Artist and photography enthusiast Willy Alfaro has been guiding natural history and birding trips in Costa Rica, Panama and Nicaragua, Cuba, Chile, Easter Island and the East Coast of US since 1992. When not guiding, he is an active lecturer and educator, having led biology workshops for the University of Costa Rica and for the University of Delaware’s Horticulture Program in Costa Rica.

His interest in birding has inspired active participation in the Costa Rican Ornithological Association, for which he had been on the Board of Directors since 1997, serving one term as President. With the association and other organizations, including The Nature Conservacy, Willy has participated in several taxonomy projects, documenting bird species and migration patterns of Costa Rica’s avifauna.

Willy has also volunteered for the Costa Rican Biodiversity Institute (INBio), La Selva Biological Station, and has organized guide training workshops EARTH Agricultural College.

Soft spoken, with a gentle disposition, Willy says his love of nature and science began at 6 yrs old when his father bought him an encyclopedia on Natural History. His interest in Biology bloomed in college, following a field trip to Braulio Carrillo National Park. After the trip, Willy began volunteering for the INBio herbarium and for a project studying the diet of the Scarlet Macaw in Carara National Park.

A former student of Marketing, today Willy is dedicated to ecotourism and to exploring Photography as an art and way of travelling.

George Soriano