Sustainability as an organisation
The African Birdwatching Company strives to achieve positive impact tourism, whereby our actions as a company benefit the regions we travel to and the people we interact with. We believe that sustainability in tourism is crucial for the preservation of Africa’s natural and cultural resources, ensuring that they remain intact for future generations to enjoy. This involves the development of travel products that meets the needs of our guests whilst not impacting on local communities, while still encouraging the protection of natural habitats, wildlife, and cultural heritage. As an organisation we are committed to providing high-quality guiding services to our clients but more importantly authentic and meaningful birdwatching experiences in a sustainable and fair manner.
Ethical guiding practices
The African Birdwatching Company guides are required to sign a code of conduct, committing them to ethical guiding practices which requires them to respect birds, their habitats, and other birdwatchers by minimizing disturbance, staying on established trails, avoiding sensitive areas such as roosting and nesting sites, not using playback recordings for sensitive species, and behaving respectfully toward private property and other birdwatchers
Supporting local initiatives
The African Birdwatching Company is committed to using highly skilled tour leaders across our operations. We are however passionate about local guiding initiatives and do make a point across all our itineraries of supporting local bird guides as a way of showing support for local initiatives. In addition, the African Birdwatching Company is committed to supporting the next generation of guides and is involved in providing opportunities for members of communities adjacent to conservation areas through our support to Ditoro Outreach, a guide training initiative located in the greater Kruger area, South Africa, whose goal is to provide training to members of the local communities, enabling them to qualify as accredited wildlife guides with pathways to employment in the South African guiding industry.
Species conservation
Vultures are one of the most threatened groups of birds on the African continent having declined drastically over the last 30 years, with four of the 11 species now listed as Critically Endangered. The African Birdwatching Company is committed to conserving this iconic group of African birds. At the conclusion of each tour, a contribution is made to the Endangered Wildlife Trust to assist with the purchase of atropine, a drug utilised buy wildlife veterinarians based in the greater Kruger region to stabilise vultures involved in poisoning incidents.