Discover Mtubatuba and its links to the Greater St. Lucia wetlands park along the Elephant Coast of KZN South africa

iSimangaliso Birding Route, Elephant Coast KZN South Africa  Developement notes
[Isimangaliso] [Bookings] [Environmental] [Plan] [Birds]
Birding is becoming more popular amongst the younger people, than ever before. This is opening up new markets for those with any knowledge of birds, or their habitats. Many of the local residents within the rural areas of the Elephant Coast and the greater St. Lucia Wetlands Park on the East Coast of KZN South Africa have had no exposure to this type of tourist, and have no clue as to the needs of the keen birder. Daily sightings of rare, endemic and uncommon birds are part of their everyday life, which is not appreciated, as these people have no knowledge of the difficulties and extremes that city dwellers and other interested parties go to, to be able to see these birds in their natural habitats

Isimangaliso
Hides
Training
Knowledge base
Web site

These hides need to be carefully planned and placed at extremely favorable locations, so as to ensure that the birders get to see what they have paid for.  The owner of the property where each hide is located needs to be involved in setting up the hide as these hides will need to

bulletBe spacious and have drinking water.
bulletHave seating and standing space for the birders and a guide.
bulletHave well planned clean ablution facilities and toilets,  
bulletHave good views of specific habitat suitable for the target species of the the hide,
bullet Have relatively good road access to a safe parking area.
bulletBe serviced and perhaps offer meals such as early break fast, brunch, afternoon tea, or early dinner.
 This project involves the setting up of numerous bird hides at strategic locations, which may be booked out at a fee on a daily basis. Staff from isimangaliso Birding Co-op or Members of isimangaliso Birding Co=op  will drive the birders to the hide and collect them again at an arranged time, or move them from hide to hide during the day, for a negotiated fee.

This will create Jobs for the local population in the tourism industry as suppliers of a service to the birding community. This will not be too difficult to put in place as the hides may be constructed cheaply from mostly locally available materials such as reads, grasses and other natural materials. The major expense will be a good clean toilet, and perhaps an area where meals may be prepared and served for those at the hide. This project will have a variety of spin offs, besides job creation,  including better protection of the environment and a deeper understanding of environments value as a tourism draw card, by the people who live within the greater St. Lucia Wetlands Park and surrounding areas.

Examples of good locations.

 

Special thanx to Kenneth Newman for his great book Newman's Birds of Southern Africa which has inspired many keen birders over the years. Special thanx to SAPPI  for their sponsorship of Newman's Birds of Southern Africa (7th Edition)    Contact iSimangaliso Birding Route by e-mail  
Privacy policy legal notice Mtuba4u   home
Hosted by Internet services forafrica

Discover Mtubatuba, the Elephant Coast and the Greater St. Lucia wetlands payk of KZN south africa

These pages have been developed and made available to the public by Info4u , Mtuba4u Ikhwezi Marketing Services , Sangena tours,  forafrica Internet services and other interested parties within the tourism industry of the iSimangaliso Wetland park of KZN South Africa, to begin promotion of iSimangaliso Birding Route and associated tour operators of the region.