I just completely a 5 day, 4 night group guided wildlife tour of far north Queensland with FNQ Nature Tours. I was intentionally seeking out a tour that gave as much of a legitimate local experience as possible. FNQ Nature Tours is simply fantastic. It's a small business, run by two people, and both are extremely knowledgeable about wildlife, natural resource management issues, and both are actively involved in local conservation. I was impressed by how our guide, Matt, seemed to know everyone we ran into over the course of five days, including random people in towns. It was very important to me that my money benefited local communities. We stayed in locally-owned lodging, and ate exclusively at locally-owned cafes and restaurants.
Matt was simply a phenomenal guide. A little about me: I'm a college professor of wildlife management in the United States. I have a very high bar for trips like this, where my primary goal is finding and seeing wildlife. I understand that wildlife are wild and not all sightings are guaranteed, but Matt knew all the hotspots, knew all the other local guides we bumped into (and they worked together, sharing information on wildlife sightings, simply great comradery), and had such an innate understanding of where wildlife would be and when that we saw nearly everything we were looking for.
Please do not let my expertise scare you away if you are a relative novice, however. My group contained 8 people, myself, a colleague of mine, and 6 retirees with experience ranging from little to moderate. Matt did a fantastic job juggling these different skill-levels and expectations, still allowing me (the proverbial expert I guess) to have a fantastic time even among folks who weren't looking for such an intense experience.
If you are looking for a professional guide with a small company to get a personal experience finding various species of wildlife, while also being mindful of keeping your money local, this is the group for you. I really can't say enough good things about FNQ Nature Tours, my experience was excellent.