Sandro Valdez

Sandro Valdez was born in a remote village inside what is now Madidi National Park, where he grew up speaking Quechua and learned the forest before learning to read. He completed formal guide training at Chalalan Lodge in 1999, worked as a research biologist on the Red-fronted Macaw beginning in 2005, and turned full-time birding guide in 2006. He is a founding member of both Chalalan Lodge and Sadiri Lodge in Madidi. He is a registered guide in La Paz and Beni Departments and a certified bird guide with the National Federation of Tourism Guides of Bolivia. Sandro has guided in all nine Bolivian departments and has logged a personal life list of more than 1,200 species, knowing roughly 94% of Bolivia's birds by sight, sound and call. He is the lead field guide on Bird Bolivia's flagship itineraries and is regularly requested by name by visiting birders. His local knowledge of Madidi and the upper Amazon foothills makes him a strong choice for trips focused on Amazonian rainforest specialties and the foothill forest endemics around Sadiri, in addition to standard endemic-macaw circuits.