Birders' Exchange Recipients
Rural Tourism and Bird watching in Venezuela
by Rosa Elena Albornoz M./ Ecoturave - August 2007
The last weekend of July, at the town of Guayabital in the Sucre Municipality of the State of Portuguesa in Venezuela, a first bird watching training course was developed under the name of Fundamentos básicos para la identificación y observación de aves [Basic Fundamentals for the Identification and Observation of Birds] given by Ecoturave, under the cooperation of the Instituto Interamericano de Cooperación Agrí¬cola (IICA) [Inter-American Institute for Agricultural Cooperation] as well as the Secretarí¬a de Desarrollo Económico [Economic Development Secretariat] of the State of Portuguesa and their rural tourism project in this state. The informative and audiovisual material was adapted to the area's needs, taking into account and emphasizing the possible bird's check lists that may exist considering that there are appealing areas in order to create new bird watching routes, being Guayabital only 45 minutes apart from the border with Guaramacal National Park in the State of Trujillo at 1700 m.s.n.m.
Coffee as a crop requires for trees to provide shade, which is why the area that goes from Guayabital to Paramito is ideal for bird watching, even with the presence of small populated areas. As tireless travelers and promoters of rural areas with bird watching potential, Ecoturave, along with the course's members, stated that this coffee zone was wholesome by having observed various birds, among which there was a species in danger of extinction, which means that this place has ideal characteristics to do bird watching year round.
The rural tourism project seeks to complement the basic economic activities for the development of communities with low impact tourism that may progress along, and in line with agricultural and dairy production. Portuguesa has recently begun with these projects hand in hand with their government, being assessed by the Instituto Interamericano de Cooperación Agrí¬cola, an institute that has made Costa Rica position itself not only as an agricultural producer, but as a setting-example country regarding agro-tourism in the American continent.
Among other areas there is Guanarito, an area of the plains in the State of Portuguesa that also has all the potential in order to complement the bird offer and the bird watching, joint with the area of the Andean foothills which is an area with a great amount of birds.
A great support for Ecoturave's development of these courses has been the observation equipment donated by the Birders' Exchange program, which - on January 2007 -donated eight used binoculars in great shape to Ecoturave for the efforts of conservation of natural resources in Venezuela. Without this equipment it is impossible to develop the practical part of this activity and recognize the birds in the following path of observation and monitoring. The members of the course come from the State of Portuguesa's Municipality and now it will be them who will have the task of carrying on these initiatives and evaluation of the importance of bird watching as a rural tourism activity maintaining the concept of bird conservation in each one of the municipalities from the State of Portuguesa.
It is a great honor for Ecoturave to participate in these initiatives and even -because nothing is by chance- is before the presence of the state that is able of developing a positive movement for birds. Guanare, the state's capital, born in the banks of the Guanaguanare River, is translated as a place for seagulls or seagull refugee, as the natives have designated it. If birds are the subject then with only its name "Guanare", Portuguesa is a place of birds; and without a doubt an ideal project for bird watching and conservation.