From the 5th to the 9th of December 2022, Sam Veasna Conservation Tour (SVC) bird guides Mardy Sean and Hat Huon conducted bird guide training for the local guides of Jahoo, one of the main ecotourism sites in the heart of Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary.
Jahoo is one of the key ecotourism sites in Cambodia to see some of South-East Asia’s endangered wildlife species in the wild including; Southern Yellow-cheeked Crested Gibbon and Black Shanked Douc Langur. However, the forests of Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary are home to many incredible bird species including Green Peafowl, Germains Peacock Pheasant, Bar-bellied Pitta and more.
Jahoo already has an incredible stable of local guides from the Bunong people that reside in Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary who understand the forests better than anyone on the planet. SVC’s job was to assist in giving these guides extra birding knowledge and techniques to be used for tours at Jahoo as well as additional conservation activities.
This bird guide training was conducted with three components;
1) Advance Bird Guide Training.
This included early starts with Hong and Sala, two guides who already had good birding knowledge and had taken part in previous training with SVC. This primarily focused on following up on existing knowledge, practising advanced bird identification and teaching advanced birding techniques such as callback.
An additional part of this training was about the expectations of bird guides by birders who would visit Jahoo including identifying the best positions to see certain birds and even taking photos through scopes to confirm the identification of certain species.
2) Classroom Work
SVC provide Khmer language training materials and presentations for advanced and beginner bird guides. This included visual diagrams of bird features that help in identification as well as detailed features and pictures of key species in Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary.
3) Search for Germain’s Peacock Pheasant and Green Peafowl
These birds are two of the top target species for birders in Mondulkiri. SVC helped look for these species with the Jahoo guides, identified possible new sites and taught them the key signs to watch out for in the future.
Really great week!
Lessons were focused, engaging and challenging for the team. Field birding reinforced the lessons from the classroom and the morning sessions were really targeted! It also looks like we’ve found a spot for green peafowl to develop for guests.
We even heard a Germain peacock pheasant in Jahoo area…
All goals and objectives delivered! Great week indeed! Looking forward to your next visit!
This week was fantastic with great progress from all the guides and additional sites discovered for future birding tours in Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary. SVC will have a week of training at Jahoo in April or May so we looking forward to following up on the knowledge taught to the guides on this trip.