Sandwich Bird Tours

Tour Leaders ...

John van der Dol

Developed his interest in birds during the cold winter of 1962/63 when he lived in Holland. On arriving in the UK in 1965 he joined the school bird club and has not looked back since. A degree in Town and Country Planning and a Teaching qualification created an unlikely path to the wholesaling and retailing of greeting cards, a career he has followed over the last 25 years.

His fascination in birds has however always played a big part in his life and has resulted in much foreign travel in pursuit of his hobby. Many of the original birding holidays were with friends from Sandwich Bay Bird Observatory in Kent, UK with which he has had an active involvement since 1966. He has visited many countries covering every continent in search of birds.

He has been organizing foreign birding holidays for groups of friends since 1987 and for the last few years these trips have taken on a new dimension with larger groups and far more exotic destinations. Some of our trip reports can be found on this site.

More recently he has developed a greater interest in mammals and this has resulted in tours in pursuit of Indian Lions and Tigers and planned mammal safaris to East Africa.

Eustace Barnes

Eustace has worked in South America as a field researcher and bird tour leader since 1991; a time when very few birders even visited the continent. In that time he has developed a knowledge of every part of the continent and subsequently guided tours to most South American countries. In addition to running tours to favoured destinations Eustace has worked on developing those itineraries and pioneering others.

Starting in Peru, Eustace worked at Explorer’s Inn in 1991 undertaking research on mixed flocks and Antbirds. Since then he has worked in Manu National Park and throughout Peru with Barry Walker. As a field artist Eustace has made a contribution to ‘A field guide to the Birds of Peru’ by James Clements. Eustace is now working on producing a more comprehensive Field Guide to the Birds of Bolivia with Dr Joe Tobias.

Today Eustace organises and guides tours across the whole of South America. In his time in South and Central America, Costa Rica and Panama have been visited many times and Ecuador and Venezuela are favorite locations; he has guided ten tours to northern Ecuador and six to Southern Ecuador. Eustace has guided fifteen trips to eastern Venezuela and visited on many other occasions, developing a detailed knowledge of the tepui endemics. In Peru and Bolivia Eustace has his greatest experience with countless tours taken to South-eastern Peru and the Maranon valley, pioneering the first trips to the latter region with Barry Walker. In Bolivia with so much ongoing research for the Field Guide Eustace has an in depth knowledge of the country. Brasil has also become a popular destination and Eustace has taken many groups to every corner of this huge country with a special focus on the Amazonian region. Eustace is currently working on developing tours to Paraguay; a country unvisited by other tour companies. Quite extraordinary given the proximity of four major bio-regions to Asuncion, the capital city. Eustace has developed a detailed knowledge of Argentina and Chile guiding regular tours to North-west and Southern Argentina and Central and Southern Chile.

He also has also visited and guided in many European destinations and recently has run a trip to Bhutan and Northern India. He has now also joined forces with Sandwich Bird Tours and together we will be running tours to the Indian Subcontinent, Europe and South America.

As a field guide Eustace is fully equipped with a sound library and recording equipment. In the field Eustace is known for his persistence in searching for species and patience in showing them to groups. Having been trained as a teacher Eustace is clearly committed to transmitting his enthusiasm for the environment and its birdlife when in the field.

Tika Ram Giri

Tika Ram Giri was born at Sauraha on the edge of the Royal Chitwan National Park. Tika's knowledge of the birds and mammals of Nepal is vast and has been gathered over many years and by much hard work.

In his ten years at the Royal Chitwan National Park he established his expertise, ultimately becoming the senior naturalist. He is a great companion and no ornithologist knows Chitwan better than Tika and no one else has seen as many species there. He has travelled and trekked widely all over the Indian Subcontinent leading many groups.

Tika is a founding member of Nature Safari Tours and works full time for the company. He leads most of Nature Safari Tours Himalayan treks. As one of the very best Nepalese naturalists the insight he is able to give into his country's culture and traditions is excellent and informative and makes any trip to the Himalayas a truly enlightening experience. Tika has conducted a number of birdwatching identification activities in Chitwan and at Koshi.

He has recently found the Small Snowfinch in Ladakh as a new species for the Subcontinent and Black-naped Oriole Oriolus chinensis as a new species for Nepal. Tika has led nearly 200 bird tours which is the highest total of tours led by any bird guides in Nepal.

Suchit Basnet

Was born in the eastern Terai of Nepal and as a science student had a keen interest in all wildlife. After leaving college he worked in a high school in Kathmandu, however, he changed his plans and his wildlife career took off when he started working as a full time naturalist in the Royal Chitwan National Park.

Suchit stayed at Chitwan for five years and during that time he accumulated an invaluable knowledge of its flora and fauna. He started work as a full time leader in 1994. Since then his great enthusiasm, cheerful and friendly disposition, together with exceptional knowledge have contributed to many visitors having a successful stay in Nepal.

Now ranked as one of the country's leading naturalists and ornithologists, Suchit leads many of our tours and treks in Nepal. He is a founding member of Nature Safari Tours and works for the company full time. Suchit has found a 4 new species for Nepal; Grey-headed Bullfinch Pyrrhula erythaca, Jerdon's Baza Aviceda jerdoni, Purple-backed Starling Sturnus sturninus, Rufous-vented Prinia Prinia burnesii.

Amila Salgado

Amila holds a record as the first birder from Colombo to visit Sinharaja rain forest in a Trishaw – an audacious feat achieved twice to bag the ultra-secretive Bay Owl in a daytime roost in Jan, 2007.

He got hooked on birds in 1989 after a school project in St Peter’s College, and made his first trip to Sinharaja the following year with a group of schoolmates, which earned him his first glimpses of the rare birding jewels and a host of “birdie” nicknames. He joined YZA, a local nature club, at an early age which was the beginning of the road to turn him into an all-round naturalist.

Amila is a certified national-guide under the Sri Lanka Tourist Board.

Before becoming a full time naturalist guide, he was a manager of one of  a wildlife tour company in Sri Lanka.

He holds memberships in several local as well as overseas bird clubs and contributes articles to their ornithological publications. Apart from birding, Amila enjoys thrashing his clients in Scrabble.

Andy Foster

Andy is originally from West Sussex in the UK and has had an interest in the birds of the Atlantic rain forest ever since his first birding visit to Brazil in 1995.

In 2002 he moved permanently to Brazil and establsihed Serra dos Tucanos Lodge which he now runs together with his wife Cristina.

Andy has specialised in the birds of this area and has spent considerable time guiding groups and individuals. His good knowledge of the local area

and avi-fauna helps in finding some of the more difficult and sought after south-east Brazil endemics.