Kaieteur News news item, Sunday 10 February 2008
Int'l tour operator highlights Guyana's birdwatching potential
Eagle Eye Tours, a Canadian tour operator that specializes in worldwide bird
watching trips, recently completed its first group tour to Guyana.
The tour was added to the company's roster of destinations after co-owner
and tour guide, Richard Knapton, came to Guyana as part of a bird watching
product familiarization trip sponsored by the Guyana Tourism Authority (GTA)
and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) / Guyana
Trade and Investment Support (GTIS) project Birding Tourism Programme.
The North American participants spent eleven days in Guyana, with
birdwatching stops at Georgetown's Botanical Gardens, Iwokrama Field
Station, Iwokrama Canopy Walkway, Surama Village, Rock View Lodge, Wowetta
Village, Karanambu Ranch, Kaieteur Falls and Shanklands Rainforest Resort.
Knapton, who has led tours to more than 20 countries in his 20 years as
guide, led the group along with several Guyanese bird watching guides.
Reflecting on the recent trip, Knapton said that Guyana may not have the
same number of species as other South American countries such as Ecuador and
Peru, but "there are superlative groups of birds in Guyana, with standouts
like the Cock-of-the-Rock and Harpy Eagle."
Knapton also added that, "many birdwatchers want to see Guiana Shield
species...and this makes Guyana a highly competitive [birding] destination."
Of the birds seen in Guyana, he said his clients were very pleased with the
variety of species they saw on their trip, with too many highlights to list.
Knapton also pointed out that many were pleased to see such healthy
populations of Macaws in the interior, as "it's an indication of pristine
forest that is un-fragmented."
Continuing on this note, Knapton added that, "One of the real beauties of
Guyana is to fly south over the forest and see it unbroken from horizon to
horizon. That is extremely reassuring."
Knapton first came to Guyana in November 2006 on a familiarization trip with
several other international tour operators and media. When asked if this had
an impact on his company's decision to create a tour to Guyana, he said,
"Absolutely.
It's our policy to be [personally] familiar with a destination." Eagle Eye
Tours began designing and selling a Guyana tour immediately after the trip,
and while the normal turnaround time to advertise and sell a new destination
is one year, Knapton reports that he was very pleased with how quickly the
Guyana tour sold out. Noting that Eagle Eye has already received interest in
their next Guyana tour planned for January 2009, he said this "speaks
volumes for the destination."
Knapton then clarified it by adding, "There is a darn good chance of Guyana
becoming a hot Neotropical birdwatching destination."
The Birding Tourism Programme is receiving support from GTIS, a joint
project of the Government of Guyana and the United States Agency for
International Development (USAID).
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