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Incredible Day with Top St. Lucia Bird Expert, Willow
My husband and I spent a truly wonderful day with Willow, who is surely one of the top experts on birds in St. Lucia. He was just outstanding. He picked us up at our Windstar cruise ship and took us to some remote tropical areas, where we were able to see and photograph all but one of the indigenous birds, as well as more than 30 other species. His knowledge of them seemed endless. Also the local butterflies!
Willow was affable, patient, and spoke perfect English. When driving, he stopped at overlooks for us to see some the island’s spectacular scenery, giving us time to take photos.
Unfortunately, we didn’t have enough cash with us to pay for our trip, so Willow graciously stopped at a bank with an ATM for us to withdraw money. This process turned out to be a bit more complicated and time-consuming than we’d anticipated, as the local currency was the currency dispensed, when we’d expected USD. (Both use the $ symbol.) Willow was most helpful in this process. He also took the time to find our misplaced bird list in his van, and had his secretary email it to us back home. (Sorry for being such a pain, Willow! Thanks so much for your kindness and forbearance!)
Our lunch stop exceeded our expectations, with a terrific Caribbean buffet and views of the Pitons and the sea. We loved meeting the owner! Lunch conversation with Willow was so very interesting, as he told us a lot about himself and his beloved island.
In short, don’t hesitate before booking as many days as you can with this organization, to see the birds and wildlife of St. Lucia. It will be money well spent. We could not have been more pleased with our memorable day, and only wished we could have...
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We did the Hardcore Birding Tour with tourguide Willow back in December. When booking the tour, I thought it was expensive, but once I arrived at St. Lucia and saw the prices of other shorter excursions offered by the hotel, I realized this tour was hands down the best value out of all our excursions.
Willow picked us up bright and early. We spent at least 7 hours with him! When driving to our birding locations, we learned all about local culture, politics, family life etc in St. Lucia. Willow was friendly and informative and answered all the many questions we had.
The morning started off rainy but our first bird on the dreary day was the St. Lucian Parrot. We saw most of the birds on our hit list (St. Lucia warbler, St. Lucia Pewee and the St. Lucia black finch, white-breasted thrasher and many more). Willow was very determined to find us as many birds as possible.
We stopped for lunch at a local sandwich shop. The food was great.
This tour allowed you to see island life on the east coast as well as the south tip. We got to see many different native ecosystems. I 100% recommend this tour.
My only recommendations: if you need binoculars, mention so when you book. We assumed that the guide would have an extra set, but they are only provided upon request ahead of time. Bring a snack. We were provided our lunch that we paid for, as well as water,...
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We had 2 amazing birding tours with Willow as our guide. The first tour we did was the Hardcore birding tour and the second one was the Northeast Birding tour. On the Hardcore tour, we traveled to about 5 stops in different areas of the island and saw all the endemic birds plus many others. On the Northeast trip, we got to see several different areas of the island and many new birds. Along with showing us the birds, Willow shared all about the history and culture of St.Lucia. The benefit of booking this type of tour is not only are you seeing the birds but you get to see many areas of the island as well. Willow was extremely knowledgeable about St.Lucia and Caribbean birds and did a great job finding them and getting us well-situated to see them all. If you want to see birds in St.Lucia, St. Lucia Wildlife Ambassadors is the best. And if you want to see turtles, Willow is your guy as well with over 20 years of experience guiding turtle tours. Five...
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