We are not your normal nature tour company.  Our President and Founder, Douglas Trent, started Focus Tours in 1981 as Brazil’s first professional nature tour company.  With his life goals of getting people out of poverty and preserving nature, he saw this as a way to raise fund for projects to accomplish these goals.

 

From 1981 to 2013, Douglas guided tours nine months of each year, first in Brazil and then including Chile, Argentina, Bolivia and a few African countries.  With the success of the Jaguar Ecological Reserve community ecotourism program on the Transpantaneira (now sustaining over 50 local families) he was able to get corporate funding for larger programs, specifically the Pantanal Wildlife Program, Bichos do Pantanal, with funding from Petrobras.   With Forbes magazine recognizing Douglas as Brazil’s Birdman, he continues to guide bird watching and nature tours.

 

Today, Douglas guides all our tours, which are small group, high quality excursions in the Pantanal, the Amazon and other destinations on request.  We limit our tours to four participants in a boat, so all can sit in the front seats, and we carry a gas grill for remote lunches.  We include all meals and all drinks, with a sunset Happy Hour observed in stunning places.  We have access to remote areas in the Pantanal that we visit in a 4X4 double cab pickup and limit our tours to just 3 participants with Douglas driving and guiding.  We continue to operate tours for a number of foreign nature tour companies, and they set the group size. 

 

Check out the videos and other news coverage we have received as well as the interview with Douglas by Dr. Jon Coulis.  Get in touch with us if you want a high-quality nature tour in the areas we offer, and other places we used to visit regularly.