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The Latin American Timeout

Albicilla Explorer is Bente and Uffe both keen birders from Denmark. We like to share our experiences about some of the best things to do and enjoy in life: birding, travel and music.

This time we have decided to go on a longer journey. In 2018 and 2019 we are traveling, volunteering and birding in Latin America – on what we call our Latin American Timeout.

When traveling you won’t meet us on the beach (unless there are some shorebirds present) or at the hostel party. Well maybe you could meet us in the bar with a local beer celebrating a new bird species added to our bird list. To meet us you will probably have to get up early and be sure to wear your rubber boots. When not searching for the early birds you will find us going through the photostream of the day, checking fieldguides. Or we are out looking for people and organizations who are working to create a sustainable interaction between nature, animals and people with the aim to secure biodiversity and the access to great nature experiences.

Sustainable bird watching in Latin America

We would like bird watching in Latin America to be more accessible and affordable for all people in a sustainable way. How could we contribute to that?

We are not sure of the answer yet. One way to contribute to the development of a sustainable tourism is to share our stories about our experiences and findings. It could be about the local initiatives, like people working for bird conservation, the nature guide with local knowledge and the farmer that happens to have an Umbrellabird family in his backyard. Hopefully it will inspire more people to do birding in Latin America.

Right now, farmers and most people of Latin America don’t have the imagination to believe that people are willing to pay to see the beautiful and exotic birds. But they have a lot of interesting birds hanging around their farms. Even more in the areas, not yet taken down for agriculture or other exploitation of the nature. The birding tourism is a way to make locals wanting to preserve their beautiful nature and be active in the conservation of birds.

After reading our blog you must turn off your computer and go birding!!

The history

Actually, we have been blogging since 1999 – yes that’s right! Our first blog was called Bergen Web and was based on weekly updates from our stay in Bergen, Norway. We studied geography at Bergen University for half a year. It was a kind of diary not only to ourselves but also family and friends were able to follow what we were up to. Phone calls were far too expensive at that time.

We found that it was a great and fun way to share stories and experiences with other people. And it was much easier than writing traditional postcards. We changed the name of the blog to B&U Bloggen and continued to blog primarily about our holiday experiences. Until recently we were using Blogger and we wrote primarily in Danish. Since there is a limited audience who can read Danish we have decided to include English.

Now the blog is called Albicilla Explorer and is published on our domain albicillaexplorer.com.

We are always looking for new ways to get inspired and expand our knowledge, skills, and experience.

Questions or comments? Please feel free to get in contact.

/Bente & Uffe