Original title: Eco-tourism in South America is quietly rising, and Chinese tourists go to Colombia to look for birds
Bird photography enthusiasts are focusing on the Guyanaan crested umbrella bird, unique to the Amazon basin in South America. Photo by Andrés Bermúdez Liévano
"We have to wait quietly for 10 minutes, and only if we don't move at all, if we don't make a sound, he will come over."
Ornithologist Cesar Arredondo whispered that his instructions were first translated into English and then into Chinese. A group of Chinese photographers sat quietly in the damp forest, propped up in front of them with a large camera that looked more like a telescope.
Suddenly, an orange lightning bolt crossed. A crow-sized bird with a half-moon-shaped crown on its head stopped on a branch and disappeared a moment later. This is a bird that is difficult to find and is the Guyanaan moved-crowned umbrella bird (scientific name: rupicola rupicola) unique to the Amazon basin in South America.
The camera spun rapidly, desperately trying to focus on the little bird through the thick foliage. Although there was silence all around, the photographers' nervousness was palpable. "Please stay where you are, it will come back, and definitely don't move," Arredondo said.
A few minutes later, the mover-crowned umbrella bird reappeared and stopped at a branch in front of them. There was a shutter sound in the woods, as if a team of typists were frantically typing on the keyboard. For more than an hour, the bird, whose whereabouts had been hidden, jumped from tree to tree, posing very photogenically in front of these latest Canon cameras. In the language of bird watchers, it is "perching."
Moving-crowned umbrella bird. Photo by César Arredondo
Chase birds across half the world
"We spent quite a bit of time and money to get here, including an 18-hour plane ride, and the way off the plane to here was bumpy for hours. All these efforts are made to come here, but the moment you see the bird, it's all worth it," said Liu Yi, a 54-year-old amateur photographer from Jinan, Shandong Province, who wears a blue camouflage suit from head to toe and the camera's telephoto lens is camouflaged with brown leaves.
Over the past 23 days, she and five other bird lovers from China have crossed half of Colombia for this special bird watching trip. From the capital Bogotá, they traveled through 7 provinces in search of birds such as the sword-billed hummingbird and the colorful Tangalgara finch. End the tour in this lush forest between the Amazon jungle and the vast plains at the foot of the Andes.
Despite encountering more than 100 different species of birds along the way, their goal was always clear: to find two extant species of movy-crowned umbrella birds.
"It feels like birds are waiting for us," said Ling Zichuan, a 43-year-old graphic designer from Xi'an, as he looked back at hundreds of photos he had taken from all angles. This time they were lucky. Two weeks ago, they went to a farm near Califallon National Park, but did not photograph the Andean movy-crested umbrella bird (scientific name: rupicola peruvianus). Although they found other species of movable-crowned umbrella birds in the drizzle, they were too far away to find a suitable shooting location. In the tranquil Guaviare, the courtship-making male movable-crowned umbrella bird proudly strides up the small territory cleared, a place not only for his fighting skills with other birds, but also for him to attract the brown-feathered female mover-crowned umbrellabird.
The group saw more than just a moving-crowned umbrella bird in Guaviare. They also saw a musk pheasant feeding its young birds in a lagoon; a naked-necked crow with silky feathers at the top of a nearby tree; and a group of horned ducks in the wetland, whose harsh cries could be heard from a great distance. One by one, they saw the red-capped whiskers, the black-rumped snails, the slender sunbirds, and the fast-moving white-eared cormorants.
White-eared Grebe, Photo by César Arredondo
Unparalleled biodiversity, unprecedented opportunities
Home to 1912 species of birds, Colombia is a bird lover's paradise. Despite having the world's largest variety of bird species, rich and diverse natural landscapes and ecosystems, lucrative bird watching ecotourism is only just beginning in this country.
After the Colombian government signed a historic peace agreement with the left-wing guerrilla far-left Far-China Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in 2016, the security situation in many parts of the country has improved significantly, providing great opportunities for the development of tourism. Guaviare is colombia's most biodiverse province and one of the poorest in the country. Over the years, 13,000 guerrillas have been entrenched here until July 2017, when they laid down their arms. For decades, Guaviare has been one of the most violently attacked areas.
Guaviare, one of Colombia's most deforested provinces and with an almost non-existent private sector, is now hoping for a radical change that will help it develop jobs while protecting its natural wealth. Nature tourism, including bird watching, is becoming a powerful option. There are 550 different species of birds here, which make up a quarter of the total in Colombia.
"Nature tourism is not only becoming an economic sector that benefits many families (farmers with forest ownership, drivers, guides), but also the best ally for species conservation," Aredondo explains. After becoming an ornithologist, Arredondo returned to his home country and founded the country's first travel agency specializing in nature tourism, which was also aptly named "Biodiverso Travel".
Photographers wait for the appearance of the moving crown umbrella bird. Photo by Andrés Bermúdez Liévano
This is of vital importance in the province of Guaviare. Despite having the Largest National Park in South America, the Ziribikt National Park, which has just been promoted to a World Heritage Site, Guaviare has one of the highest rates of deforestation in the country. The city of San Jose, the capital and tourism center of the province, is considered one of the eight most deforested hotspots in the country, and faces the triple threat of illegal timber trade, agricultural land expansion and illegal land encroachment, the most serious of which is illegal land encroachment.
"Although there are birds in rocky and desert areas, there is a very clear link between birds (including numbers and diversity) and complex ecosystems such as forests. This is especially true when they are associated with plains, hills, wetlands, flood-prone forests, rocks that are exposed to the ground, as is the case with Guaviare," said Rodrigo Potro, director of the Foundation for Conservation and Sustainable Development, which has been documenting dizzying environmental damage. "This type of specialty tourism is a positive stimulus that has a positive implication for maintaining the health of forests, which are home to iconic species such as the movable-crowned umbrellabird," he added.
Even in small-scale market segments, the impact of "ecotourism" is twofold: generating income for communities and incentivizing people to change the mindset that land without trees is more valuable – an idea that is widespread in many areas of agricultural expansion.
"Once a farmer sees that someone would spend money to see an animal like the umbrella bird and finds that there is monetary value in helping such people achieve their goals, he will think twice when he cuts down the forest." This motivation, combined with environmental education and the resulting sense of local pride, is very important for a province with abundant forest resources but at the same time such a high rate of deforestation," said Araidondo, who used his spare time to co-author Guavière's first bird guide.
Line-tailed pygmy bird, photo by César Arredondo
The potential peace dividend from birds is also important: Academic research by the Conservation Strategy Fund, based on a survey of 2,000 partners of the US Audubon Society, shows that after the signing of the Peace Agreement, there was a challenge to traveling to Colombia for "bird watching" Interested tourists are estimated to be as many as 278,000 visitors, which will bring in about $46 million in revenue and provide more than 7,000 jobs.
In any case, long-term success and sustainability depend on integrated planning among national Governments, local authorities and communities. This is still very difficult in Colombia.
"The potential is great, but ecotourism, which accounts for only 5 percent of the global tourism economy, is not a panacea and cannot feed communities on its own," warned Megan Epplewood, a Harvard professor and one of the scholars specializing in sustainable tourism. "The future of the region must be carefully considered, with detailed projections of the economic, social and environmental impacts of each development path. The final decision must be based on a trade-off of these options. ”
Epplewood, best known for her book Sustainable Tourism on a Finite Planet, visited Guaviare last year to "go bird watching" with Arpondo and tell locals about the tourist value of wildlife viewing.
Crimson Thick-Billed Donna Finch, Photo by César Arredondo
Huge potential market
Most of the birdwatchers were British and American, at least as was the case in Guaviare. Although the number of Chinese birdwatchers is small, they are all impressed by the place.
"I think the movable-crowned umbrella bird is the most beautiful bird in the world. I'm sure that when we get home from our trip and show everyone the pictures we took, there will be more Chinese here," said Han Feng, a retiree from Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province, who first saw the umbrella bird in a magazine and has dreamed of seeing the beautiful bird with his own eyes ever since.
According to official immigration data, the number of Chinese tourists visiting Colombia last year was still small, at only 16,879, but since the 2012 peace talks, the number of Chinese tourists has increased rapidly fourfold, and the number of Chinese tourists visiting Colombia last year exceeded that of Costa Rica, which has similar tourism resources.
With the number of Chinese tourists reaching new highs (145 million nationwide last year) and growing spending power (according to the World Tourism Organization, Chinese tourists spending $261 billion abroad), they are increasingly seeking to immerse themselves in nature through photography, animal viewing and other activities. Many of the birdwatchers who come to Guaviare have been to places similar to Colombia. Ling Zichuan went to Costa Rica at the beginning of this year, and Liu Yi went to Cuba last year, both of whom have been to Japan to visit birds such as the hairy-legged owl and the red-crowned crane, which are highly sought after by bird watchers.
Bird photography enthusiasts hold "long guns and short cannons". Photo by Andrés Bermúdez Liévano
"Colombia is just starting to develop this huge market, and we're just scratching the tip of the iceberg. Thanks to word of mouth, we will welcome a wave of Chinese tourists, and as a country, a department, we must be prepared," said biologist Christopher Calunger. Kalonje, the founder of Colombia Birdwatch, is currently building an eco-hotel for bird watchers in Dagua, near the city of Cali. Last year, Columbia Bird watching travel agency hosted a total of 7 Chinese tour groups, almost all of whom were photographers.
However, these companies must better understand the situation of eco-tourists in China. Most of them have retired, prefer to travel in first class, live in 5-star hotels, have Chinese tour guides (many of them do not speak English), and often prefer to eat in Chinese restaurants. Colombia also has a luxurious tourist infrastructure, but mostly in cities, rather than bird watching places like Guaviare.
"There is still a lot to improve - the roads are in poor condition and the hotel standards need to be raised. This will help to develop the local economy," Han Feng said. The 3-week tour of Colombia costs about 70,000 RMB in total.
Musk Pheasant, Photo by César Arredondo
After the trip, Han Feng and his party prepared to go to Bogotá for a return flight, but they were trapped. Seventeen landslides followed, resulting in the entire road being closed and the entire area completely isolated from the outside world, and they had to modify their itinerary. Luckily, their last stop was to observe the brightly colored line-tailed pygmy birds and buy tickets from the nearby city of Yopal.
If the number of Chinese tourists continues to grow, Colombia will need to overcome these challenges. At present, many Chinese tourists will choose Costa Rica, a country with less than half the birds in Colombia but many years of ecotourism experience. Costa Rica is smaller and has a well-developed tourism infrastructure. Moreover, the outside world is only just beginning to change its view of Colombia.
"A lot of Chinese's impression of Columbia is still stuck in Hollywood blockbusters, thinking it's a dangerous place. We know now that it's very safe here," said Ling Zichuan, who also teaches photography part-time.
He was happy to be able to photograph many species of hummingbirds hovering in the air while collecting nectar. "We don't have that in China, but we can see it here, it's everywhere. The fact that the birds are very dear shows that humans are friendly to them," he said as he showed off the photos he had posted to his circle of friends.
So do this group of tourists think there will be more Chinese tourists coming here? "Yes, for this bird," Liu Yi replied, showing a close-up of a moved-crowned umbrella bird with a halo of light around its orange crown.
Liu Yi inspected the moved-crowned umbrella bird she photographed. Photo by Andrés Bermúdez Liévano
Hapae, also known as horned eagle, photo by César Arredondo
Orange-breasted falcon, photo by César Arredondo
Pygmies of America, Photo by César Arredondo
Creamy woodpecker, photo by César Arredondo
Red-capped bearded plover, photo by César Arredondo