Forest Continues to Develop as a Visitor-Friendly Attraction

There has been significant progress over the last two months toward developing a model trail system within the Iwokrama Forest. For enhanced natural history interpretations by Iwokrama Guides during hikes through the Forest, unique and common trees on the trails have been selected for labelling. Also, the Turtle Mountain Trail will soon have handrails at selected locations to give visitors an easier climb up to the magnificent views from the mountain’s summit. There has also been made an extension to the Canopy Walkway Trail that now offers visitors a “bottom-top” view of the state-of-the-art facility. Field Station-based hiking opportunities have been expanded by extending the Prince Charles Trail and linking it with the Cock of the Rock Trail. This has greatly improved the number of species that can be experienced on the trek. All trails are also being mapped using a GPS, and then will be overlaid over the Iwokrama Reserve digitized map. Finally, and most importantly, all the trails now undergo routine maintenance and clearance.

One of several exotic bird species found in the Iwokrama Forest – Purple Honey Creeper

With over 500 species of birds in the Forest, birdwatchers are a major target audience for ecotourism marketing. With this in mind, four bird feeding stations/platforms have been installed at the Field Station are currently attracting over ten species of birds. Furthermore, Iwokrama Guides are now recording local bird songs to enhance bird identification skills.

The Iwokrama Guides will also have some news skills to offer Forest visitors. They have recently been taught techniques on guide/visitor interaction, confidence while guiding, and natural history interpretation. The number of visitors for the first six months of 2004 was 450, far exceeding the 354 visitors for the entire year 2003.