Birdwatching in Port Said: How did it start and where is it headed?
Amateur photographer Ahmed Dabea is awaiting a new challenge in photographing the migration of birds to Port Said, which begins during the autumn season next month, as Lake Manzala, the Ashtoum Jamil Reserve, and the salt lakes in Port Fouad prepare to welcome flocks of birds that have become an active tourist destination for the city during the winter.
Dabie works as an accountant at the Suez Canal Authority, but he found a special passion in photography. He began by documenting public spaces and, as he says, was the “group photographer” during outings, before deciding to move away from photographing people because some refused to appear in front of the camera. From there, he turned to photographing food, then discovered the world of birds, which became his greatest passion.
Dabie told Bab Masr – Bahri, “I don’t like confronting people, and I don’t prefer photographing faces, so I took training courses in nature photography, especially birds. Living in Port Fouad near a lake where large numbers of flamingos gather helped me a lot in developing this hobby.” During 2016-2017, Dabea began to take an interest in food photography with the “Damietta Lens” team, before finally turning to bird photography because, as he says, “they won’t ask you, ‘Why are you photographing me?’, but they will fly away if you disturb them.”
Pioneering efforts in bird photography
Dabie, Alaa El-Deeb, and Dr. Amani Al-Azazi are among the most prominent nature and bird photographers in Port Said, preceded by pioneers in this growing field who have revitalized eco-tourism and recorded bird migration sites in Port Said. It began with the efforts of photographers and activists in 2007, such as Hisham Al-Morsi, Walid Montaser, and Watar Al-Bahri, who later became a founding member of the Egyptian Society for the Protection of Nature. The three joined forces in environmental studies to register the salt lakes of Port Fuad as a nature reserve.
Dr. Hussein Rashad, director of the Ashtom El-Gamil Reserve, confirms that the sites registered in Port Said on the BirdLife International lists include the reserve and the lakes of Port Fouad. He is currently seeking to register a new site in the lakes east of Port Said, among 34 registered sites for migratory birds in Egypt.
The ongoing challenge of bird photography
Dbeih believes that photographing birds is full of challenges, saying, “The more I get used to photographing a bird in a certain environment, the more I look for a new angle or behavior, such as when it feeds or interacts with its chicks. So I started moving to different places to photograph, other than Port Said and Al-Qanater Al-Khayriya.
I am thinking of Aswan during the winter.”
However, the biggest challenge remains the equipment, as photographing birds requires lenses with a long focal length that help him zoom in without getting close to the bird so that he can photograph freely. But he faces a challenge with the high prices of photography equipment and lenses, he says.
He adds: “Photographing birds requires knowledge of bird habits, in addition to photography techniques and angles. You need to know when you can get close to the bird, when it feeds in the early morning, or when it returns to its nest just before sunset.”
Dabie laughs as he recalls an incident that happened to him and his friends while trying to photograph a site where seagulls nest. The birds flew over them in large numbers and began to defecate on them to keep them away from the nesting sites. “We got the message and immediately left the site,” he said.
Port Said prepares for bird season
With the onset of autumn, Port Said is preparing to welcome flocks of migratory birds. The Ashtom Al-Jamil Reserve is organizing cultural events in collaboration with the Visual Taste Club at the Port Said Culture Palace to celebrate World Photography Day.
Dr. Hussein Rashad, director of the Ashtom El-Gamil Reserve, said: “Despite holding two consecutive editions of the bird photography festival in Port Said, there are no regular tourist attractions for bird watching, so we need to pay more attention to including bird gathering places as approved and equipped tourist attractions.”
He added: “During the 2023 festival, 10,000 people visited the reserve. After that, other governorates such as Damietta, Sharqia, Suez, Aswan, and Fayoum began organizing similar festivals.”
Four bird migration routes
Rashad confirmed that Egypt lies within four bird migration routes from Europe to Africa and vice versa, explaining that the migration season begins in September and continues until March. It may extend to May with reverse migration. He pointed out that Port Said intersects with two migration routes and is famous for flamingos and seagulls, which have become a tourist attraction for Port Said in the winter. Visitors are keen to take the ferry to feed them and take pictures with them.
According to the director of the Ashtoum El-Gamil Reserve, 500 species of birds have been spotted in Egypt. The most famous in Port Said are the flamingos in the Port Fouad lakes, and the ducks, pelicans, quails, and seagulls, which are the birds closest to humans with the Suez Canal ferry. In addition, there are species of herons, birds of prey, spotted fishers, and migrants.
Port Said’s opportunities in the green economy
The Ashtoum Nature Reserve, established by Prime Ministerial Decree No. 459 of 1988, began with an area of 40 km and expanded in 1998 to 180 km. Since 2019, its area has reached 202 km. The reserve represents 28% of the area of Lake Manzala, one of Egypt’s bird gathering places. It has recorded 255 species of birds, including 174 species residing within the reserve.
The reserve is subject to international agreements for the conservation of migratory birds, such as the CMS, the African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbird Agreement (AEWA), the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, and the Project for the Conservation of Soaring Birds in Egypt.
Rashad concluded his speech by saying: “According to the International Tourism Index, bird watching contributes $41 billion to the US economy. In Britain, it contributes €500 million annually. There are 700 species of birds registered in America and 500 species in Egypt. However, we do not see the same economic returns from this leading type of eco-tourism.”
During the bird migration season, approximately 50 million birds pass through Egypt on four routes, some of which stay in Egypt. Approximately 2 million stay in important locations, and there are 34 nesting sites for birds, including two sites in Port Said, Lake Manzala, and Lake Burfuad. These are among the places that host more than half a million birds annually, according to the latest winter count, according to the reserve’s director.
Bird lakes in front of the balcony
Alaa Al-Deeb considers himself lucky to live in the city of Port Fouad, just minutes away from the salt lakes. Flocks of flamingos and seagulls come here to nest during the winter. He tells Bab Masr – Bahri: “I live in Port Fouad, and the lakes where the birds gather are close by and easy to reach. Flamingos appear frequently in the salt pans. I began to follow them gradually until around 2020, when the birds began to arrive in large numbers in Port Fouad.”
Alaa El-Deeb has been working as a photographer since 2010 and began taking an interest in photographing birds in 2019. However, he considers 2020 to be the year he became famous as a bird photographer after videos he filmed himself of flamingo gatherings went viral. He explains: “I started filming them more professionally and posting the videos on social media. The first video I filmed got over a million views. Then the videos started going viral. This attracted the attention of amateur photographers who started searching for flamingo gathering spots, and even organizing whole trips.”
Birds as a tourist attraction
El-Deeb believes that the presence of salt lakes in the middle of the city is a great advantage, saying: “The place is not far or remote, so it’s easy to get there by public transport, which is a good thing. Especially since the residential area is close to the lake, it’s possible to live in a building and watch the lake from your balcony. This is an advantage because you don’t have to walk a long way in the desert. On the contrary, when you take a taxi to get there and get out to take pictures, this was also an important factor for tourism.“
He adds: ”As part of the idea of a one-day tour in Port Said, Flamingo Lake has become one of the attractions on the day’s itinerary. This means that people who go to, for example, Genena Feryal, go to Mansheya Square or Martyrs’ Square, Port Said Beach, and the fish market. Among them is also Flamingo Lake, where they can watch the birds with their beautiful colors and shapes and large numbers. It is easy to see them with the naked eye.”
El-Deeb prefers to start shooting before sunrise. He arrives early at the lake and waits for the birds to arrive so they can get used to his presence as part of the environment. He doesn’t move around much so as not to scare the birds away, and he stays in place until the sun gets stronger and cars start moving on the road near the lake. The birds then go deeper into the lake.
Obstacles to photographing birds
El-Deeb points out that one of the main difficulties is the use of long lenses, which may raise security concerns. However, he explains: “During the bird festival, cameras are allowed, and the security authorities are aware of and understand this. At other times, there are restrictions because Lake Burfuad is close to the Suez Canal. But there is now a greater understanding of bird photography locations. Normally, we are asked to leave after we finish shooting because they know we are here for the birds. This is a positive development in the understanding of hobbies and tourism.”
He continues: “Before 2019, security prevented photography on the lake. But with the organization of bird festivals, there is now an understanding from security that photographers are only there for the birds.”
Bird diversity and tourism opportunities
Alaa El-Deeb believes that Port Said is characterized by a great diversity of birds, which allows photographers to study and document species, and there are birds that he discovers for the first time every year. Therefore, he does not need to travel to a new location within Egypt to take pictures.
With the efforts of both Alaa El-Deeb and Ahmed Dubei to promote bird watching and photography tourism in Port Said, the Ashtom El-Gamil Reserve plans to organize an environmental event, whether or not it is linked to the organization of the third bird festival by the governorate and the Tourism Promotion Authority.
Dr. Hussein Rashad, director of the Ashtom El-Gamil Reserve, says, “We are working on holding the festival even without the Tourism Promotion Authority. There are aspects that can be exploited in Port Said, such as beach tourism in the summer and archaeological tourism on the island of Tannis and at the site of El-Farma. Birdwatching in the winter is a low-cost form of eco-tourism.”
