TRAVEL FOR REWILDING

BirdsChile

Our programs are made up of experiences in nature, which may include bird and wildlife watching, adventure travel activities, local culture and communities, and rewilding activities that contribute directly to the conservation of the destinations we visit.

WHY TRAVEL WITH BIRDSCHILE

• Expertise: Since 2009 we have been working to form teams of excellence, search for the best routes and destinations, create alliances with high-standard providers, and deliver first-class experiences to our travelers.
• The best naturalist guides: we work with local guides and travel leaders who have extensive knowledge of local history and culture, and provide their own sight of each place.
• The originality of our routes: we go off the beaten track to take you to the best places. Our trails are carefully selected and excursions meticulously designed.
• We travel in small groups: we seek to generate a minimum impact on the destinations we visit and deliver a personalized service that allows flexibility and personal care for each of our guests.
• We provide equipment to our travelers: binoculars, spotting scope, birdwatching checklists, books, and field guides.
• Personalized programs: we plan trips with our passengers, responding to their personal interests and expectations.
• We travel safe: we follow the strictest protocols for a safe trip. All our guides have WFR or WAFA international security certifications.
• We are truly responsible: We have an absolute commitment to conservation and supporting local communities. Our commitment is measurable, traceable, and verifiable.
• We guarantee a window seat on ground transportation for all of our birding program travelers.

Team

Raffaele Di Biase

Co-Founder and Director

Chilean / Italian naturalist & wildlife guide with more than 15 years of experience leading expeditions to different regions in Chile, Argentina and Antarctica. Co-Founder of BirdsChile and currently Director of the company and head of the team of guides. Member of the board of the conservation Foundation Legado Chile and the Marketing Board of Fedetur. Ambassador of the Adventure Travel Trade Association, member of the board of the International Adventure Travel Guide Standards and president of the PTI Route of the Parks of Patagonia. Raffaele loves birding, playing football, listening to rock music and spending time with his wife and his two daughters.

Teresa Montes

Co-Founder

Tere has been part of BirdsChile since its inception. She is in charge of the executive management of the company. Graduated in Aesthetics, with studies in Cultural Administration and Art History, with a life history very close to the nature of Chile, Tere worked in different educational projects between 2000 and 2013. She leads the BirdsChile office team and BirdsChile Nature Store in Puerto Varas, where she lives since 2006. In her free time, she enjoys reading, studying history and art theory and traveling with her family.

Josefina Cuevas

Experience Designer & Sales

Born in Viña del Mar, Josefina has a degree in Ecotourism Administration, she has more than 10 years of experience working in different areas of tourism, including guiding, operations and marketing. She spent several years working as a ski instructor in resorts in the US and Chile and adapted skiing with the Andes Mágico Foundation in Chile. She likes being outdoors with her family and playing sports, and she is always motivated to learn something new or design a new program tailored to the interests of each client, with a special focus on exploring Chile's natural areas and biodiversity.

Juan Pablo Donoso

Bookings and Operations

Juan Pablo is a young guide, Ecotourism Project Manager by profession. He studied an academic semester at Oxford and then moved to Valparaíso to study Ecotourism, he currently lives in Puerto Varas and works in Bookings and Operations area. He is passionate about sustainability and adventure tourism experiences, nature and contact with communities. He likes hiking and mountaineering with his friends. He began working as a guide in Nahuelbuta National Park and then in Río Clarillo National Park, also performing administrative tasks at Regenera NGO and the Municipality of Providencia.

Pauline Müller

Nature shop

Pauline is a Publicist specialized in Marketing and has more than 18 years of experience working in different areas of tourism. She worked for several years in the United States as an English/Spanish teacher and guide with children, then in San Pedro de Atacama as a trekking and horseback riding guide. She likes to do outdoor activities with her family, practice yoga and work with ceramic stoneware.

Natalia Montes

Representative in UK & Europe

Natalia Montes Viviani grew up in close contact with Chilean nature, camping and trekking all corners of the country from an early age. From 2010, Natalia has been leading captivating expeditions and nature tours around the central Andes and particularly in Torres del Paine and Tierra del Fuego, in Chilean southern Patagonia, where she worked for over 8 years alongside companies like EcoCamp Patagonia and BirdsChile. Along with BirdsChile, Natalia worked on developing a pocket filed guide to help travellers identify the local bird species. Her skills with design and photography have also been of great support, designing our first catalogues and online shop. Now Natalia lives in Bristol with her family, and she represents BirdsChile in UK and Europe.

Marcela Ibieta

Birding & Naturalist Guide

Marcela is a naturalist guide with at least 20 years of experience leading groups from Arica to Punta Arenas. Passionate about sustainable living, she has dedicated years to teach sustainability and circular economy, preparing agents of change from rural schools and constantly working for the conservation of our natural resources. Self-taught herbalist, certified in regenerative design and Permaculture, Marcela spends her free time in the garden or climbing.

Isabel Vergara

Naturalist guide

Isabel is our expert guide in flora and an enthusiast hiker. Isabel travelled widely through Central America and worked as a guide for many years in one of the 8th Natural Wonders of the World: Torres del Paine National Park. Her passion for nature keeps her busy studying and improving her skills and knowledge about the Chilean natural history. Isabel is also involved in local campaigns of environmental education. She lives in Puerto Varas with her family.

Carolina Yañez

Birding & Naturalist guide

Carolina is a marine biologist by profession, but an environmental communicator by passion. Professor at the University of Valparaíso for the Marine Biology career. Director of the environmental education department of Chinchimén NGO. She participates in the international committee of the South American Bird Fair and its Education Symposium. Host of the TV children's series PAJAREANDO APRENDO. The passion for showing the flora and fauna both in the tourist and educational fields are the motor that drives Carolina to travel to different corners of the planet. Full of energy and contagious laughter, Carolina faithfully believes that the conservation of ecosystems is directly linked to environmental education that motivates and sensitizes people. Recognized for her projects as Young Leader 2021 by Fundación Piensa, she currently lives in Viña del Mar.

Josefina Bazán

Naturalist guide

Kinesiologist by profession, navigator by passion and tour guide by vocation. Josefina grew up in Santiago, but as soon as she could she migrated from the city looking for a life on a human scale and close to nature, she has been in the South of Chile for more than 15 years. In recent years she has lived immersed in the forest and the sea, which has allowed her to develop the naturalist and explorer streak that she carries within. Josefina is now dedicated to touring the remote places of our country, rescuing and gathering the heritage and cultural information of the places she visits and discovering the details and cycles of nature. Today she feels fortunate to be able to share this perspective with tourists and adventurers who visit these latitudes in search of nature and wild landscapes.

Manuela Julio

Naturalist guide

Manuela is a Social Anthropologist, a Social Communicator, and a Naturalist Guide with fifteen years of experience guiding in Magallanes Region and Lake District. Since she was young, she developed a special sensitivity for caring for the environment. She grew up climbing trees, jumping rocks and observing nature; and at her twenties she volunteered to work with the Native Forest Defenders. This love and passion grew bigger and lead Manu to change her job, working at the University in Punta Arenas, to an outdoor job as a member of the expedition team of a Cruise that explored Tierra del Fuego Island and Cape Horn, where she lived and worked for three years. It was then, between the Darwin Mountain Range, the subantarctic forest, the austral channels, whales, dolphins and penguins, when the naturalist guide was born. Manuela lives in Puerto Varas with her family. She loves to share experiences with new people, hiking, walking barefoot along the shore, music, gardening, growing her own food.

Luis Felipe Diez

Birding & Naturalist Guide

Luis Felipe is a naturalist guide with 12 years of experience in different places in Chile. He has worked in the Atacama Desert, the Central Andes, the Lake District, and the Aysen Region. He is passionate about nature, especially birds. He speaks English, Spanish and French. Luis Felipe loves to travel and between 2016 and 2017 he traveled the world visiting 20 countries, in Oceania, Asia and Europe. Now he is installed in Puerto Varas, where he combines personal projects such as the construction of cabins in the forest with his passion for travel and nature.

Carlo Montalbetti

Birding & Naturalist Guide

Carlo has shared his knowledge and passion for nature with BirdsChile travelers for many years. Interested in birds, but also in the flora, geography and history of our country, he always has time to talk and continue learning about these topics. Carlo lived for many years in the Juan Fernández archipelago where he was able to closely study the endangered Juan Fernandez Firecrown and its unique ecosystem. He currently lives in Puerto Montt between the mountains and the sea.

Franco Villalobos

Birding & Naturalist guide

Franco Villalobos is a professional ecotourism manager and a passionate naturalist. He is a nature lover who enjoys outdoor activities such as snowboarding, cycling, trekking, and, of course, birdwatching. Additionally, he enjoys reading, watching series, and playing video games. For the past 5 years, he has been professionally dedicated to the conservation of wetlands and shorebirds in a renowned Chilean NGO that has projects throughout the country.

Matias Ballarini

Birding & Naturalist Guide

Matias Ballarini | Originally from Santiago, capital city of Chile, Matías came to live and work in South Patagonia 12 years ago. Ever since he was a young boy he has been a nature enthusiast. He worked for 6 years at El Colorado, a ski resort nestled in the heart of the central Chilean Andes, where he was in charge of the designing and developing the terrain park. In 2004 he decided to move south and settle in Punta Arenas , where he can work as a guide while still enjoying nature and the outdoors, as well as working on his skills as a birder, after developing an avid interest in birdwatching. He has had the privilege of visiting King George Island in Antarctica, guiding touristic flights and excursions to that remote island, part of the South Shetlands. Between 2008 and 2013 he worked with an American company as a local guide and program director. He worked managing groups traveling to destinations such as Buenos Aires, Brazil and the Chilean Lake District, as well as both Chilean and Argentinian Patagonia.

Nicole Arcaya

Birding & Naturalist Guide

Nicole Arcaya grew up in El Melón, Valparaíso in the middle of the Sclerophyllous forest. This made her studying Engineering in renewable natural resources at the University of Chile in a way to understand the relation between human and nature. Member of the NGO “Red de Observadores de Aves y Vida Silvestre de Chile” (ROC), and part of the directory, she is involved as an eBird reviewer for Chile. She lives in Puerto Varas, with his partner and dogs called Caluga y Menta. Nicole likes nature, birds, board games, drinking mate and cooking.