Dr. Diane Zelman from USA
My review on Birding Travel at Facebook: I posted here several months ago looking for a bird guide in Nepal during monsoon season and based on recommendations from Bruce N Berman and some additional searching, we found Shankar Tiwari, we were extraordinarily lucky (at another time of year, I suspect he would have been fully booked).
Shakar is an exceptional guide: deeply knowledgeable, gracious, patient, and genuinely passionate about birds. He is involved in reviewing eBird records for Nepal, and his knowledge of both the birds and the local habitats is remarkable. we spent two days full days with him at Shivapuri National Park and Mt. Phulchowki, and I was also able to spend a few hours birding with him at Ranibari Community Forestin Kathmandu. He seemed to know exactly where to look for everything, including guiding us to four different kinds of Owls.
What I especially appreciated was his generosity as an educator. At Ranibari, when people walking through the park became curious about what we were looking at, Shankar happily stopped to show them the birds and explain what they were seeing.
He was also wonderfully patient with me and my camera. if I wanted to stay with a bird until I finally got the shot I was hoping for, he was every bit as invested in the process as I was.
Shankar is still building out his commercial website at www.wildernessnepal.com, and in the mean time he told me I could share his WhatsApp contact with anyone here who is interested. I recommend him without reservation. I also want to thank those of you who provided recommendations.
Also – it was monsoon. Was it wet? Sometimes, but only sometimes. the first day, pretty wet, but the others, mostly fair. I would not fear monsoon birding.