May 5, 2024
A wonderful day birding and experiencing the island! - I loved taking the birding tour with Binkie, enjoying seeing so many species of birds in the context of beautiful natural places on the island, as well as learning interesting stories about island history, culture and ecology in a relaxed and friendly experience. Thank you!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Feb 21, 2024
Birding with the President - To celebrate the end of 2023 we took a family birding trip with Mr. Binkie van Es, who is a tremendous guide to not only the birds of Saint Martin but is also the President of the Nature Foundation of Sint Maarten. We could not have asked for a more knowledgeable guide. We also applaud his enthusiasm for protecting the wildlife of the island. He showed us with pride a new bird viewing platform that his group had worked hard to implement. In addition to the bird views, we received a complete tour of the island, complete with historical and cultural information. This is a must do.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Feb 16, 2024
Not to be missed! - Binkie was a superb bird guide and a kindred spirit as a human being! We enjoyed visiting his home and bird feeder array!
Review provided by Viator
Feb 16, 2024
Great birding tour! - We loved the morning with Binkie Van Es! A great person, deeply knowledgeable about the birds, a passionate activist for birding and the environment on the island. He knows all "the spots"! We identified 44 species of birds in our morning tour with him. Highly recommended.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Feb 12, 2024
Superb birding tour - This was an excellent tour, expertly guided by the very knowledgeable Binkie. We covered a range of habitats across the island in both Dutch and French areas. I felt personally privileged that everything possible was done to maximise my enjoyment of the tour including coffee at Binkie's house in front of his bird feeders.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Jan 3, 2024
No regrets! - If you are even considering this tour, book it! We made the best of the time we had on the island by having a guide. Having an experience birder as a guide facilitates seeing as many species as possible and learning a little bit about each one. Binkie combined his experience, knowledge and hospitality to facilitate a marvelous day for us. As you drive to each type of habitat, there are ample opportunities to learn about the island, including it's natural and social history. We even saw a mongoose on our tour.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Dec 30, 2023
A personal look at the birds of Sint Maarten/Saint-Martin - Our tour was fantastic! Although we went on the birding tour, our guide Rikke was knowledgeable about all manner of things, from birds and plants to history and local politics. She was very kind and accommodated our group's sprawling eclectic conversations, all while patiently escorting us around the island. Rikke kept apologizing for not finding many birds, even though I believe we saw at least 20 species, which seemed pretty great to us! These included pelicans, frigatebirds, boobies, terns, semi-palmated plovers, killdeers, a couple species of sandpipers, dowitchers, snowy egrets, great egrets, green herons, night herons, great blue herons, white-cheeked pintails, moorhens, American coots, Zenaida doves, Carib grackles, bananaquits, and kingbirds. This tour was definitely essential to get acquainted with the island's birds, plus we gained a better understanding of the island as a whole. And the homemade banana bread and iced lemongrass tea she brought us were terrific!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Dec 24, 2023
Exceptional birding tour of the Island - We had a wonderful Birding tour with Binkie. We made it to several great birding spots with a very knowledgeable guide! Numerous Salt Ponds with several new birds sighted, Brown Pelican breeding location to a special location where we saw Bananaquits and a Green-throated Carib. We saw areas on both the Dutch and French sides of the island and Binkie was a wealth of information on all aspects of the island life, the cultural differences of the island and of course bird related information. Thanks again!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Dec 11, 2023
Fantastic tour! - This was better than I imagined! Binkie is a very knowledgeable, wonderful guide. It was just me and my husband so it was personalized. He took us all over the island, stopped when we wanted pictures, and answered all our questions with history and humor. Highly, highly recommend!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Aug 15, 2023
Great guide - The guide is a very nice man with a lot of knowledge about birds. What I found most remarkable were the pelicans, but the small birds were also very beautiful.
Review provided by Viator