Colombian war zones become bird-watching paradise as peace takes root

Over 450,000 people killed during Colombia's armed conflict, 50,000 kidnapped including birding guide Diego Calderón Franco; one woman's partner was kidnapped and killed by FARC in 2008.

In the mountains of Colombia, where decades of armed conflict once made vast forests too dangerous to enter, an unlikely consequence of violence has emerged: some of the most intact bird habitats on Earth. With the 2016 peace agreement opening these territories to the outside world, birders, ecotourists, and former combatants alike are finding in the country's 2,000 species not just ecological wonder, but a fragile path toward economic renewal and human reconciliation. It is a reminder that history rarely moves in straight lines — that preservation and destruction can share the same origin, an

Colombian war zones become bird-watching paradise as peace takes root

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