Our Story

The university based SAKERTOURS is a high quality Birdwatching and Hide Photography Company with over 30 years of professional experience in habitat conservation, biodiversity research and ecotourism.

1. Our birding activity was initiated by young Hortobágy ornithologists in 1992 with pioneering ’Sakertrip’ with our senior guide Zoltán Ecsedi.
2. Our ground agency was established in 1994 by Prof. J. Oláh in cooperation with over a dozen of worldwide birdwatching tour operators.
3. Our agency for bird hide photography was established by installing sophisticated professional ground, water and canopy nature inbuilt hide systems with photo-through panorama windows in 2007 by J. Oláh, Jr. and his friends. Withthis we were amongst the very first companies in Europe to offer Hide Photography tours!
4. Our birding activity was expanded to the Danube Delta in 2009 when Zoltán Baczó joined the SAKERTOURS team.
5. Our hide photography was expanded to the Danube Delta region in 2011 where we were also pioneers to offer hide based bird-photography tours and where we have have unrivalled experience now!
6. Brown Bear photography hides were installed and tested in 2013, and nowadays we have the best hide system in Transylvania offering great possibilities for bear photography!
7. In 2020 we started to elaborate and organize our mammal wathcing tours in the region, and yet again pioneering such tours in Romania.
8. Over 500 birdwatching, mammal watching and hide-photography tours have been successfully completed in Eastern Europe between 1994 and 2024.
9. Our guides and team still working continuously to design new tours, new hides and to show the incredible wildlife of Eatern Europe to our clinets and friends!

Our bird destinations

We are specialised in birdwatching tours and bird hide photography in Central and Eastern Europe, covering countries of Hungary, Slovakia and Romania. All the important Eastern European bird species are perfectly represented in our destinations. We are the only company based in the Hortobágy National Park in Hungary which is the key birdwatching site in the region. Our company is run by birders and photographers to cater for birders and photographers. We know your needs and we know where to find the birds you want! We have unrivalled local knowledge in these finest birdwatching habitats of Europe. Simply because we live, work and strive to conserve nature in these habitats every day.

1. Hortobágy National Park (World Heritage area in Hungary)
2. Zemplén Forest Reserve (with Tokaj World Heritage Area in Hungary)
3. Slovakia Pine Forest (crossborder Slovakia – Slovenski Raj NP)
4. Transylvania forest and gorges (with Torockó World Heritage Area in Romania)
5. Danube Delta and its lagoon complex (Biosphere Reserve in Romania)
6. Dobrudja Plains (adjacent to the Danube Delta)
7. Macin Mountain National Park (Isolated Mountain Range)

We conserve and use nature resources. What are resources?

1. Resources are wealth or commodities satisfying human needs.
2. Resources are manifested in the production and consumption of goods and services.
3. There are only natural resources, everything comes from nature.
4. Even human and infrastructural resources originate from nature.
5. Resources are produced, maintained and sustained by nature and biodiversity.
6. Biodiversity produces all the economy and life supporting ecosystem services.

Resources for ecotourism

1. The resource for birdwatching and hide photography is biodiversity.
2. Biodiversity generates and produces life supporting ecosystem services for everybody.
3. Watching the wonder of biodiversity brings humans back to nature.
4. This is the greatest satisfaction of the modern man imprisoned in a world of artifacts.

SAKERTOURS resources

1. Our resource is a careful selection of natural habitats at the seven birding destinations, easy to visit and explore.
2. The intimate and ultimate local knowledge to show you all the Eastern European bird specialities is a practical result or by-product of our local research and restoration activities.
3. Our academic abilities and project activities in research, conservation and restoration of biodiversity are our specific resources distinguishing SAKERTOURS from many of the commercial agencies.
4. Our research, conservation and restoration projects are implemented or run in cooperation with several institutions listed at links.
5. Some of our recently completed or current research, conservation and restoration projects are listed at conservation.