other animals and interesting flora.

While our tours spend a lot of time on our feet, they are not physically strenuous. Some tours involve more travel time, or spend time on particularly bad roads. Each tour description will give you a better idea of the pace of that tour and we can advise you as well.

WHO ARE YOUR LEADERS?

With the exception of owner Douglas Trent, all of our guides are South Americans with a strong interest in natural history. We believe eco-sensitive tours should use local talent, and leave more of the tour cost in the country visited. All our guides use spotting scopes, tape recording and playback equipment, spotlights for night viewing and the appropriate bird and mammal field guides. They are the first up in the morning and the last to bed at night, making sure all details are taken care of. They show their countries with pride, and have insight into the cultures. They take great pleasure in sharing their knowledge and their wildlife with tour participants. They are also environmentally conscious, and conduct their tours with sensitivity to animals, habitats and local people.

WHAT DO I NEED TO BRING?

Your binoculars and a spirit of adventure are the two most import things in a trip to South or Central America. We will provide a list of other things specific to each tour. You will receive all the information you need to make the most of your trip after we receive your trip deposit.

DO YOU OPERATE TOURS APPROPRIATE FOR CHILDREN

Being parents ourselves, we take pride in offering tours with children in mind. These are usually private tours, for families and friends. We would not want to put children in the situation where adults did not appreciate them, nor realize the value in opening a young person's mind to the wonders of nature. Our spotting scope is set to the height of the shortest person on tour, as we want children to see as well as the adults.

WHO GOES ON YOUR TOURS?

Most of our clients are Americans, followed by travelers from the United Kingdom, and then Scandinavia. Most clients are in the 50 - 70 year range, but we've had babies and people over 90 years. We travel with many teachers, doctors and other professionals. Many of our clients are well traveled, and share interesting stories with the rest of the group. About 60% of our clients are women. Most people travel with a partner, but singles make up about 20% of our tour participants.

Our clients typically are open-minded, conservation oriented people with a respect for the natural world and other travelers. Experiences on a tour and stories shared often bring the group together. Many friendships start on our tours, and tour members work together to be sure everyone sees each animal.

IS GROUP TRAVEL FOR ME?

Traveling in a group with expert leadership greatly reduces the cost of a private guided trip. On tour, you can visit areas you might otherwise not be able to visit if you were traveling on your own. Traveling with a small group, you benefit as several people are looking for and finding more wildlife, so you see more than you would on your own. If you have a short amount of time and want to maximize your enjoyment, think about joining a tour. If you don't want to bother with the planning, logistics and troubleshooting on your vacation, one of our tours is the way to go.

HOW ARE THE ACCOMMODATIONS?

Even in remote areas, all of the lodges we use have private bath with hot-water showers. Hotels vary from the very simple to deluxe. Each tour description accurately describes the accommodations that will be used.

HOW DO I SIGN UP FOR A TOUR WITH FOCUS TOURS?

Call, write or e-mail us to receive an itinerary and registration form. If a tour is nearly full, you can ask us to hold a space for you while you wait for and read the itinerary. You will have two weeks to return the registration form with your deposit. Registration forms should be filled out, signed, and returned with the specified deposit. If a tour is full, please ask to be put on a waiting list. No deposit is necessary, and participant cancellations do occur regularly for various reasons.

THERE ARE MANY CHOICES.
WHY SHOULD I TRAVEL WITH FOCUS TOURS?

There are many reasons:

High Quality Tours

• 24 Years of Excellence
• Real expert naturalists, properly equipped with spotting scope, recording equipment and tapes, spotlights, etc.
• Safari style open vehicles used in the Pantanal

Personalized Attention

• We are a small company, and our clients are important.

Flexible Itineraries

• Custom Designed private and group tours
• Self guided tours

The Variety of Tours

• General Natural History
• Birding
• Photography
• Educational Tours
• Fund raising tours
• And More!

Reasonable Prices

• As an inbound tour operator, with all of our employees living in South America, we work directly with the hotels, bus companies, etc. that we use to operate our tours. In essence, we cut out the middleman. Compare our prices, and you will see what we mean.

We Give Back to the Environment

• As the pioneer in real ecotourism, a percentage of our profits have been going directly to in-country conservation projects since 1981. While many American and European tour operators give money to developed country conservation groups, we work directly with local communities. We feel environmentally responsible tourism should fund conservation work in the destination country, rather than paying the rent and salaries of American and European conservation groups. When possible, we create and fund self-sustaining projects that generate far more proceeds than our initial donation. We will be happy to provide more details as to specific recipients of our conservation fund. Traveling with us, you will see the warm reception we receive in the regions we tour where our financial help has made a difference.

Douglas B. Trent President