Anyone ever take wildlife/photography tours of rain forests before?

I'm helping bump this because there is a birding guy who did South America deep in the rainforest. His thread may be the pinned thread up top.

I can't speak to the bird watching aspect either but the rainforests around Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe are incredible too and the situation is relatively stable for Africa. I haven't been to SA myself but I've looked into it a bit and there's a lot of opportunities for a trip like that in Peru. One of the safer and more scenic countries in SA.

I've done quite a few birding trips. Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Brazil, Peru. Costa Rica is a good place to start, you can do that on your own. But you will do a lot better if you hire a guide, or use a tour company. It's not cheap but they know how to keep the tour safe and the guides know where the birds are, how to call them in, and recognize even the most obscure species by call. I've never been uncomfortable about my safety although a couple of spots in Colombia were interesting. The tour companies have local contacts who keep on top of politics and any potential problems. The companies I'd recommend are Field Guides, Rockjumper, Wings, and Naturalist Journeys for group tours. The Canopy group for Panama. Costa Rica Gateway for Costa Rica (a friend owns them and treats his customers right). The Canopy Tower in Panama is great birding. As far as South America goes it's hard to beat Ecuador. The country is pretty compact and with the elevation changes you can see a whole lot of species without traveling more than a few hours. There are a lot of options for lodges there. Bella Vista is a favorite lodge, Mindo is an excellent destination, a friend runs Guango and San Isidro lodges on the other side of Quito.

Let me know if you have any questions. It's something I've really gravitated to over the last 10 years. It's not just birding either, at least half the people there are into wildlife photography as well.

ETA - for really hardcore rainforest Iquitos, Peru has lodges that are reached by boat up and down the Amazon that are really good. And the rainforest in Guyana is some of the most pristine you will find because the country has never really developed. Personally, I prefer foothill and mountain birding with cooler temperatures and lots of hummingbirds and colorful tanagers. Some trips combine both.

Thanks. I didn't really have an interest until my late 30's when I started noticing the marsh birds while fishing, and wondered what they were. So I started taking binoculars and a bird ID book. It slowly built from there. In a lot of ways I enjoy it for the reasons that I loved to fish - figuring out the patterns and behavior of nature. And at the end of the day I don't have to clean the fish and boat. And the great birding locations are generally some of the wildest places on this planet and very cool to see.

Phone apps are great, for the image, but also the sound, and the range maps.

I use the Sibley and Audubon apps for the most part, for overseas birding there are usually apps available to buy, they beat carrying a book around. All my records go into eBird. Apps have become a fantastic tool over the last 10 years.