Birdwatching Training at Eastern Arc Birding
Our ultimate goal is to support the broad conservation of birds and their habitats by including and involving the local communities.
Our Goal:
At Eastern Arc Birding, we are also actively involved in raising the awareness and knowledge of birdlife, by encouraging local communities to value their birds and habitat. We promote the need for increased awareness in our biodiversity and we also train enthusiastic community members to become bird guides.
As part of our commitment to helping the local people and critical bird species, we have launched a birdwatching programme in both Amani and Magamba Nature Reserve to support the Tanzania Forest Service to enhance conservation activities for globally threatened bird species in the Eastern Arc Mountain forests.
We call her the Forest Angel, Malaika wa Msitu in Swahili. She is 8 years old and is keen to learn how to use binoculars and identify and learn about birds. She has come with us on multiple sessions already, and you can see the excitement in her smile.
Participants not only get to experience amazing birding, but also learn about how we work to save our birds from imminent extinction. We work to integrate local knowledge from the communities to invest in and to protect and conserve one of the most Critical Endangered species we have, the Long-billed Forest Warbler (or Tailorbird). This species inhabits forest in only Amani and Nilo Nature Reserves in the East Usambaras.
Our outreach also helps promote eco-tourism for the youth through bird watching, by creating awareness on birds and their habitats in the Usambara Mountains. We provide training focused on youth (school children) and interested local adults, while also encouraging girls and women to participate in bird watching and eco-tourism. This helps to overcome the shortage of people with the relevant skills related to bird guides in the future, and at the same time, offers avenues for future employment.
Eastern Arc Birding has volunteered its resources and expertise to arrange and coordinate weekend birdwatching activities in both Amani and Magamba Nature Reserves. We do not benefit financially from these activities, as our goal is to give back to nature and local communities we work and live with. Our long-term ultimate goal is to support bird conservation in multiple ways because we believe that together we will have tremendous impacts for the local communities and the conservation of remaining forests.
Birdwatching training partners:
USAID Tanzania
Amani Friends of Nature (AFoN)
Tanzania Forest Conservation Group (TFCG)
