When on one particular Yellow Waters cruise the guide misidentified birds, I
had to give correct ID's to my birdwatching group. I tried to do this in a
way that wouldn't embarrass the guide eg, by quietly telling one of my
clients and asking them to inform the others in the group.
When others on the boat overheard two of my clients discussing a particular
bird they asked them whether the guide was right, and were referred to me.
It wasn't a pleasant situation.
But Yellow Waters isn't the only problem.
One operator who advertised bird tours was unhappy when clients who booked a
very expensive chauffer-driven trip from Darwin to Alice Springs, turned out
to be "avid" birdwatchers. Their driver-guide's only experience of wildlife
was handling a python in a show put on at a hotel. The operator blamed the
clients.
Another operator feted by the NT Tourist Commission identified a hobby as a
"blackbird" in front of a flabbergasted friend of mine.
Oh, and recently a ranger told me he'd overheard a tour operator pointing
out White Ibis and telling his passengers that these "storks" had "fled
persecution in Afrlica".
I tried to persuade the NT Tourist Commission about 2003 to put together a
simple bird accreditation. No way - the operators "wouldn't like it".
And they wonder why not only international birdwatchers but visiting natural
history enthusiasts of all persuasions avoid tour operators here.
I hope you passed that message onto the powers that be.
Denise
on 21/5/08 11:33 AM, Graham Turner at wrote:
> Need to be a bit careful with guides and what they say. When I did the yellow
> waters cruise we were told that Little Kingfishers were 5cm high, that
> kingfishers fly head first into termite mounds to dig their nests and that the
> rivers were overpopulated with fish and that they needed to be culled, by
> recreational fishing.
>
> Not impressed.
>
> Cheers
> Graham Turner
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