Joseph Desire DUFITUMUKIZA

Joseph Desire DUFITUMUKIZA is a young professional and trained in Avitourism and Wildlife Photography, Joseph became conservationist by passion inspired by his birding journey in 2013. Joseph has been connected with nature since childhood from trapping birds and other small mammals, later after various trainings in bird guiding including the site bird guide at The Kivu Belt Region and the advanced National Local bird guide training where he awarded a bronze medal level III the love of nature conservation feel that he must pay back by preserving wildlife at any cost. Joseph worked as freelancer bird guide since 2022 has gained a good experience in the tourism and hospitality industry from hotel services to community-based tourism and driving skills and conducted various birding tours across Rwanda and Uganda which leads him to be among first top birder in Rwanda and have been able discover two new species of Rwanda bird list (Fan-tailed Raven, June 2020 & Bar-tailed Godwit, Oct 2023). Joseph holds bachelor's degree in tourism and travel management from University of Tourism and Business Management (UTB) and has attended various courses by eCornell University and MOOC such as Sustainable Tourism Destination Management, Species Conservation, Remote Sensing and Mapping for Coral Reef Conservation. Joseph serves as fundraising officer at Wildlife conservation Initiative (WCI) since 2020 to 2022, currently serve as executive Director of Rugezi Ornithology Center and Rwanda youth Birders representative, he has contributed in various avifauna and Biodiversity survey at Nature Rwanda, Joseph is active member of Waterbird Counting Team Rwanda, which helps monitor water bird populations and set conservation priorities globally.