Linking Western Tour Operators with Community-Based Protected Areas in Kenya: Globalising Paradise for Whom?

Abstract

"Wildlife is one of Africa's greatest natural assets. Yet western wildlife conservation organisations, in particular, claim it is in constant danger of extinction. For the last century wildlife conservation groups have been pressing for the establishment of national parks in Africa. The large areas of land set aside in Namibia, Zambia, Botswana, Tanzania and Kenya are witness to the fact that these lobby groups have been successful. However, as Norman Miller (1986:112) claims regardless of the purist sentiments (..) tourist revenues provide the raison d'être for officially supported wildlife protection. Wildlife viewing and hunting are the main reasons why tourists visit Africa. Local people, however, receive very little of the profit generated by the wildlife-based tourism industry. Worse, many local communities have lost access to land and other natural resources, often without any long-term compensation.

"In 1996, the Kenya Wildlife Services started the Park beyond Parks programme in response to this situation. Under this programme, local people were allowed to set up tented camps and other tourist activities in the areas bordering national parks. The concept was expected to bring about a win-win situation for both man and wildlife, and was supported by such international organisations as the World Conservation Union (IUCN) who recognise that sustainable conservation needs a social component (Borrini-Feyerabend, 1997).

"This paper presents in detail the development and effects of such a new eco-tourism initiative in the Selengei region bordering Amboseli National Park, Kajiado District, Kenya. Community-based conservation, although neither perfect nor foolproof as Lynch and Talbott (1995:25) argue, is indeed the best strategy available so long as certain conditions are met to ensure that the term 'community-based' is not used to misguide interested donors for the benefit of a small group of well-off individuals, tour operators or conservationists (see e.g. IIED 1994: 45). It should guarantee the full and equal participation of local people in its design and implementation to ensure it responds to local needs and delivers tangible benefits to the community."