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Under the slogan "Birds for Birds", Crete2Cape wants to give back through supporting the Charity BirdLife International (BLI), more specifically in their program to help save the African vultures from extinction. Although culturally unpopular, vultures fulfil a crucial role in the African eco-system. More information below under the (amazing) video:

Vultures provide essential ecosystem services to society in both urban and natural areas, globally. They are nature’s most effective garbage disposal system, ‘Nature’s clean-up Crew’. Vultures quickly and efficiently dispose of carcasses and help prevent the spread of life-threatening and infectious diseases such as rabies, tuberculosis and anthrax. The decline of vultures in India has indirectly cost the Indian government $34 billion in treating rabies in humans as a result of increased feral dogs replacing vultures. One study estimates that a single vulture provides a scavenging benefit worth around US$ 11,600. In Spain alone, avian scavengers are capable of removing 9.9 thousand tons of carcasses per year. To maintain a healthy environment and healthy people, conserving vultures is critical, especially in Africa where the delivery of health care to local communities is highly limited. To our detriment, we are quickly losing our African vultures. Vulture declines lead to, inter alia: increases in rotting carcasses and mammal scavengers (e.g. rats and feral dogs), disease transmission between animals and to humans with associated health costs, collection and disposal costs of animal waste, changes in food chains, increased greenhouse gas emissions from transport and disposal of carcasses, cultural impacts where the birds have cultural associations, lost tourism values, water pollution and costs to local industries. Africa is home to 11 species of which 4 are now on the critically endangered list while another three are endangered. Unfortunately, they face many threats, and their populations have declined at devastating rates of between 70% and 97% (92% or worse in 5 species) over a period of three generations. The threats facing vultures are diverse and challenging. Vultures are being killed as a result of targeted poisoning of carnivores using baited carcasses, often in response to predation of livestock. This is one of the leading causes of vulture deaths in East and Southern Africa. As consequence of illegal wildlife trade, Elephant or rhino poachers may deliberately poison vultures which draw attention to poaching activities, or vultures may ingest poison used to kill the elephants. This is quickly becoming one of the threats responsible for the largest vulture deaths in Southern Africa. The trade in vulture body parts for use in traditional medicine threatens vultures over large parts of Africa, particularly West Africa. Vultures suffer mortality caused by collision with or electrocution by power generation and transmission infrastructure, such as powerlines and wind turbines.

Following in the footsteps of the pioneering flights in the 1920s – we’ll connect some of the most beautiful and evocative points in Africa. Flying low along the Nile from Cairo to Khartoum, past the highlands of Ethiopia before the plains of Kenya and the home of African aviation in Nairobi. Then off again past Kilimanjaro into the Serengeti – and on to the spice island of Zanzibar. After a short pause to enjoy the Indian ocean, we continue, crossing Zambia to Victoria Falls, before continuing to Bulawayo in Zimbabwe. Our final days take us into, and across, stunning South Africa – to the Cape, journey’s end.

For more information please feel free to send us an email or just give us a call.

Phone:

+32 2 880 21 54

Fax:

+32 2 880 03 50

Email:

info@crete2cape.com

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