Use of Avifauna to Complement Marketing Strategies for Less Visited Protected Areas in Tanzania: A Case of Saadani National Park

Avitourism is a growing industry throughout the world although it has not been taped by many African countries despite the fact that the continent’s protected areas offer a great deal for this specialised wildlife tourism. This is because traditional marketing strategies for wildlife tourism have capitalized on the game animals alone particularly the big five. Such strategies cannot be sustained for those areas where game animals are rare. In this study, we present data on avifauna of the Saadani, a less visited park, categorising species into common and rare based on the encounter rate from the field experiment conducted in summer of 2013, designed to conform to the actual birding trip. With over 300 bird species including the popular lesser and greater flamingos, we conclude that the park is a “Birders’ Paradise”. Thus, we recommend tourism marketing strategies to incorporate avitourism combined with game viewing, swimming, kayaking, boating and sport fishing.