Photo by Lee Dingain


Photo by Lee Dingain

Ecotourism

The majority of the initial funding and direction for the REGUA project came from the Brazilian Atlantic Rainforest Trust (BART) - a UK based charity. However, in 1996 the REGUA association was registered under Brazilian law and is now responsible for the management and development of the project. This means that REGUA needs to become financially self-sufficient. Ecotourism has been identified as one of the main ways that REGUA can achieve this objective and ecotourism now forms a major component of the organisation´s management strategy.

REGUA is a non profit making Non Governmental Organization (NGO) and working in protection, research, environmental education, habitat restoration and ecotourism. REGUA firmly believes that the project has to maintain a social responsibility and involves itself with the local communities as much as possible. The guards are ex hunters and workers at the reserve ex-agricultural workers. In this manner the project filters financial resources into the community and the community recognize their own importance within the context of conservation.

As well as a means to fund the work of REGUA, ecotourism can also impact positively on the preservation of the forest and the local community. Local people start to make money from tourists coming to visit the forest, for example, when they visit shops and restuarants and so the nature of the value of the forest changes. Instead of being something to fell to make way for something else or a place to hunt, it becomes a resource from which money can be made and therefore to be preserved.

At REGUA the most important type of ecotourism is birding. The Atlantic Rainforest, located almost entirely within Brazil and just creeping into Argentina and Paraguay, supports a huge diversity of wildlife, most notably birds. 680 of Brazil´s 1700-odd bird species live in these forests and the biome has a very high amount of bird endemism, with no less than 199 of these species found nowhere else in Brazil, or anywhere else on earth. Furthermore, due to the severe depletion of the forest (over 93% has already been lost), over 40 of these endemics are considered to have a high risk of extinction. Incredibly however, five bird species completely new to science have been discovered in the Atlantic Rainforest between 1990 and 2000.

Lowland Atlantic Rainforest is particularly scarce, since this is where most of the deforestation has occurred and so Birdlife International has identified REGUA as an Important Bird Area (IBA), with important lowland species such as the vulnerable Bare-throated Bellbird (Procnias nudicollis) and the near-threatended Shrike-like Cotinga (Laniisoma elegans) surviving here in relatively good numbers. Aside from birds the reserve holds Woolly Spider Monkey (Brachyteles arachnoides) and other mammals as well as numerous rare and endangered plants and invertebrates.

All of this makes the Atlantic Rainforest and REGUA one of the most exciting and essential (not to mention beautiful) destinations for any travelling birder. And with birding (both independently and with tour companies) becoming ever more popular, there is no better time for REGUA to develop the ecotourism market for the Atlantic Rainforest and so help fund the organisation´s essential work.

In 2000 we built the luxurious Guapi Assu Bird Lodge and today the lodge, together with the reserve offers some of the best birding in the Atlantic Rainforest. Lowland forest and wetland birds are the speciality here although the reserve also contains many highland species as well. The reserves list of confirmed birds now stands at over 400 species. Tour groups and independent travellers from the UK, US and other locations now visit here and more and more bookings are being made.

The lodge offers an idealic setting for birders (or anyone interested in wildlife or just wishing to experience the rainforest) and is a great base for birding the reserve as well as excursions to other sites in the Atlantic Rainforest and the state of Rio. The reserve has some of the most extensive and unspoilt trails in the Atlantic Rainforest and we offer suggested birding itineraries for visitors and can advise on birding routes to meet your requirements. The restored wetlands are drawing good numbers of visitors and as the wetlands become more established the draw will become even greater.