Central Asia Birding tourleaders

Machiel Valkenburg is a partner in Central Asia Birding, born in Holland but residing now in Kazakhstan where he runs the daily management of Central Asia Birding. He has an excellent ear for bird sounds and a keen eye. Nowadays he also counts butterflies to his expertise and is developing himself more and more in the field of Asian nature. Machiel is a devoted traveller, making trips in Europe, Africa and Asia. The former Soviet Union countries and their avifauna however have a special place in his hart. Lately, extensive travelling to Central Asia has resulted in the founding of Central Asia Birding. He has a calm approach. Respect, good atmosphere and a good laugh combined with good birding are keywords for trips guided by Machiel.
 





 

Madina Dyussebayeva is a partner in Central Asia Birding and the wife to Machiel. She is born in Almaty but lived all her life just outside this metropolis. She graduated in 2004 at the faculty of International Tourism in Almaty. She has been a manager in the tourism branch for over 6 years, speaking English, Russian, Ukrainian and Kazakh. Her main interests are the cultures and traditions of Central Asia. Besides this interests she is a real nature lover. Plants, birds and butterflies have her special interest. Madina will join the tours as guide/interpreter.







Arnoud B van den Berg is living in the Netherlands, where he is editor and co-founder of Dutch Birding and one of the leading forces of The Sound Approach, http://www.soundapproach.co.uk. He is also a well known bird photographer, sound recordist and a prolific author, too! As a tour guide for Limosa Holidays in the UK, since 1991, he has led many tours, and has made many pioneering trips through France, Morocco and the Netherlands in particular. Lately Central Asia and in particular Kazakhstan came up, and this has led to guiding tours in this part of the world. His interests are also shown by his membership of the rarity and taxonomy committees in these countries. Arnoud is available for guiding in Kazakhstan.







Wouter Faveyts was born in Belgium, birding as long as he can remember. Wouter is the co-founder of the local bird club at his home town. Member of the editorial board of one of the biggest birding magazine in Belgium, “Natuur.oriolus” , in which he regularly publishes articles. Also he is a member of the Belgian Rarity Committee. He regularly leads organized bird walks. Besides many trips within Europe, he has ventured one or more times to North America, the Middle East and Africa with mostly raptors on his mind. He has a law degree, with a specialization in environmental law. Currently he works for the governmental Agency of Nature and Forests of Belgium as a judicial adviser. His interests are broad, also beyond nature and birds: there’s more to life than birds for him, but it would be impossible to live a life without!

Vladimir Kolbintsev is born and raised in Kazakhstan. He lives near the Aksu Dzhabagly Nature Reserve. Until recently he was a research scientist at the reserve. Here he studied the rare species of vertebrate animals and plants for various Red Data Books. ‘Vlad’, as we call him, has an extraordinary knowledge of local natural history. Besides he is a very keen birder, with also great interest and knowledge of plants and butterflies. Vladimir is a pleasant person with great love for the ecosystem that he lives in and is fluently in English!

Alyona Shmalenko was born in the former Soviet Union city of Ust-Kamenogorsk which is currently located in the Republic of Kazakhstan. She is a student in her graduation year at the Tourism Faculty in Almaty where she is writing her theses about ecotourism and avifauna travel in particular. She studies the avifauna of Central Asia with a lot of passion and tries to make fellow countrymen aware of the beauty that Kazakhstan has to offer. She is fluently in Russian, Ukrainian and English.