Birding in Vanuatu

Introduction
There are very few resident or visiting birdwatchers in Vanuatu and the outer islands are still very much a frontier with little development and few tourists.

The most important thing to remember when birdwatching in Vanuatu is that nearly all land is privately owned by the indigenous people ('kastom' landowners). There's very little 'public land' and western concepts like national parks and nature reserves are foreign. When you go birding in Vanuatu you should obtain permission before wandering off into the bush and in most situations it is enough to ask the nearest local. If someone offers to guide you and you find their assistance helpful then it's a good idea to compensate them for their time and effort. One good strategy that avoids most hassles is birding along public roads where access is free.

Vanuatu has a few 'conservation' or 'protected' areas where the kastom landowners have reserved some of their land and visitors are generally welcomed if not encouraged with the setting up of basic facilities. See our hot spots page for some conservation areas which offer good birdwatching. However, most islands don't have conservation areas and there are vast expanses of primary forest and other good bird watching sites which are not conservation areas. We encourage visiting birders to birdwatch anywhere they can in Vanuatu. There are many island bungalows and guesthouses in rural Vanuatu and some of them are nearby interesting bird watching sites (see WTEC's travel website). The application of our bird records database depends on good coverage of all the major islands and all the biogeographical regions of Vanuatu. Coverage map.

Zealous photographers, twitchers and others take care! People in rural Vanuatu rarely see tourists interested in birds or any tourists at all. If you look to be too serious they may start to become suspicious. If you're doing anything commercial or professional then you should contact the Vanuatu government's Environment Unit as you may need a permit.

In Vanuatu you have to find and identify your own birds. Most rural ni-Vanuatu work for long hours in their subsistence gardens and do know all the common species in their area but don't know the English common names. Bislama is a trade language so only a few birds have names in Bislama. Also, most villagers have limited experience with the rare bird species on their island. Birdwatching in the virgin forests of Vanuatu away from conservation areas often involves walking through rugged terrain behind a youth swinging a bush knife and it can be difficult getting to the forest in the early morning. Patience and persistence are required. The rewards may be seeing some unusual bird species and recording some new distributional information. Field guides and books.