OUR PHILOSOPHY
We are a conservation-minded tour operator that aims to contribute to our understanding of the world’s biodiversity and help to protect biologically rich habitats. As we travel to some of the world’s most significant biodiversity hotspots, we aim to provide local scientists with data and funding through contributions from tour sales and our conservation efforts.
OUR TEAM
Robert Gilson
Founder
Robert is a biologist and naturalist with a love for all things wild. He is an amateur lepidopterist and has spent the last seven years researching the moth fauna of North Carolina. Identifying and protecting regional biodiversity is a core motivator in his work, research, and daily life. Robert loves to share his passion and knowledge of the lepidopteran world with all who will listen and is always eager to increase his understanding of our world’s fauna.
Fredy Montero Abril
Colombia Expert and Guide
Fredy is a lepidopterist passionate about the fauna of his home country, Colombia. Since 2000 he has researched butterflies in almost every region of the country and some of the best places to find and observe butterflies around the territory. His photographs of live butterflies in their natural habitat enrich several different literary works about butterflies. He has also co-authored several scientific articles describing species previously untreated life cycles in the literature. Since 2012 he has acted as a guide for scientific expeditions, and tourists alike attracted Colombia’s incredible biodiversity.
Robert Gallardo and Oliva Diaz
Honduras Butterfly and Bird Experts and Guides
Robert was born and raised in California and had a passion for nature from an early age, especially butterflies. After graduating from Humboldt State University in 1992 with a degree in Natural Resource Planning and Interpretation, he joined the Peace Corps, served three years in Honduras, and has resided there ever since. He eventually became the country’s leading ornithologist and produced and self-published two bird guides. He also trained the country’s bird watching guides and was the first person to successfully reach out to the highest levels in the Honduran government on the importance of Nature Tourism. He and his partner, Olivia, began working in earnest on a future Guide to the Butterflies of Honduras in early 2016 and have already discovered several new species for science. They reside in their fifty-acre rainforest realm of Emerald Valley, home to over 670 species of butterflies.
Chris Talkington
Wildlife Guide and Driver Extraordinaire
Chris is a naturalist whose primary interests are butterflies, birds, dragonflies, reptiles, and mammals. Raised in Ohio, Chris spent much of his young life banding birds and learning about wildlife from his father. Chris enjoys sharing his enthusiasm and knowledge with others and spending as much time as possible outside enjoying nature.
David Szetela2023-02-13Fauna Ventures' guided tour to the Honduran Butterfly Festival was uniformly excellent. All our needs were catered to cheerfully and expertly. Thanks for a magical experience!
TheWilsmurphy2023-02-12My husband and I were excited to go on tour with Fauna Ventures to the Emerald Valley Butterfly Festival because we are passionate about butterflies and the magical beauty they offer as they fly from flower to flower as one of the world's most exquisite pollinators. This tour was all we hoped for and more. Our hosts and translators were very accommodating and knowledgeable about the area and the flora and fauna we were seeing in the mountains of Honduras on Lake Yojoa. The lodging was rustic, clean and comfortable, and the food was delicious. One of the bonuses of the trip was meeting new friends who shared similar interests. Our photographs of these amazing and colorful butterflies will always be a cherished memory of this trip. I highly recommend it.
Elise Barry2023-01-18My husband and I just returned from our first Fauna Ventures trip of the Honduras Butterfly Festival & Conservation Tour. Fauna Ventures is warm and welcoming to all levels of experience and ability. We appreciated their pre-trip preparation recommendations, their knowledge and expertise, their assistance and efforts to make sure that everyone experienced what they hoped for and more!, their attention to making certain that no one was left behind, and their day and night efforts to see that everyone was enjoying themselves. I even got help with using my camera! Their steady friendly attention puts everyone at ease. I particularly enjoyed a night time adventure for herps that wasn't on the itinerary but they graciously provided it. We're a senior couple and they knew how to make that a non-issue. We'll surely be looking to do more with Fauna Ventures!
Susan Brown2023-01-18Wonderful butterfly tour with expert guides and fabulous meals!
Alison Smith2022-11-20Just back from the 3rd annual butterfly festival in Honduras. This was my first trip to Central America and I was totally amazed by the country's natural beauty and incredible biodiversity. I will definitely return! The trip was very well organized allowing us to make the most of our time every day. The expertise and knowledge of our guides regarding the local fauna and habitats greatly enhanced our experience and knowledge of the area. Accommodations were modest but clean and in a beautiful natural setting. We could simply walk out the front door in the morning and begin birding. The butterflies were literally right outside our door too. Food was tasty, fresh and well prepared by the staff who clearly wanted us to be pleased. Our experienced guides were very responsive to all of our questions and needs and unfailingly helpful. i believe this was an incredible value for those who want to experience birding and butterflying in a beautiful part of Central America not known for ecotourism. It did my heart good to know there are still places on this planet with such abundance of natural beauty. I just returned from my second trip with Fauna Ventures, this time to the Lower Rio Grande Valley. Another wonderful trip in every way: the trip was well organized and planned, the accommodations were good and centrally located to our multiple destinations. Weather required our trip leaders to make adjustments to the locations where we were taken in order to maximize our opportunities to see butterflies. At all times they made sure we saw as much diversity in this remarkable area as was possible. Our trip leaders were expert naturalists, well versed in the fauna of the area and extremely knowledgeable about the butterflies we saw. They knew what we could expect to see in specific areas and went out of their way to find specific butterflies for us. At all times the trip leaders made a point of accommodating the requests of our entire group. If you enjoy ecotourism you will enjoy any of the trips with Fauna Ventures.
Aiming Gao2022-11-13Thank you for a very enjoyable butterflying experience, Fauna Ventures! The services you provided had met and exceeded our expectations. We are not experienced butterfliers, yet we got to learn a lot during this trip and saw many beautiful and unique butterflies. Hope we will have opportunity to join other butterflying trips in other parts of the country/world in the future. Happy Butterflying!
Wanzhou Lei2022-08-26My 24-day journey in Colombia is amazing. I and my guide traveled through Colombia and stopped on 5 locations to take pictures of butterflies. In total, I got more than 400 species of butterflies. The hotels along the trip are very clean and decent. In SNSM, the hotel is a very beautiful ecological hotel in the rain forest with great food and very nice people and tranquil environment. Other hotels are all very nice. Fredy, my guide, is very responsible and caring. He took care of all things and took care of me very well. He always gave the chance to take pictures of butterflies to me first. He is a very good guy and friend with a lot of experience and knowledge of butterflies. He knows the secret ways and places to find butterflies. He is amazing.
Caydee Savinelli2022-05-30This was my first tour with Fauna Ventures and it will not be the last. The tour was Highlands and Hairstreaks an as the name implied, we saw a lot of hairstreaks which are not always the easiest to see right away, but the tour experts made all of the difference in the experience. The lodging was good to excellent and the food was very good. In addition to butterflies, we saw a number of birds and my favorite insect the cicada. One of my favorite parts of the trip was the chance to meet old and new friends who have a common interest in nature. Highly recommended.
Debra Marsh2022-05-22I recently attended Fauna Ventures' Hairstreaks and Highlands butterfly tour in Honduras, in April 2022. It was an excellent experience and I'm so glad I did it. Guides Robert Gallardo and Rob Gilson were friendly and extremely knowledgeable. They handled the logistics of the trip quite smoothly too. The lodges were comfortable and offered very good birding and butterflies. I wouldn't hesitate to return to Honduras with these folks, and I just might!
matt klein2022-01-19I just came back from my first butterfly trip, a trip to Honduras. While the butterflies were amazing, what made the trip so special was the care and attention to detail taken by Robert Gilson of Fauna Ventures. Rob is more than just a butterfly expert and enthusiast. He is the full package. He served as a helpful guide, exploring everything from butterflies, to birds, to moths and assisting with IDs. He also was a great tutor and helped with my photography so that I could maximize the experience. And, boy, did I end up with some great shots thanks to Rob’s advice. Rob was patient with all participants on the trip, often giving up “the shot” so that others could get it instead. Finally, he was just a great guy to be around. His knowledge in butterflies is beyond compare but he never made anyone feel like they were out of place, from the novice (me) to those with more experience. You just wanted to learn as much as you could and explore the world of butterflies with Rob. I will definitely be checking out another trip with Fauna Ventures and I am really looking for to it. Thank you for everything.