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Bird watching
Mekki Salah first came to Hanoi with the Algerian embassy over 20 years ago and in that time he has worked as restaurant owner and hotel proprietor, but his real passion is bird watching.
By
an accident, I bump into an old friend who is heading off to a
conference at the Mela hotel in Tam Dao National Park, Vinh Phuc
province. Tucked under his arm is the book Birds of Tam Dao, a
collection of photographs taken by Mekki Salah, the Algerian owner of
Mela hotel in Tam Dao who first came to Vietnam in 1985 as an Algerian
diplomat. The stunning collection of photos captures 100 species of
local and migrating birds in the National Park as well as a wide range
of other animals and insects found in Tam Dao.
Salah explains he was always drawn to birds as a boy, when he played
with friends in the streets of Algiers. “It was a love passed on by my
aunt who lived in a village 350km from the Algerian capital. Flocks of
three or four hundreds wild pigeons would settle in front of her house
and she would feed them all,” says Salah. Now married to a Vietnamese
national,Salah is thankful to his adopted country as it helped revive
his passion for photography which he had ignored during his spell as a
diplomat. Salah first studied photograph in France when he was 17, but
in Vietnam perhaps he found his muse.
“The country is very rich in natural landscapes, each region has a
unique beauty, and all inspire me,” says Salah. Now happily married
with one son, Salah seems completely at home in Vietnam. He has
travelled from the northern mountainous areas down to the southernmost
tip of Vietnam at Ca Mau. In between he has traipsed through
landscapes, photographing the people and scenery along the way.
After exhibiting his work in Vietnam and abroad, his first collection
Vietnam’s Hidden Pathway appeared in 2005. Salah’s first visit to Tam
Dao dates back to 1986 when he was working in Hanoi. Like everyone
else, he took advantage of the weekend to discover the countryside
surrounding the city. Half a day’s drive and blessed with a cool
microclimate, Salah admits Tam Dao’s climate and proximity to the
capital were what drew him back.
In fact he claims he kept returning more out of apathy than out of
interest. But “Life has many surprises up its sleeve,” says Salah. “As
the years went by, I found myself living in Tam Dao for professional
reasons,” he recalls. “During my leisure time, I went for short walks
in the forest and learnt to seek out its ‘citizens’. The first
inhabitant of the green expanse who caught my eye was the short-tailed
parrotbill. I was fond of this bird.” Each time Mekki went back to the
forest, he discovered more species.
“Observing birds is not easy and taking photographs of birds is even
more difficult and sometimes impossible. Luck plays a large part in it.
A picture of the most common species can take months to achieve while
the rarest of birds may hop in front of your lens on the very first
day,” writes Mekki in Birds of Tam Dao. Now Tam Dao has become his
refuge and despite his concerns for the uncontrolled exploitation of
the forest’s resources, this passionate photographer still remains
optimistic.
“It is my dearest wish that the readers should see this book. The birds
are only a small part of Tam Dao’s treasures, but they are worthy
messengers. This book is for wild bird enthusiasts, both professional
and amateur,” he says. Jonathan C Eames, the programme manager of
Birdlife International in Indochina says, “The chronicle of woes that
continues to befall Tam Dao has at least been offset by the publication
of this splendid portfolio of Mekki’s photographs, a truly bright spot
in the darker big picture.” “Mekki Salah has helped us popularise the
hidden treasures of our forest,” says Do Dinh Tien, director of Tam Dao
National Park.
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