ANALYSE THE JUST CONCLUDED AFRICAN BIRDING EXPO IN UGANDA
As its website describes, the African Birding Expo (ABE) is a unique event that showcases the continent and successfully promotes Uganda as a premier birding destination. Furthermore, the expo showcases all key stakeholders, including hotels, bird guides, tour operators, and conservation areas. It especially highlights Important Birding Areas (IBAs) while also recognising the local communities that foster the vital co-existence between humans and wildlife.
Although official guiding duties prevented me from exhibiting at the 2019 Birding Expo, I received detailed briefings on the event’s success. Hosted buyers felt astonished by Uganda’s natural gifts and endemic bird species; specifically, Andrew J. Sebastian from the Asia Birding Expo marvelled at the local expertise. He noted that every site guide and game Ranger demonstrated profound birding knowledge rather than merely acting as gatekeepers.
Uganda hosts 1,080 bird species, which account for 11% of global bird diversity. Consequently, enthusiasts regard it as Africa’s premier birding destination. Because the country concentrates many species within large protected wilderness areas, it offers the most leisurely bird-watching experience in eastern and central tropical Africa.
Uganda packs more bird species.
Uganda packs more bird species per square kilometre than any other African nation. Although it is only the size of the UK, the country boasts over 1,080 species, which represents about 50% of the continent’s total bird population. Consequently, this incredible diversity thrives because of Uganda’s varied habitats, ranging from arid semi-deserts and savannahs to rainforests, wetlands, and volcanoes.
Well, with all the above opportunities, what puzzles me is why Uganda is still receiving a low turnover of tourists who wish to visit this “pearl of Africa” despite the above gold it has? Each spring (May), Central Park in New York City attracts almost 80% of the city’s birders.
Birders return for the migration because warblers and other species stop here to refuel. Although enthusiasts spend the entire day sweeping through the Park in search of rare sightings, they occasionally top 100 species. However, even with this concerted effort, they may find only two or three new species compared with the number recorded by experts each year.
If a small designated area, like Central Park in Manhattan, New York City, is between the Upper West Side and the Upper East Side. Central Park can receive 80% of New York birders in May (spring) alone. How can a country gifted by nature, the pearl of Africa, with 1,080 bird species, increase its number of visitors (bird watchers) annually? We believe that with all the endemic species Uganda has, and through continuous conservation awareness, expos, etc., the number of bird watchers in Uganda will increase.
AS A TOURISM ENTHUSIAST, WHAT’S YOUR SAY?