Meet Our Guides

Chewang Rinchen Bonpo, the founder member of the Sikkim Birding Tours, a keen naturalist and a photographer hails from Kewzing Village, South Sikkim where he owns bonfarmhouse a birding lodge . He has dedicated his life in search for the beauty of the wildlife in the wild places of North-east India over 16 years. He has been leading a number of birding tours around the remote and wild places of North-East India in the states of Sikkim, North Bengal, Bhutan, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, and Nagaland. Over the last 16 years of working in the field, he has learned the calls of around seven hundred bird species and has achieved some rare photographs of the Red Panda, White-bellied Heron, Blyth’s Kingfisher, Blyth’s Tragopan, Mishmi Wren Babbler and many more. He has contributed many scientific data for Ornithology like the new range of critically endangered Bugun Liochichla near Bomdila (2011), the Addition of Yunnan Nuthatch to Indian Sub-continent (2014) and published “Birds of Sikkim- a pictorial guide to 100 birds of Sikkim”. He is a graduate in Tourism Management from the Indian Institute of Tourism & Travel Management, Govt. of India. He is also associated with All India Birding Tours, founded by Peter Lobo, as a tour leader and has guided numerous tours in Eastern Himalayas. He is fluent in English, Hindi, and Nepali.

Urgen Yonzon is an energetic experienced and knowledgeable guide in the field of Buddhism, trekking, botany, and birds of the Himalayas. He started his carrier as a local village guide and is now an expert in birds of the Eastern Himalayas under the guidance of Chewang Bonpo. He has been leading a number of guided birding tours to Sikkim over the past 10 years of his guiding profession. He has recorded some of the important sightings like the Amur Falcon (in Kewzing, Sikkim) on its passage migration to distance breeding grounds. He is very hardworking in the field and a good trekker in high altitude of Sikkim. He is fluent in English, Hindi and Nepali.

Nayan Moktan hails from the village of Latpancher and is a very keen birder who has recorded some of the rare birds around Latpancher Village like the Blue-nape Pitta, Hodgonson’s Frogmouth, Green Cochoa, Purple Cochoa and is always on the lookout for rare birds around Latpancher. He has a vast knowledge of the flora and fauna of Mahananda Wildlife Sanctuary, as he has surveyed the sanctuary multiple times on his foot. He is fluent in English, Hindi, Nepali and Kannad.