Arusha hosts major conference on birds

 The 13th Pan-African Ornithological Congress takes place at the Corridor Springs Hotel in Arusha from 14-21 October.

This year's meeting will discuss African bird conservation, focusing in particular on the increasing amount of bird species becoming endangered.

Local conservationists are planning to use the event to highlight their opposition to plans by the Tanzanian government to build a soda ash plant at Lake Natron in northern Tanzania, whose mud flats are a crucial breeding area for a significant numbers of flamingos.

Those attending the summit will have the opportunity to enjoy the rich bird life in the nearby protected parks of Tarangire, Manyara, Ngorongoro and Serengeti.

The conference usually takes place every four years and was last held in South Africa in 2008. Organisers moved the location of this year’s event from the original host country Nigeria to Arusha for financial reasons.

The inaugural summit met in 1957 in Maramba in Zambia.