About Michael Kaye & CRE
  San Jose Travel News ( Press Release )

Courtesy Costa Rica Expeditions:

Author Edwina Arnold

After fighting unsuccessfully to prevent the damming of California's Stanislau River where he was a guide, Michael Kaye went in search of rivers that still ran wild. He found them in 1978 on a visit to Costa Rica, where he has lived ever since. His passion for the country and its vibrant ecosystem is understandable. Costa Rica is a nature-lover's and activist's paradise a full 25 percent of its land is protected in parks and reserves.

Kaye started Costa Rica Expeditions the year he arrived. It was the first eco-adventure tourism company in the country. He focused on small groups interested in natural history, rafting, and wildlife watching. As an adventurer, environmentalist, and experienced travel industry professional working and living in his adopted land, Michael Kaye believes in the importance of bringing families to experience this place he loves and works hard to preserve.

A Kid-friendly Attitude: CRE doesn't just tolerate kids on its eco-adventures, it welcomes them whole-heartedly and considers bringing families to Costa Rica an integral part of its mission.

"We don't just do family and children's trips because they are a source of extra income," says Michael Kaye, "we do them because we want to do them better than they have ever been done before -- and because we love children."

Families don't get a rushed experience nor do they impact negatively on the environment. Today's families and children are especially sensitive to the environment, and every CRE trip is created and run with that in mind. Michael describes the aim of real eco-travel as an opportunity to provide, " unique travel experiences that transcend conventional sight-seeing and travel mutually beneficial and nourishing to both the visitor and the visited."

CRE's credentials as a leader in ecotourism are impeccable. The company has developed trips for the Audubon Society, The Nature Conservancy, The American Museum of Natural History, and the New York Zoological Society among others. The trips run for individuals and families have the same commitment to sharing Costa Rica's natural beauty while preserving and protecting it.

Costa Rica Expeditions was awarded Travel & Leisure Magazine's Critics Choice Award in 1999 and Conde Nast Traveler's Ecotourism award twice. Michael serves on the Board of Advisors of the American Eco-Tourism Society.