review on ‘Oostvaarders Lakes’ May, 2023
We had a great day birding with Emile in Oostvaardersplassen. Emile picked us up at our hotel in Amsterdam and guided us on a very productive route through Oostvaardersplassen. Which for the rest of us means it is newly reclaimed land from the sea some 70 years ago but is now pasture and forest. A beautiful and interesting place. And more importantly, very birdy! He is considerate of requests and even brought along mid-day coffee and cookies! Emile was so good at getting us on the bird. Rather than just naming off the birds, he would make sure we saw it, described it, and were able to identify it ourselves with that “aha!” feeling when you recognize and identify a “lifer”. We highly recommend Emile if you want a great day of birding in the Netherlands. We saw 50+ species, and 38 lifers!