Our Nature & Wildlife Travel Specialists

Zicasso’s travel specialist planned a wonderful, fully customized Costa Rica trip for us. Many thanks to the travel specialist! He designed a private itinerary that fit our limited mobility needs, while still letting us experience the incredible diversity of Costa Rica.

We enjoyed a fantastic trip designed by Zicasso’s travel company. The travel specialist created an amazing three-and-a-half-week itinerary for us, starting in Ecuador, traveling through Peru, and wrapping up in Argentina. Every detail was planned and implemented smoothly by a team of knowledgeable and passionate guides and drivers. Our trip gave us the opportunity to experience the culture and beauty of the South American people and landscapes.

This was one of the best trips we have ever taken. The itinerary, the lodging, the activities, everything was perfect. Working with Zicasso’s travel specialist was wonderful. She was knowledgeable and very helpful.

Our trip to Australia was incredible! Zicasso's tour operator put together a very thoughtful, well-paced itinerary. Our transportation always met us on time and with a good attitude. We enjoyed the diversity of experiences curated for our stay.
They took our bucket-list items and created an itinerary that allowed us to see almost every one! We were grateful to have a tour of the Historic Rocks in Sydney, a boat cruise harbor tour, watch "Carmen" at the Sydney Opera House, take a sunset camelback ride in the desert to see Ayers Rock, snorkel the Great Barrier Reef, and get a private tour of a wildlife habitat (this was so special because we got to interact with some of the animals and learn from their keepers directly).
The only occasion on which I wish we'd had more time to spend was at Kuranda Village! There was so much to do and see, but we had an Army Duck tour and Aboriginal experience booked, which I really enjoyed because we got to ride through the jungle and enjoy performances from the Pamagirri community. Taking the Skyrail up and the train down was also a sight to see.
We enjoyed the intimate nature of tours, allowing us to ask questions about history, architecture, and daily life, and engage with our tour guides in a meaningful way. Highly prefer this style of private/small tours to the bigger bus tours. Our accommodations were impressive--from the luxurious hotel on George Street in Sydney to the desert resort in Uluru to the lodge on Captain Cook Highway in Port Douglas! We got to experience a range of climates. There was never a dull moment.
Even though the itinerary seemed jam-packed, we had just the right amount of time to rest and reset between activities and travel. Having such a detailed and professionally done itinerary gave us real peace of mind. The coordination of hospitality was also impeccable. Our hotels always communicated seamlessly with our pre-arranged transportation and tours. The trip was fun and totally stress-free! We were constantly delighted and charmed by this country and its people.

I loved our trip. The guides were fantastic. I have already told you how I felt about our guides, who were both great. We also loved our guide in Lima. His wealth of knowledge was impressive and really educated us on Lima, the Incas, and Peruvian history with a different perspective. We learned a lot from our guide in a short period of time. In addition, all the drivers we had were very good.
Overall, the trip was wonderful. The hotels, for the most part, were very good. My favorite restaurant was the restaurant in Lima. All the meals set up by Zicasso’s tour operator allowed us to experience Peruvian food, which we enjoyed very much. For the most part, I appreciated the quick contact and response time I was able to have with the guides, the tour operator, and our travel specialist.
If I was to give constructive feedback, there were two things I would have changed:
How long we had to wait around for our train in Aguas Calientes to go to Ollantaytambo. We had finished our hike and were back in Aguas Calientes by 12 to 12.30. I wasn't crazy about waiting around for four hours with nowhere to stay, especially with such a long travel day ahead of us to get back to Cusco. We did not arrive at the hotel in Cusco until 10pm. I think this scheduling could have been much tighter, allowing us to arrive much earlier and get a good night's sleep.
It would have been good to understand how far Miraflores was from the airport so we could have originally booked the hotel at the airport for our last night and not been charged for a second night at the hotel in Miraflores.
This constructive feedback is very small compared to our enjoyment for the rest of the trip. I would definitely use this tour operator again to explore other countries.
Thank you,

The trip met or exceeded all of our expectations. Zicasso’s travel company was a pleasure to work with. Their knowledge of Africa was invaluable. They were responsive to all our questions and steered us in the right direction whenever we were uncertain. We would recommend their services to anyone who wants to have the perfect African adventure.

Zicasso’s travel company provided an excellent experience for our trip. Prior to the trip, they provided descriptions of what to bring and how to deal with every step of the trip, e.g., normal ranges for tips, packing lists for clothes, currency use, etc. The descriptions were very clear about how to meet our transportation and guides. Every step of our trip occurred on time, as scheduled. The guides they selected were experienced, with excellent English communication abilities.
Our guide in Monteverde was clearly the dean of the guide community. Other guides would ask him questions when we encountered them. He used his experience with bird sounds and other animal hints to allow us to watch two quetzals building a nest, taking turns with one quetzal on lookout while the other dug out a hole in a tree. We learned that it was very unusual to even see one quetzal at all, let alone two for an extended period. Our guide in the Arenal volcano area was also extremely knowledgeable about the plants and animals. We enjoyed getting to know them, as well as the driver who took us from Monteverde to Tamarindo.
The selection of guided tours and related events gave us a varied look at the many different things that Costa Rica has to offer in the northern part of the country. Working with the travel company on our itinerary gave us what we were looking for. It also allowed us to fly in and out of Liberia airport, which minimized our travel on the ground. During the course of our visit, we were in touch with a representative of the travel company on numerous occasions. He provided restaurant recommendations when we wanted to venture outside of the hotel. They were excellent. He also assisted in our determining proper tipping for particular legs of the trip.
The roads of Costa Rica can be challenging, especially at night, but our guides and drivers were very safe and skilled in dealing with the roads. The travel company used some of its people, but also engaged some who were independent. Their choices were very good and always on time. It was clear they are a well-run operation that knows how to support the traveler at every step of the vacation. Thank you for offering this travel company to us. It was our first experience with Zicasso. We were quite pleased and will definitely think of you for future trips.

Our experiences were beyond our wildest dreams. I highly recommend using Zicasso's travel company. We explained what type of experiences we were looking for and the places we wanted to see. Every little detail was taken care of. We were in great contact with our travel specialists through the entire process. If we had any questions or concerns before we left on our trip, we would email and/or call. Their response was prompt. I couldn't imagine not going with this travel company.