Responsible tourism in Kenya
Tourism has been an important part of Kenya’s recent history, resulting in the creation of vast national parks and game reserves, the outlawing of hunting, and generating a high percentage of GDP. But Kenya’s ability to adapt to this shift – moving the emphasis from wildlife to people – will determine the impact that tourism has on its future.
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People & culture in Kenya
Conservancies: the future of tourism?
An important shift is already taking place in the way that Kenya’s land is managed and protected. Traditionally, land was set aside as a national park (such as Amboseli) or as a wildlife reserve (such as the Masai Mara). Local communities were evicted from the land, which could not be used for grazing or for other resources such as fishing, or harvesting food or firewood. In wildlife terms, this was a success – and in tourism terms too, as the wildlife that high-paying tourists came to see was now protected.However, in recent years a third way has emerged, permitting the coexistence of local people and wildlife. Conservancies have begun to spring up across the country, particularly in areas surrounding the Masai Mara Game Reserve – where an abundance of wildlife can be found. The conservancy is created when a group of landowners comes together to collectively manage their small parcels of land as a bigger area. Each landowner maintains their individual title, but decisions are made collectively. Land use agreements maintain limited grazing rights, and – crucially – the landowners can lease their land to safari companies, who can establish lodges or camps on the land with agreed visitor fees.
The advantages of the conservancies are huge:
Community tourism: the old way
Despite the rise of community-owned conservancies, there are still many cultural tourism experiences which do not benefit the communities directly, and even tours which are exploitative and degrading for the Maasai. Tour companies visit villages so that visitors can photograph the locals without interaction; money goes into the pockets of the tour companies and drivers without being shared with the Maasai themselves.As well as being deeply unethical for the local communities, tourists also report being harassed and bullied into buying crafts and making donations; the natural conclusion of a community who sees wealthy visitors in their village each week, without seeing any of the benefits.
Conservancies remove this risk of exploitation, so we highly recommend this form of cultural tourism. However, if you do find yourself on a tour to a Maasai village – or that of any other ethnic group – there are questions you can ask of your operator to ensure it is being carried out properly.
What you can do
Culture clash: the rise of sex tourism
As in many countries where wealthy tourists exist alongside impoverished local communities, sex tourism has long been an issue in Kenya, particularly along the coast in areas such as Malindi, Mombasa and Diani. Disturbingly, children under the age of 18 are engaged in commercial sexual exploitation. Some have been forced into this through poverty and the need to support their families; others have been trafficked.This practice is illegal in Kenya, and some progress has been made in recent years to tackle it. In 2016, Kenya's parliament passed a national policy on the elimination of child labour and the Kenyan police established a Child Protection Unit to investigate child exploitation. Sadly, child labour is still prevalent.
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Wildlife & environment
Hunting for a solution?
In several other African countries where controlled hunting is permitted (including Zimbabwe and Namibia) wildlife is on the increase and high trophy hunting fees have been reinvested in wildlife conservation. Inevitably, there has, therefore, been talk of introducing hunting permits in Kenya. This would be a highly controversial move, not only amongst animal welfare groups, but with those who feel that this would be a step backwards for conservation. There are concerns about the potential for corruption and the ability – and conflicting interests – of the KWS to manage the permits, as well as the negative image this would bring to the tourism industry.
*Source: International Livestock Research Institute
**Source: Save the Rhino
Chinese investment
While no one can deny the Kenya’s right to develop these industries, and create much needed income and employment for its people – especially in the impoverished and often drought-afflicted north – some of the incentives behind these developments are troubling. Not only has China been regularly accused of siphoning off the natural assets of developing African nations for its own gain (which could be said of many Western nations, too), but its environmental record is deplorable. The new wave of poaching threatening East Africa’s elephants has been boosted by donations from the Chinese government, which has allegedly equipped the poachers with firearms and GPS devices*, and ivory carving can even be studied at Chinese universities. While China claims to oppose poaching and has led campaigns against illegal ivory, their actions do not match their words; Chinese officials are well-known in East Africa as being the largest purchasers of ivory.**
Given this record of environmental exploitation, hopes are not high that development will be carried out in a cautious way. Tiny Lamu is Kenya’s oldest town, dating back to the 14th century, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site; the deepwater port here, along with the oil refinery and pipeline, have enormous environmental implications for the coastline and marine life including endangered sea turtles that nest here. Local communities have not been consulted and indigenous groups have lost land to the project, without their agreement or compensation.
Longer term, the emissions from these new projects contribute further to pollution and to climate change, which has been largely responsible for the droughts which have ravaged East Africa in recent years – 2015, 2016 and 2017 were all drought years – when the resulting crop failure and famine killed thousands.
*Source: The Telegraph
**Source: Al Jazeera
What you can do