Rafa is such a great guide and made our bird-watching experience the best, especially as we are new to this! Great communication prior. Pickup at ferry pier was seamless. He walked us around the town and we got excellent description pointing out the history, culture, and most of all - the birdlife! Spotted so many birds - 25 plus and mostly all new to us! Rafa was a wonderful host and had prepared a bountiful picnic at the conclusion. Gave us super lunch recommendations and we had a delicious lunch as a result. Highly recommend this wonderful tour!

We had an absolutely delightful time with Rafa walking the old city while identifying 40+ species in less than 4 hours. Rafa is incredibly knowledgeable and personable. Highly recommend this tour- only wish we had more time! Colonia is a beautiful city

Our half-day birding trip with Rafe was wonderful! We saw 59 species of birds in just a few hours! Rafe is amazing at picking out different birds by sight and sound, and then explaining exactly where to spot them. He tailored the outing for the best experience in spite of the extreme heat and provided a wonderful picnic breakfast, including mate. On top of all this, he is a fun and interesting man, with excellent English. This trip was a highlight of our time in Colonia. We highly recommend it.

Did a half day birdwatching tour with Rafa on February 2, 2023 in and around Colonia and it was fantastic! Saw over 60 species. I am a photographer first and a birder second and Rafa consistently put me in a position to get great photos. My only regret is that it wasn’t a full day tour. He is an excellent birder, knowing the bird calls and birds, and can spot them quickly. And he is a joy to be with! He is personable, patient, kind, friendly and is very knowledgeable about birds, wildlife, plants and his native country. His English is excellent. Communicating with him via email and WhatsApp was easy and he was always prompt in responding. If you love birdwatching, I highly recommend him.

Visiting Uruguay for a conference, I was very happy to find Colonia birding because the conference left me little time to explore on my own. I joined a tour of ca. 12, of whom I was the only one with an ornithology background. Rafa did a wonderful job serving us all, explaining introductory birding skills alternating with tips for identifying rarities. He also emphasized natural history context, not just twitching, and told us a lot about conservation and culture in Uruguay, interspersed with a demonstration of Mate tea and home-baked sweets. Rafa is caring, attentive, and a native speaker of both English and Spanish. Because he took such good care of all of us, I believe everyone was enriched. I personally came out with a good idea of the local bird community, better knowledge of behaviour and ecology, and of course several species that were new to me. After the excursion Rafa sent a detailed list to all and shared his list with me on ebird. A great experience and wonderful day out.

We had a marvelous week with Rafael T. (Colonia Birding) in the interior of Uruguay, starting from the historic Colonia Del Sacramento and ending close to the border with Brasil. He has significant experience with local fauna and flora and has in the past written environmental impact statements for some large local wind energy generation projects. He has a special ability to recognize birds by their songs, even when driving the car. The whole trip, accommodation, eating and private car was organized by Colonia Birding. My wife and I were very pleased with the arrengments. No worries about the food or water. Uruguay is a pleasant country, not overrun by tourists. Locals are very friendly. We visited 4 different habitats all with interesting fauna. We are not dedicated birders, but have found that birding tours offer the possibility of walking every single day, visiting the interior of a country and getting to know small communities instead of only the large cities. Sally & Carlos

In October 2019, we spent the last two days of our South America tour in Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay. We are not fully active bird watchers, but whenever possible we look for a local bird-guide. Like by order, we found the best possible – Colonia Birding – for that purpose. That allowed us to see the Southwest Uruguay countryside, 92 species in a single day, learn about the country's history and present, with having a personal mate-course, too. Everything by fluent english, and the birds by latin, of course. The morning storm did not ruin a good day. Flooded roads led to flooded pastures with species that many, that we had problems to mark them all up on the regional list, we had received. At the pastures the opportunities for photographing were excellent. Colonia Birding's Rafa topped our bird list even afterwards, and we also received significant help with photos of species not previously identified in Argentina and Chile. As tourists we are very active but we can rarely find such an excellent guide. Hannu & Jaana, Finland