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Naturalist Guides

Gustavo  Camacho
Naturalist Guide

Gustavo was born in the town of Grecia, north of San Jose. He grew up on a farm, where his father grew mainly sugar cane and coffee. They also had horses and some cattle and goats for milk.

Gustavo’s first memories of working are his chores on the farm side by side with his father and mother. He says that as a child his dream was to be a pilot, he imagined himself flying a plane and traveling around the world where he would meet a lot of people and experience different cultures. But the plan changed when he realized his love for Costa Rica and its nature was his true calling. Now as a Naturalist Guide, he gets to experience and enjoy nature every day and allows him to meet people from many different cultures, even pilots guests, through their experience in Costa Rica.

Gustavo first came to Costa Rica Expeditions when he was finishing his degree in tourism; graduation required a 300-hour internship. His friends and professors had told him that Costa Rica Expeditions was the best Travel Agency in Costa Rica. Soon, Gustavo was an intern at Tortuga Lodge where he started out as Assistant Manager, but also taught English for The Words Adventure, a social interest program sponsored by Tortuga Lodge to teach English to local children.

During his free time in Tortuguero, Gustavo started joining our tours to Tortuguero National Park and learning from the local guides. At night he would study the birds and mammals, general rainforest ecology, and learn more about each of the examples that had come up during the tour he has joined that day. Soon the guides were letting him guide, sitting back and driving the boat and letting Gustavo share his knowledge gained from the guides themselves and books. Before long, a new passion had been born. Gustavo has now been guiding for more than 8 years and loves “piloting” guests through Costa Rica’s diverse habitats.

On his time off, Gustavo spends most of his time in his hometown of Grecia with his family or traveling around Costa Rica and abroad.