With birding being one of the world’s fastest growing hobbies, so much so that in recent times, the expenditure on birding has exceeded that of golf in countries such as the USA to take birding to the top spot as “most popular outdoor pursuit.”
Understanding this multi billion-dollar niche tourism market is the rationale for Enterprise Ilembe developing the recently launched North Coast Birding Route.
The North Coast Birding Route boasts a spectacular bird list of over 460 species; this is more than the entire European continent put together! Much of this diversity is owed to the major ecological transition zone with a great variety of habitats including the coast with many estuaries and lagoons, rare grasslands, a diverse range of forests and woodlands as well as upland cliffs, gorges and valleys.
The impressive Tugela River is at the core of the region, which stretches from Kranskop inland and along the coast from Tinley Manor in the South, covering the Umvoti and Zinkwazi areas, to Amatikulu in the North. The species richness is also evident amongst other life forms. The area boasts the greatest diversity of butterflies and the greatest concentration of the elusive Bushbuck in the country. It also competes with the best in terms of tree and habitat diversity, and is home to many plant, insect, reptile and mammal endemics.
But the North Coast Birding Route is so much more than a collection of birding spots, it’s a vehicle to create employment for bird guides and act as a catalyst for eco-tourism development in areas such as Amatikulu, Otamati Gorge and Kwaloshe Forest where birders literally flock to tick off new and special species such as Swamp Nightjar, Mangrove Kingfisher and African Finfoot. According to Duncan Pritchard, Director of ETC-Africa, project managers for the Zululand and North Coast Birding Routes; Birding routes provide a viable avenue for rural communities to become involved in the tourism industry whilst also integrating socio-economic and conservation needs of an area.
To date five community based bird guides have been trained to operate along the route, these guides receive ongoing mentorship and marketing support from Enterprise Ilembe and other partners such as the Zinkwazi Conservancy. Research undertaken into the community bird guide model further north along the Zululand Birding Route found that the average community bird guide was earning in the region of R2240 per month, R1642 more than they were earning before their involvement in tourism. Guides such as Junior Gabela from Amatikulu have also established other business opportunities around birding such as canoe tours on the estuary and doing environmental education courses with school children.
Mayor of iLembe District Municipality, Cllr S.W. Mdabe commented that he was extremely excited about this niche marketing initiative. “Projects of this nature have the potential of diversifying the tourism product on offer on the North Coast. It offers tourists alternatives to the wonderful beach experience and allows for community participation in the tourism sector”, he said.
Background and Birding Facts and Figures:
Websites:
Contacts:
Vision and mission
Our vision is to develop Northern KwaZulu Natal into the world’s leading birding destination for the benefit of birds, their habitats and communities through responsible avitourism.
We will achieve this by:
- Creating opportunities for local communities to become involved in the tourism economy,
- Providing resources and information
- Develop partnerships along these routes in order to act as a support structure for conservation action, local guides and accredited tourism products.
- Creating partnerships with local stakeholders to provide unique birding experiences
- Training and developing local guides who will operate along the routes with a focus on developing skills and business opportunities for communities along the routes
- Provide a professional Travel services to users of the routes
- Marketing avitourism in the region nationally and internationally for the benefit of all stakeholders
- Ensure that products used and promoted are socially, environmentally and economically responsible.
Avitourism facts
- In the USA just over 40 million of the 70 million birders travel away from home to watch birds (US Fish & Wildlife Service 2001).
- Annual expenditure on bird-watching in the United States in 2001 was estimated at US$32 Billion (R204.8 Billion) (US Fish & Wildlife Service 2001). This type of substantial economic impact from birding is not restricted to developed countries, and in 1999 Costa Rica received over US$400 million (R2560 million) in revenue from birders
- The 2002 SA Tourism domestic tourism survey found that over 50% of South African’s were interested in birds and some level. The most likely book to find on the shelf in a South African home after the Bible is a Bird Book!
- The average monthly income earned by local bird guides was R2240 which was R1642 per month more than what they were earning before their involvement in community-based Avitourism projects with some guides earning in excess of R5000 / month in the busy season. Considering that the average guide supports a family group of over 5 people and generally from communities where unemployment exceeds 50% Avitourism is making a significant impact on people’s lives
- From a conservation and awareness perspective – the Local Guides based in Zululand alone reached over 36 000 people within their communities in 2006.