Rare species of birds in the Tundavala region attracts international bird watchers to visit Angola and promote bird-related tourism in the Huila province, economic news website Macauhub reported.
Noam Shany, director of Spanish company Promised Land Ventures told the online publication that the region has rare and endemic birds, including the white-headed barbet, the Angola cave chat, the Angola waxbill, Harter’s camaroptera, the Angola slaty flycatcher, Oustalet’s sunbird and Swierstra's Francolin.
In addition to the seven endemic species, 15 rare birds are only found in Angola, as well as 31 species with limited distribution, occurring only in Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo, and considered to be in danger of extinction, in addition to another 962 species.
He also said there are over 120 million bird watchers around the world, many of whom were collectors who need to visit Angola to complete their collections.
The Red-crested Turaco is one of the rare bird species you can see in Angola. Picture: DickDaniels/Wikimedia Commons.
"Angola is a country rich in urban tourism monuments but has a strong potential to develop eco-tourism. Angola is perfect for nature tourism and we would add that the whole continent is favourable for that," he said at the end of a training course for 13 tourist guides.
The Focus on Bird Tourism project has so far trained 28 young people.
Many companies have catered for the demand.
Birding Africa, for example, hosts Angola Birding Tours, which are led by Angola expert Michael Mills.
Travellers can view among others the Red-crested Turaco, Red-backed Mousebird or the Swierstra’s Spurfowl.