A Sustainable Future is a Better Future
Our goal here at The Sustainable Birding Company is, ultimately, to contribute towards the population growth of threatened bird species through a sustainable and ethical tourism approach
We believe that the only way this can be achieved effectively is through focusing on three types of sustainability:
1. Human sustainability: how are local people involved in SBC and benefiting from what we do? How are communities making economic gains from protecting birdlife, rather than losing out and seeing outsiders profit from their natural beauty?
2. Ecological sustainability: how can we help local communities understand and feel motivated to protect birdlife in the long-term? How can the tours that we operate function as a method for collecting data on bird species that conservationists can use to plan and implement projects?
3. Organisations sustainability: how can our tours help other organisations – from local bird groups to conservation NGOs to local ethical hotels -can they grow stronger?
Sharpe’s Longclaw (IUCN Endangered)
Teaching young students about the nesting habits of the Crowned Eagle at Karura Forest, Kenya
We have tried to answer all of these questions, both when planning our activities for the next five years and when designing each individual itinerary that our clients ask for. In addition to our standard way of operating each tour, we:
- ensure that at least 5% of every tour’s profit goes towards local wildlife conservation NGOs
- use transport suppliers and hotels that we know to meet certain environmental standards
- feed species lists onto a BirdMap mobile platform for research
We also have bigger and bolder ambitions for how we can really transform the sector. Many of these plans are at a very early stage, and we welcome any advice or ideas to make these better. We have highlighted a few of our plans are below, but we’re always on the look out for new partnerships and new projects we can get involved with. Please get in touch if you’d like to know more. If you have less time and fewer ideas, but feel compelled to contribute otherwise, you can also donate to our first CrowdFunding project: Up Close!
2016/2020 Special Initiatives:
- Up Close! is our new project that will give at least 500 children living in informal settlements in Nairobi the chance to visit Nairobi National Park in small groups, with trained bird guides and the loan of a good pair of binoculars each, for free and providing the educational, safe, and most of all fun environment that we know a life-changing bird tour needs. See this link for more info or to donate –http://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/up-close/
- Women Who Bird is the name of our strategy which will attempt for the first time to deliberately create opportunities for young unemployed women who lack the formal qualifications needed to become a bird guide but have plenty of what really counts: passion for bird life, a love of working with people, and willingness to learn. The birding sector is heavily dominated by men in East Africa and we want to change this – http://ugandawomenbirders.org/
- Zero Carbon Birding Tours with Seedballs! forms part of our new 2020 strategy to tackle deforestation and the climate crisis in Kenya, Uganda and Ethiopia. Seedballs is an innovative company in Kenya, who have ingeniously invented charcoal coated seedballs (which prevent wildlife from eating them) that can be dropped, thrown or even catapulted across East Africa to rapidly increase tree coverage! With our NEW carbon offsetting calculator below, we can precisely calculate the amount of Seedballs you need to throw to offset the emissions generated by your tour. On all our future birding tours, you will be actively encouraged to distribute your Seedballs from our safari vehicles! Who said carbon offsetting was boring??http://www.seedballskenya.com/home/4592985892
- SBC Tackling Deforestation – The impact of donating a tree to East Africa goes beyond the normal benefits of trees. Aside from cooling the area, providing a habitat for local bird life and filtering water, trees that are carefully planted can help prevent the devastating forest fires that the region suffers from. We help provide farmers with a comprehensive suite of products and services to earn income by growing trees. On each one of our tours we will donate a minimum of 5USD for the cause, where for each dollar donated, a tree will be planted!
Taita White-eye (IUCN Endangered)
Photo credit: Bob Longhorn
Taita Thrush (IUCN Endangered)
Photo credit: Bob Longhorn
Ruppell’s Vulture (IUCN Endangered)
Photo credit: Bob Longhorn
Something Special
Book with us today and be part of award-winning ethical and sustainable tourism!
Established in 2016, we are renowned as the best birdwatching tour company in East Africa