Our Tour Leaders

Our tour leaders are local experts that are more than familiar with the places to be visited. They are wildlife enthusiasts always ready to answer your questions and show you all the peculiarities the areas can offer.

Dimiter Georgiev : Managing director and tour leader

Dimiter Georgiev

Managing director and tour leader

Dimiter lives in the city of Varna on the northern Bulgarian Black Sea coast. He has graduated in forestry, completing his Master's thesis on the conservation of birds and habitats of the Kamchia flooded forests - the biggest riverine forest complex along the Bulgarian coast.

Dimiter has worked on various projects focusing on the studying and conservation of Bulgarian birds, like the monitoring and conservation of the wintering Red-breasted Geese in Coastal Dobroudzha, studying the autumn migration along the Via Pontica Flyway, establishing the Nature 2000 areas network in Bulgaria.

Having led a big number of birdwatching and natural history tours, Dimiter has accumulated a great knowledge and experience and can help you find and explore the best birding places in Bulgaria and the other Balkan countries. He believes that the environment friendly tourism will greatly contribute to improving the life of local people and will raise their awareness to wildlife and nature conservation.

Simeon Gigov : Tour leader

Simeon Gigov

Tour leader

Simeon is an experienced ecologist, ornithologist and leader of birdwatching and natural history tours. He is also a dedicated conservationist and has participated in numerous ornithological studies and conservation projects, such as the establishing of the ecological network Natura 2000 in northwestern Bulgaria, monitoring of the wintering population of the Red-breasted Goose in Bulgaria, mid-winter waterfowl counts, monitoring of common bird species in Bulgaria and others. With his experience and expertise Simeon has contributed to numerous scientific publications with practical conservation focus.

Simeon has a bachelor degree in tourism management and interest in wildlife photography, trekking and sports.

Being a very skillful birder with great conservation and natural history knowledge, Simeon is extremely popular with our special interest customers. He has a long-term guiding experience with Neophron Tours and has also spent two summers in Denali National Park in Alaska.

Daniel Mitev : Tour leader

Daniel Mitev

Tour leader

Daniel has more than 30 years of experience as ornithologist and conservationist. He has been guiding birding tours since 2012.

He has been closely involved in the conservation of the wintering population of the Red-breasted Goose in north-eastern Bulgaria, responsible for the field conservation activities. Other projects in which he has participated are studying the autumn migration of soaring birds along the western Black sea coast, establishing the NATURA 2000 network of protected areas in Bulgaria, studying raptor populations in Kamtchiiska Mountain and others.

Daniel holds a master’s degree in Veterinary Medicine from the Thracian University in Stara Zagora. He has worked for 10 years in USA and has a good experience with North American birds too.

Vladimir Petrov : Tour leader

Vladimir Petrov

Tour leader

Vladimir (Vlado) is guiding Neophron Tours’ birding and natural history tours. He has graduated in major ecology and environmental protection from Sofia University. His master’s thesis is in hydro-biology and aqua cultures.

Vlado has been a part of different conservation and scientific projects, mainly ornithological: mapping of nesting birds, research of bird populations in abandoned farmlands, reintroduction of the Red-footed Falcon, mid-winter waterfowl counts, wintering Red-breasted Geese surveys, migration surveys etc. He has also spent a mount ringing alpine birds in Picos de Europa National Park, Spain.

Vlado has some experience with mammal and reptile research too: Marbled and Steppe Polecats, bat counts and ringing, general monitoring of mammalian wildlife, collecting DNA samples from Nose-horned Vipers, etc.

His hobbies include hiking, kayaking and speleology.

Asen Ignatov : Tour leader and wildlife artist

Asen Ignatov

Tour leader and wildlife artist

Assen is one of the most popular wildlife guides in Bulgaria. He holds a MSc in biology and zoology and currently works at the National Natural History Museum.

Apart from his scientific background, Assen is also an excellent wildlife photographer and artist with numerous exhibitions in art galleries in the country and abroad. His watercolor drawings and paintings are featured in various books, magazines and other publications, among which the Bulgarian edition of the National Geographic. His many awards include the Birdwatch Artist of the Year 2002.

Assen leads birdwatching, butterfly, natural history, wildlife art and photography tours. Because of his knowledge, preciseness and attentive nature the tours he guides are really delightful.

Dimitar Dimitrov : Tour leader

Dimitar Dimitrov

Tour leader

Dimitar (Mitko) comes from Kavarna, NE Bulgaria. Captivated by the bird diversity and wildlife of his native Dobrogea region from an early age, it was quite natural for him to graduate from the Biology Faculty of Sofia University. His master's degree is in Vertebrate Zoology.

Mitko currently lives in Sofia. Over the last 10 years, he has spent countless hours in the field and participated in projects for a number of environmental organizations. Besides bird watching, his interests include wildlife photography, drawing (scientific illustration) and hiking. As a birding tour guide he shows the same kind of enthusiasm and eagerness to share his passion for birds and nature.

Teodor Trifonov : Tour leader

Teodor Trifonov

Tour leader

Teodor has been fascinated by wildlife since his early childhood and is a keen zoologist with broad interests. His main focus is on the ecology of insects and birds and he is currently working on his PhD at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. He finished his Bachelor and Master's degrees at the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg with a major in ecology and evolution.

Teodor is a certified ringer and spends most of his free time birding around the country. During the years he has participated in many conservation and monitoring projects and has significant experience working with people in different fields. He is a passionate traveler and some of his hobbies include hiking, photography and sports. He is fluent in English and German.

Marina Georgieva : Communications officer and tour guide

Marina Georgieva

Communications officer and tour guide

Marina Georgieva is an expert in communication and public relations in the field of nature conservation and ecotourism. She has been fascinated by wildlife and the natural world since a very early age.

Marina has worked on international projects of leading environmental organisations in Bulgaria and has extensive experience in designing and implementing communication strategies and plans, organising communication and public events, working with the media and building publicity and visibility of results, developing and promoting tourism products and packages.

Marina is more than familiar with Bulgarian history, culture and nature and guides some of our natural and cultural heritage tours.

Viktor Vasilev : Tour guide

Viktor Vasilev

Tour guide

Viktor is an experienced ornithologist and professor of zoology at the University of Shumen, NE Bulgaria. For more than 35 years he has been working as a biologist in the field of nature conservation, including ecological reports, surveys, expert opinions and monitoring projects.

Since his early childhood he has been fascinated by nature, drawing, observing and photographing birds being his greatest hobby. He is now an accomplished wildlife artist, his works illustrate numerous natural history publications and his archive contains thousands of watercolor and pencil drawings of birds, other vertebrates and insects.

Mihaela Yordanova : Tour leader

Mihaela Yordanova

Tour leader

Mihaela is a botanist, currently working on her PhD at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. Besides leading botanical, natural history and trekking tours, Michaela is an active conservationist. Since 1996 she has taken part in different biodiversity projects and is popular with quite a number of the Bulgarian nature conservation NGOs.

Michaela's professional skills, inquisitive nature and charming personality are a promise for an excellent tour. Michaela is fluent in German and English.

Vladimir Trifonov : Tour leader

Vladimir Trifonov

Tour leader

Vladimir (Vlado) has master's degree in ecology, with thesis in the field of botany and environmental protection. Over the last 15 years Vlado has been involved in the monitoring of vascular plants in the Eastern Rhodope region, in the mapping of habitats of European importance in the NATURA 2000 areas, in research, conservation and monitoring of the Griffon Vulture and the Imperial Eagle. Being is a dedicated conservationist, he has participated in the process of designation of new protected areas, as well as in numerous projects related to exploration, conservation and biodiversity monitoring. He is the author of the action plan for the endemic Rhodope lily (Lilium rhodopaeum) and tour leader of our natural history and botany tours in Bulgaria.

Since 2003 he has been working for the Ministry of Environment and Water - Regional Inspectorate - Haskovo, where he is responsible for the conservation of protected plant and animal species, protected areas, the national biodiversity monitoring system and others.

Strahil Peev : Tour leader

Strahil Peev

Tour leader

Strahil has been interested in bird ringing and birdwatching since childhood. He has graduated from Sofia University with MSc in Ecology and currently is a PhD student at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences working on the role of migratory birds for the distribution of avian malaria through Europe and Africa.

During the last 10 years Strahil has participated in many scientific projects. His main interests are in the field of ornithology: ecology, migration, breeding biology and parasites of birds. Strahil is also involved in monitoring autumn migration of soaring birds and wintering Red-breasted geese in a wind farm near the northern Black Sea coast. He is a licensed ringer and has experience as a field ornithologist from ringing stations in Italy, Sweden and Croatia.

Strahil's passion for birdwatching has led him to travel across countries with rich avifauna: Thailand, USA, Colombia, Spain, Turkey, etc. In his free time he enjoys leading bird watching tours in Bulgaria and other Balkan countries. He is fluent in English and Spanish.

Svetoslav Stoyanov : Tour leader

Svetoslav Stoyanov

Tour leader

Svetoslav has a degree in Ecology and Environmental Protection from Shumen University. Since childhood he has been interested in nature and especially fauna. During his studies at the university, he met a professor who ignited his passion for ornithology. He became involved in projects related to bird migration, such as mapping breeding bird fauna in Bulgaria, counting wintering waterfowl, etc. Svetoslav participates in surveys of migratory and breeding birds and bats on the territory of wind farms. He is also engaged in conservation activities on the Shumen Plateau and other parts of the country.

Svetoslav guides birding and natural history tours in Bulgaria.

 

Chris Day : Tour leader

Chris Day

Tour leader

Originally from Essex, England, Chris has been visiting Bulgaria for the last two decades and has traveled here extensively. He has had a lifelong passion for the natural world, and in particular its avifauna, which he is always eager to share with others.

In his time here he has participated in various scientific projects including mid-winter wildfowl counts, and has recently been responsible for overseeing our nestbox program for Semicollared Flycatchers on the Black Sea coast.

He has also traveled (and birded widely ) in Romania, Greece and Spain in pursuit of his passion. Chris guides some of our shorter birding tours in Bulgaria.

Neville Davies : Tour leader

Neville Davies

Tour leader

Neville has been studying birds and wildlife for over 30 years and has written five books on ornithology, including a bird guide to Mallorca and a book on the Eurasian Hoopoe. He writes a weekly wildlife column for the Mallorca Daily Bulletin.

With extensive knowledge of the island of Lesbos in the Aegean, Mallorca in the Mediterranean and mainland Spain, he has led private and group tours to these destinations to see a wonderful variety of birds.

Neville guides our birding tours to Mallorca and Lesbos.

Nikolai Kraneis : Tour leader

Nikolai Kraneis

Tour leader

Born in Sofia in 1967, Nikolai has extensive ornithological knowledge of the Bulgarian ornithofauna. He is a Founder member of the Bulgarian Ornithological Society in 1988.

Nikolai has been actively involved in bird conservation projects in the Burgas region, Bulgaria, and contributed to scientific (ornithological) illustrations for Bulgarian and later German publishers. He has also studied veterinary medicine at the Humboldt University in Berlin. He now works as a web and graphic designer and lives in Bad Belzig (Fläming), not far from the Belzig landscape meadows. Nikolai guides ornithological groups, mainly from Germany, Great Britain and the Netherlands, in Bulgaria.