Rare bird species boost tourism in angola

RARE species of birds in Angola’s Tundavala region are attracting international bird watchers to the country, news website

Macauhub reports.

Noam Shany, director of Spanish company Promised Land Ventures, told the online publication that the region has many rare and endemic birds, including the white-headed barbet, the Angola cave chat, the Angola waxbill, Harter’s camaroptera, the Angola slaty flycatcher, Oustalet’s sunbird and Swierstra’s francolin.

In addition to the seven endemic species, there are 15 other rare birds that are only found in Angola, as well as 31 species with limited distribution, occurring only in Angola and neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Shany said there were 120 million bird watchers around the world, many of whom wanted to visit to complete their viewing lists.

“Angola is a country rich in urban tourism monuments but has a strong potential to develop ecotourism. Angola is perfect for nature tourism, and we would add that the whole continent is favourable for that,” he said at the end of a training course for 13 tourist guides.

The Focus on Bird Tourism project has so far trained 28 young people.

Many companies have catered for the demand.

Birding Africa hosts Angola Birding Tours, led by Angola expert Michael Mills.

Travellers can view among others the red-crested turaco, red-backed mouse bird or the Swierstra’s spurfowl.

The red-crested turaco (shown left) is one of the rare bird species you can see in Angola (Photo: Dick Daniels Wikimedia Commons). | ANA Reporter