Friday 31 July 2009.
Last June 25th 2009, the re-known North American paper, The Wall Street Journal published on its front page, both online and printed editions, an article by journalist Matthew Moffett, whom traveled to Colombia with the aim to investigate the existing relationship between enhancing security conditions within the country and the great peak of bird watching tourism in this country.
Below you will find an abstract from this article. If you wish to read the full version of it and see the Photo gallery, click here:
Matthew Moffett interviewed ProAves, EcoTurs and Steven Hilty, famous North-American guide on bird-watching tourism, working for one of the biggest companies in this field, Victor Emanuel Nature Tours (VENT), and whom 23 years ago brought bird watcher groups to Colombia in a regular basis; however, he stop doing it due the deterioration of security conditions in the country, but this year he returned, exclusively to guide four tours with EcoTurs.
As part of one of those tours, Moffett wanted to demonstrate how this dynamic is being developed in Colombia.
Moffett takes as an example the visit to a community close to Líbano, Tolima, where, together with the expertise of Hilty, a group of visitors was able to get to know one of the unique and most difficult to find species of Colombia (geographically restricted to Tolima), the Yellow-headed Brush-finch (Atlapetes flaviceps).
Moffett also explains how ProAves has created a network of 15 natural reserves dedicated to conservation of birds – several of which are included within the tours -, and also explains about the conservation and research projects carried out since 1998.
Given the outreach and importance of the Wall Street Journal and the work carried out by Moffett, it is for sure that this article will contribute to improve the image of Colombia abroad and it will also be an effective stimulus to draw more observers to the country, of course benefiting with employment generation and economical benefits for Colombia.
To visit the reserves of ProAves or to arrange a tour around Colombia with EcoTurs, visit www.ecoturs.org, or contact us at info@ecoturs.org or by calling (571) 287-6592.