Birding holidays

Our Guides
Balázs Szigeti
Balázs is a dedicated birdwatcher & director of Ecotours Wildlife Holidays Ltd. He is based in Budapest. He speaks perfect English, has a great sense of humour & has travelled widely in Eastern Europe, West Africa and the Americas. He is a gifted birdwatcher able to imitate many European birdcalls… even a nightjar… no mean feat! He is also a keen wildlife photographer. He is leading tours to most of Eastern Europe and Mongolia.

Attila Steiner
Attila is a keen birdwatcher and naturalist. He has been working for WWF on species conservation and wildlife trade before joining Ecotours Wildlife Holidays. He has travelled extensively through most of Europe, Africa, Asia and the American continent. He speaks English, German and Spanish. He has a good knowledge of not only birds, but butterflies and dragonflies as well. He has a special sense of humour. Attila is leading tours to most countries in Eastern Europe, plus Ghana and Ethiopia.

István Péntek
István has been keen birdwatcher and nature enthusiast since his childhood. He received his nature conservation engineer degree at the Pannonia University. He’s an experienced bird ringer and field ornithologist. He has been participating in different bird conservation programmes, field monitoring projects and bird ringing expeditions in Hungary and other European countries from Norway to Greece. He’s a coordinator of a local group of Birdlife Hungary at Lake Balaton. He’s a friendly, helpful, talkative person and he always finds time for a good laugh. :)

István Bártol
István graduated as a biologist at the University of Science in Szeged and attended a bird ecology PhD course. Since then he has been working as a warden in the Kiskunság National Park. Being another enthusiastic and friendly member of the Ecotours Wildlife Holidays team he is tirelessly looking after our clients ensuring a great holiday. He speaks English, Serbian and Spanish, and he has widely visited Europe including the countries of former Yugoslavia, Romania and Poland. István has four children and lives in Tiszaalpár, a quiet and beautiful village on the border of Kiskunság National Park. He is leading tours to Hungary, Montenegro & Albania, Croatia.

Máté Havasi
Máté is an experienced bird enthusiast and bird ringer. He graduated as an environmental scientist and fishery engineer and he has a PhD in animal husbandry sciences. His passion for nature and especially for animals already became obvious in his early childhood. His focus was always on birdwatching, bird ringing, and hiking, but he is also interested in bats, reptiles, butterflies, dragonflies and orchids. Máté has visited many countries in Europe, but has some experience from Africa, South America and even from Antarctica. He took part in several conservation projects, field studies and environmental education programmes. He is passionate about exploring our natural heritage, and he is committed to share it with you.

Sándor Konyhás
Sándor became interested with the birds and their habitats at his childhood. His area of work includes the study of endangered ground-dwelling bird communities in his native Eastern-Hungarian pseudo-steppes. Familiar with research, monitoring, conservation program planning and execution in the field. He has travelled through most of Europe from the Mediterranean to the Arctic, and the Middle-East. He speaks English, has a friendly, helpful, patient and informative manner.

Tamás Vass
Tamas is a licensed tour guide. He spent six years in the UK and moved back to Hungary a few years ago. Now he is living in Kecskemét in the heart of Kiskunság National Park. Tamas has a lot of experience with birds of the park and Hungary. He found a new breeding bird for Hungary (Smew) and many other rarities. He has been involved in several research projects in the National Park such as the MAP birdlife monitoring project that is focusing on breeding birds. Nature and wildlife have been the main focus throughout his life and he is also passionate about cooking. He is guiding tours for us in Hungary, Slovakia, Belarus, Romania and Mongolia. He is always very keen to share his enthusiasm with clients and he is great fun to be with.

Bence Kókay
Bence has finished his studies at the Kecskemét Horticulture College in 2008. He has worked for Hungarian Birdlife, now he works for the Hungarian Academy of Science. He has started birdwatching in 1995. His favourite area in Hungary is Kiskunság National Park, where he has observed some rarities like White-tailed Plover, Baird’s Sandpiper, Eleonora’s Falcon, Buff-breasted Sandpiper. Bence is a member of the Hungarian Rarities Committee and he is one of the most respected field ornithologists in Hungary for his extremely good eyes, which led him to innumerable unusual bird records. He is an excellent guide with a great sense of humour and he loves to share his passion for birds. Bence is currently leading trips for us in Hungary, Belarus and Romania.

Zsombor Berényi
Zsombor has been a keen birdwatcher and nature lover since his childhood. He has travelled widely in the Western Palearctic from Turkey to Norway and the Macaronesian Islands to get familiar with the birds and their habitats. He graduated as an agriculture engineer of environmental economics in 2004. Later he studied nature conservation at Szt. Istvan University and received his nature conservation engineering master diploma (Msc) in 2014.
Zsombor has been a programme coordinator at BirdLife Hungary for six years. Now he works for the Middle Danube Valley Inspectorate for Environmental Protection and Nature Conservation as a landscape inspector. Zsombor has a friendly and outgoing personality. He is leading tours for us in Hungary and neighbouring countries.

Béla Tokody
Bela speaks excellent English, and is a cheerful and very informative person. He is a native Hungarian, a keen birder. He lives in the South of the country, in the city of Szeged, and he is a well-known figure of the Hungarian birding circles.
He graduated in forest management and has another diploma as a lawyer. Actually works for Birdlife Hungary, as project manager of the project holding the title: “Conservation of the European Roller in the Carpathian Basin”, and he is also member of the board of directors of the Hungarian ringing (banding) committee.

Csaba Lendvai
Csaba graduated at the Eötvös Lóránd University as a biologist. He has been a keen birdwatcher since the age of fifteen. He works for BirdLife Hungary as a coordinator of waterbird monitoring and white stork conservation programs. Since 2004 he has been Secretary of the Budapest Local Group of the BirdLife Hungary assisting in the public enviromental education events of the Society. Csaba has travelled widely visiting most of the Western Palearctic, Peru, India, the Gambia, Cambodia, Thailand and Mexico. He is our Poland specialist and is also leading tours to Hungary and Slovakia.

Milan Vogrin
Milan is an ecologist, specialist for animal ecology, specially for birds, reptiles and amphibians. Familiar with inventarisation, monitoring, renaturation of habitats. Leader of different ecological camps for youth and students. Lead and successfully finished more then 30 projects. Professional adviser and co-worker for the national television. Photographer with many exhibitions and awards, photos was published in various journals and books home and abroad. Author and co-author of more then 500 articles in Slovene or English in various scientific journals home and abroad as well in popular journals.

Tibor Danyik
Tibor graduated as a nature conservation engineer at the University of West Hungary in Sopron and he is currently a PhD student at the University of Science in Szeged. Since 2008 he has been working for Körös-Maros National Park as an entomologist. His main interest is in Odonata, Orthoptera and Macrolepidoptera, but he has a good knowledge of most other artrophods and he is an expert of macrophytic seaweeds. His main research topics are invasive ecology, faunistic survey and monitoring, conservation of endangered species. He speaks English well. He is a keen wildlife illustrator.

Ádám Mészáros
Ádám graduated as a biologist in Eötvös Loránd University and then studied hidrobiology in the University of Pécs. Now he is a PhD student working in the Centre for Ecological Research, Danube Research Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. His main interests are dragonflies and damselflies (Odonata), aquatic beetles and bugs (Coleoptera, Heteroptera), and butterflies and moths (Lepidoptera). He has seen almost all the interesting, rare and protected arthropods in Eastern and Central Europe and has a thorough knowledge of their ecology. A great propagator of Citizen Science he loves educating children. Ádám is leading butterfly and dragonfly tours in Eastern and Central Europe.

Endre Soós
Endre graduated at the University of Veterinary Science in 1995. He has a diploma on Endangered Species Management and is presently the Head of Veterinary Department at the Budapest Zoo. In 1996 he spent a month in Tanzania, filming chimpanzees with Jane Goodall at the Gombe National Park. Endre is a keen birdwatcher, who visited Europe, Kenya, India, Ecuador, Australia and Ghana.

Gábor Kovács
Gábor has been working as a ranger in Hortobágy National Park for decades. His knowledge of the area and its wildlife is legendary. He published and contributed to many publications on the avifauna of Hortobágy. He is a talented and keen nature photographer; his photos appeared in a wide number of books and periodicals. Gábor Kovács is our local guide in the Hortobágy National Park.

Stefan Matis
Stefan is the main organizer and coordinator of the faunistical study of the bat fauna of Eastern Slovakia. He has prepared protection plans and he was the author and co-author of about 30 scientific articles. His area of research also includes the study of the population dynamic of several bird species. He has achieved good results in protecting Corncrake in the National Park, and he is also an active bird ringer. For the last several years he has been a ranger of the Slovak Karst National Park. Stefan is our local guide in the Slovak Karst.

András Bőhm
András has been a birdwatcher since 1984. Graduated as a biology&geography teacher, he has been working for nature conservation since 1997. Currently he works for the National Inspectorate for Environment, Nature and Water. András is an experienced field ornithologist. His friendly and calm manner ensures you will have a great time with him. He has an excellent knowledge in botany and he is familiar with butterflies as well. He has been leading tours to Hungary, Romania and Slovakia.

Monika Szladik
Monika graduated in the faculty of humanities. She is interested in arts, culture and history. Based in Budapest she strengthens the EWH team with the administration, customer care and she is very enthusiastic about showing around our clients in Budapest. She also travelled in Europe, West Africa and South-America. Monika is very kind and caring, likes to accompany the tours, and delight in nature.