Tamer Obeid

We booked a 3 week trip to Ecuador with KimKim. The agency made the trip very easy for us, for the most part. The three weeks included time in the Andes for a Cotopaxi expedition, the Galapagos, and the Amazon.

The booking and planning process was simple and convenient as well.

As far as the trip itself goes, the Galapagos and the Amazon went seamlessly, and we were grateful to have gone with KimKim. Outside of that, our tour guide, Marco, was fantastic - taking us to Mindo, Otavalo/Cotacachi, Riobamba, Cuenca, Cajas, Guayaquil, and Antisana. Not to mention, multiple trips to the airport and back. He went above and beyond to keep us comfortable and happy.

For the Andes portion of our trip, we realized it might have been better to go with a company specialized in mountaineering to ensure we got the experience we wanted—proper acclimatization and ultimately summiting Cotopaxi. We had to make last-minute itinerary changes in Ecuador, and we felt some of the acclimatization days at the start could have been used more effectively. Additionally, we had some confusing experiences with our mountain guide. The most stressful part for me was that the itinerary we were given and following had us staying an extra night at Chilcabamba lodge (the night we were to summit Cotopaxi), and I believed we could safely leave our luggage there while we summited Cotopaxi. However, when I asked about it, we were told we'd need to check out before the climb and that a driver would watch our luggage while we climbed—this was not the case. In the end, our mountain guide arranged for our luggage to be left at the ranger station at Cotopaxi National Park. This aspect of the plan felt poorly executed, and I was stressed about our luggage being left behind in such an uncertain manner.

The other thing I would have liked is to have an idea of how many guides we would have to tip and how much cash would be required- we arrived in Ecuador with far less cash than we should have brought with us. Luckily, the agency was able to get more cash to us so we could appropriately tip.

For the Galapagos and the Amazon, we had several domestic flights, which all went rather smoothly. KimKim booked us a cruise for the Galapagos, which was fantastic, and a wonderful Amazon lodge where we had some great experiences. I would definitely recommend KimKim for vacationing in Ecuador, as long as mountaineering is not involved.

Tamer with KimKim planned an amazing trip to Quito, Mindo Rainforest, Amazon Basin and Galapagos !! It was a trip of a lifetime! He was so helpful planning the trip and answering all our questions. Everything went smoothly from beginning to end and he kept in touch the whole time we were there.
The guides for each part of our trip, Sebastion in Quito and Mindo, Pedro in at Napo Wildlife Center in Yasuni NP, and Carlos in the Galapagos were incredible and added so much to our experience. They had so much knowledge about the country, culture, and areas we visited.
The amount of wildlife and plants we saw were amazing! Caymans, giant river otters, monkeys, sloth, so many birds everywhere, bats, sea lions, penguins, sharks, rays, turtles, tortoises, frigate birds, iguanas and red and blue footed boobies...
The food, accommodations, and people on the Galapagos Endemic ship were awesome!
We highly recommend KimKim! Thank you for helping us create such beautiful memories!

Our custom private trip through Ecuador designed by KimKim exceeded all expectations. Maria Jose was our local specialist and she was very easy to work with throughout the whole planning process. It took 5 drafts to get the trip to look exactly how we wanted which was a very fast process only taking about 2 days. Maria was happy to make any and all adjustments to the trip until it was exactly how we wanted it. She booked all parts of our trip for us: hotels, excursions, private guides, and private transportation for the entire trip. All of the excursions and activities were amazing and so much fun!
There were multiple points on our trip where plans had to change due to unforeseen circumstances and Maria was quick to get everything handled. She checked in on us daily and even stopped by our hotel the first day to drop off some goodies and welcome us to her country! She was so kind and attentive throughout it all and we are so grateful for her!

Our first guide, David, took us birding in the cloud forest of Mindo. His excitement for birds was infectious and his love for his country was obvious. He was such a wonderful guide and we thoroughly enjoyed our day with him.
Our second guide, Sebastian, was so easy to get along with. Laid back and kind, he took us from Quito to Cotopaxi to Mindo. For 2.5 days, he guided us on little hikes and adventures and he felt more like a friend than a paid guide. We changed plans multiple times and he always was amenable to whatever we wanted. His knowledge about his country was impressive. We had so much fun with Sebastian.
Our final guide was Eva who guided us through the Amazon jungle for 4 days. So kind, so knowledgeable, and so fearless when it came to handling the Amazonian creepy crawlers. We did so many adventures together and it always felt like she was just our really cool friend who was doing everything with us.
All three guides were top notch and had multiple similarities: so laid back, kind, knowledgeable, and were clearly proud to be Ecuadorian.

Our trip was a 10/10 from start to finish and we would absolutely do it all over again!

Working with KimKim took all the hassle and stress out of planning and navigating our trip, well worth the money spent!

Thanks Maria and KimKim!