(15 January 2014)
During my time in Kenya, I was most interested in seeing the birds. Prior to my safari trip I purchased the Birds of Kenya book by Zimmerman, Turner, Pearson, and Willis. This guidebook is excellent and I highly recommend it.
I found out that birding can be a challenge in Kenya. Often some of the best spots are the most unexpected, like rest areas and hotels. In addition, most of the groups that come to Kenya only want to see the large mammalian predators, not birds. Few people want to stop for a drab brown bird and none of the ecolodges or national parks we visited had proper bird checklists available for tourists. This makes identification of bird species more difficult because it requires not only flipping through a large book, but also cross referencing many species range maps contained within the back sections of most books. Since there are over 1100 species of birds in Kenya, some of the more challenging identifications can take long time for a newcomer.
I was lucky that Isaac, one of our driver/guides, had eagle-eye bird location vision and was also highly knowledgeable about many of Kenya's birds. Our other driver/guide, Chris, also had a great deal of knowledge about birds. Without them I would have been quite lost and it would have taken me even longer to identify relatively common birds. One of the askari guards, Joseph at El Karama, impressed me the most with his ability to identify birds by ear- a rarity in Kenya.
What I learned from this experience is that tourism and guide training certifications put bird knowledge behind other types of ecological identification skills, like mammal or tree identification. Isaac did tell me that bird watching safaris were gaining in popularity and that he has been challenging himself to learn the birds because "they are the most difficult."
During my time in Kenya, I was most interested in seeing the birds. Prior to my safari trip I purchased the Birds of Kenya book by Zimmerman, Turner, Pearson, and Willis. This guidebook is excellent and I highly recommend it.
I found out that birding can be a challenge in Kenya. Often some of the best spots are the most unexpected, like rest areas and hotels. In addition, most of the groups that come to Kenya only want to see the large mammalian predators, not birds. Few people want to stop for a drab brown bird and none of the ecolodges or national parks we visited had proper bird checklists available for tourists. This makes identification of bird species more difficult because it requires not only flipping through a large book, but also cross referencing many species range maps contained within the back sections of most books. Since there are over 1100 species of birds in Kenya, some of the more challenging identifications can take long time for a newcomer.
I was lucky that Isaac, one of our driver/guides, had eagle-eye bird location vision and was also highly knowledgeable about many of Kenya's birds. Our other driver/guide, Chris, also had a great deal of knowledge about birds. Without them I would have been quite lost and it would have taken me even longer to identify relatively common birds. One of the askari guards, Joseph at El Karama, impressed me the most with his ability to identify birds by ear- a rarity in Kenya.
What I learned from this experience is that tourism and guide training certifications put bird knowledge behind other types of ecological identification skills, like mammal or tree identification. Isaac did tell me that bird watching safaris were gaining in popularity and that he has been challenging himself to learn the birds because "they are the most difficult."
In Kenya, the majority of the protected areas have been established to help preserve habitat for the Big Five species (elephants, leopards, lions, Cape buffalo, and rhinoceros). Not surprisingly, these animals have become the focus of much of the safari tourism in Kenya. Thus, many of the small creatures, like drab little brown birds, are for the most part ignored. Indeed, there are entire groups of bird species that no one has researched. This has created a situation where there are some species whose habits, habitats and conservation status, are unknown, even though there is a considerable presence from bird-focused international non-profit groups working in Kenya and the Rift Valley.
To improve avian species conservation and bird watching ecotourism activities in Kenya, I suggest that we use the big things to provide a conservation framework for the small.
I would not argue that Kenya's large animals do not require more space then they have been allocated and that improving habitat connectivity for predators and large mammals should be anything less than a top priority. But equally important to consider are the other animals in the ecosystem, the small drab looking ones that do not get your average tourist reaching for their cameras.
Many of the game reserves and protected areas in Kenya harbor diverse communities of birds that are being ignored in favor of animals that create conflict with humans or bring in big tourism dollars, like leopards and elephants. Globally, bird watching is a huge business, and the development of specialized birding trails within game reserves, national parks, and other protected areas in Kenya can be expected to increase revenues. The creation of bird species checklists for tourists would make this activity easier for novices to engage in, facilitate opportunities to diversify ecotourism revenues, improve educational resources, and expand regional sustainable development networks.
To improve avian species conservation and bird watching ecotourism activities in Kenya, I suggest that we use the big things to provide a conservation framework for the small.
I would not argue that Kenya's large animals do not require more space then they have been allocated and that improving habitat connectivity for predators and large mammals should be anything less than a top priority. But equally important to consider are the other animals in the ecosystem, the small drab looking ones that do not get your average tourist reaching for their cameras.
Many of the game reserves and protected areas in Kenya harbor diverse communities of birds that are being ignored in favor of animals that create conflict with humans or bring in big tourism dollars, like leopards and elephants. Globally, bird watching is a huge business, and the development of specialized birding trails within game reserves, national parks, and other protected areas in Kenya can be expected to increase revenues. The creation of bird species checklists for tourists would make this activity easier for novices to engage in, facilitate opportunities to diversify ecotourism revenues, improve educational resources, and expand regional sustainable development networks.
Makes sense right??