Likely a Meve’s starling in Kafue National Park – credit, Jae Zambia, CC 4.0. via Wiki
The announcement of a new transboundary birding route has catapulted southern Africa to the forefront of international birdwatching travel.
Spanning Angola, Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, the route contains an estimated 650 endemic and migratory species, and traverses the world’s largest conservation area—as big as Germany and France together.
Known as the Great Kavango Zambezi Birding Route, the course passes through 36 individual protected areas, encompassing 12 birding zones with ecosystems ranging from dry desert to lush forest and wetlands, and everything in between.
Birdwatchers will follow ancient migratory routes along 5 great rivers: the Zambezi, Chobe, Kwando, Kavango, and Kafue as they wind and carve their way across the landscape of southern Africa.
“No single country could offer what these five nations can achieve together,” said Dr. Nyambe Nyambe, Executive Director of the Kavango-Zambezi Secretariat. “This route is a living example of cross-border cooperation, combining diverse habitats and guiding expertise into a single coherent product that puts southern Africa on the global birding map.”
A hosted international press expedition documented 215 bird species across the region – including 43 species recorded for the first time by experienced international birders, a figure that speaks directly to the route’s credentials among serious avitourists.
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Dozens of partners in the endeavor have already got onboard, from BirdLife International’s local chapters who have overseen training courses for guides, to safari lodges and camps that have extensive experience ferrying visitors across the landscape, to conservation organizations who work in these various conservation districts to protect birds and mammals from poaching.
In total, 100 Birding Route Ambassadors have now registered to promote and operate experiences under the KAZA Birding Route brand.
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