Africa’s Travel Indaba, held at the Durban International Convention Centre earlier this month, is one of the continent’s most influential tourism gatherings. Nandi Thobela, the Empowering People Programme Manager, and I attended Indaba, along with a number of KwaZulu-Natal’s registered Accredited (Community) Birding Guides. Their presence at the event, proudly sponsored through the Avitourism Project, gave them valuable exposure to an audience of tens of thousands of tourism professionals, buyers and media from across Africa and beyond.
Left to right: Sakhamuzi Mhlongo, Thabile Mthiyane, Junior Gabela, Mabuyi Zungu, Jotham Maduna, Lethu Nxele, John Kinghorn and Wilfred Mchunu proudly represented BirdLife South Africa and our country’s thriving avitourism industry at Africa’s Travel Indaba 2026.
Recognised as a cornerstone of the tourism calendar – and contributing an impressive R574-million to Durban’s GDP in 2025 alone – Indaba offers BirdLife South Africa’s Accredited Birding Guides a powerful platform to market their services, build stronger networks and engage directly with industry leaders and government stakeholders.
For our guides, the experience goes far beyond just networking. It’s also an opportunity to share their stories, demonstrate their expertise and highlight the growing importance of avitourism as a meaningful and sustainable contributor to South Africa’s tourism economy. It also allows them to reinforce the critical role of BirdLife South Africa’s work, its presence within the ecotourism landscape and how, as an organisation, we aim to connect conservation efforts with real economic opportunities for people, birds, livelihoods and communities.
Events like Africa’s Travel Indaba continue to open doors – not only for individual guides, but for the future of bird-based tourism in South Africa.
Thank you to all the Avitourism Project’s sponsors and supporters, including Beatrix Payne, Paul Ballantyne, Swarovski Optik, Whylo Distributors and VOLVO Car South Africa, as well as all service providers who form part of our network of Recommended Members. Each membership contributes directly to furthering our organisation’s sustainable avitourism efforts and empowering our network of Accredited (Community) Birding Guides.
JOHN KINGHORN, AVITOURISM PROJECT MANAGER
