For Johannes, nature study is, just like for many other STARLING tour guides, a lifestyle. As a child he made the Meetjesland – the area he was born – unsafe as a member of JNM. Even now he prefers to be outside in nature basically all the time. His biology study was therefore a logical choice.
Johannes has a broad knowledge: from birds to dragonflies, amphibians, reptiles, butterflies and plants. Prying untouched regions and discovering the fauna and flora are all his thing. As assistant manager of STARLING he is responsible for the organization, administration and promotion of our trips. In addition, he guides several nature tours a year himself.
In his student days he broadened his horizons, and the journeys continued more and more towards the east, always with the label of bird migration. It was a first visit with the Caucasus that led to the now annual bird of prey counts by Batumi Raptor Count, an organization that Johannes co-founded in Georgia and which STARLING is happy to support. The migration count gives a boost to local, small-scale and authentic ecotourism in the region and also works around awareness of natural value and (thereby) tries restricting the hunt. During his master’s thesis, Johannes studied the effect of local hunting on passing birds of prey in Georgia.
Johannes loves Eastern Europe, with several visits to Georgia (which he has visited annually since 2007), Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Poland, Estonia, Lithuania, Hungary and Romania. In addition, Spain, Portugal, Scotland, Morocco, Cyprus, Canary Islands, United States, Canada and Israel are also on the list! He also tasted more exotic destinations, such as Suriname, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Senegal.