The Naturalist Guide Academy is a sister company of Isthmian Adventures Panamá committed to the development of sustainable tourism and the training of the human resources required to maintain sustainable practices. The Naturalist Guide Academy mission is to organize and provide new learning opportunities for the tour guiding professionals of Panama.
The co-founder of Isthmian Adventures, Christian Gernez, has been involved in the training of tour guides for years. In 2010 Christian began his training endeavors with the co-coordination and facilitation of an intensive training and certification program for the naturalist and interpretive guides of Panama. This project, endorsed by, ATP (Tourism Authority of Panama), CAMTUR (Chamber of Tourism of Panama) and funded by USAID, was carried out by the APTSO Foundation and the Eugene Eisenman Avifauna Foundation of Panama.
He was also involved as trainer in a Program of Specialized Tourism Guides in Protected Areas, Ecotur/AP project conducted on behalf of MiAmbiente (Minister of Environment) and ATP by IDEL.
Most recent work now under the brand The Naturalist Guide Academy involves:
- Certification of specialized Guides in Sustainable Whale Watching.
- Wilderness First Aid.
- Certification of specialized Guides in Bird watching.
- In the year 2017 The Naturalist Guide Academy organized monthly, free, lectures on various topics concerning tourism in the provinces of Colon, Herrera and Veraguas, helping to inspire and register new guides for those regions of the country.
- In 2018 The Naturalist Guide Academy facilitated the training of Site Tour guides in the community of Santa Fe de Veraguas. A project run by The Santa Fe Tourism Cooperative with funds provided by MiAmbiente and the support of the Tourism Authority of Panama ATP.