Washington, DC — "Before, we just posed for pictures and let the tourists go. Then we said, 'Wait a minute! We are getting very little benefits from tourism activities,'" says Paramount Chief Mukuni of the Mukuni Chieftain community about 10 kilometers from the heavily-visited Victoria Falls in Zambia.
Chief Mukuni was speaking to a workshop audience Thursday that was part of a symposium jointly sponsored by the African Wildlife Foundation (AWF) and the Corporate Council on Africa. Three years ago the chief led the formation of the Mukuni Development Trust (MDT), "mainly drawn from grass root levels... to position the Mukuni community in a more favorable position... to promote the long term conservation of biodiversity through active community resource management [and] to venture into commercial partnerships on behalf of the community."
The Trust draws its membership from each of the villages in the Mukuni Chiefdom where two people, a man and a woman, represent each village. There are 26 chiefdoms in the Bene-Mukuni Royal kingdom stretching from the Democratic Republic of the Congo to southern Zambia. "But we are poor" Chief Mukuni told allAfrica.com.
Community development is the watchword, says Chief Mukuni; he is not talking about turning his people into performing icons for foreign tourists. "We don't dance for the tourist. When I came here [to Washington], you didn't dance for me." What they are trying to do is develop a tourism for the visitor who wants to catch a glimpse of ordinary life: "quality eco-tourism and ethno-tourism...that are consistent with the protection of the country's wildlife treasures alongside its ancient African traditions," he said in his formal presentation.
Some new structures specifically aimed at tourists are in the works, however. They include the planned construction of seven up-market lodges as a result of an agreement reached between the MDT, the Africa Wildlife Fund (AWF) and Sun Hotels -- "guest palaces" chief Mukuni said, that "let tourists come in and be chiefs for a while."
According to the chief, MDT now generates about US$3000 monthly from tourism. Among other things, that money helps pay school fees for the community's poorest children, he says, and to compensate local farmers for crop damage "when elephants come from [Botswana President] Mogae's country."
Chief Mukuni's attitude that tourism must be linked with development and respectful of local communities, resonated with attitudes in workshops throughout the half-day symposium. "Ecotourism should provide tangible benefits for conservation and for local communities," says Martha Honey, Executive Director of The International Ecotourism Society. (TIES)
Ironically, as African governments, particularly in East Africa, begin seriously to come to grips with issues of conservation and wildlife protection, global events are putting their industries at risk. "There is a real fear of flying," says Honey. U.S. State department warnings against travel to Kenya and Tanzania have been "devastating."
Tourism is Tanzania's number one foreign exchange earner, according to Tanzania's Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism, Zakia Hamdani Meghji, known in Tanzania as "Mama Utali" - Swahili for "Mother Tourism". Sustainability is a "primary" concern. It's the local population that will determine whether tourism can be sustained, she says. "If the animals are benefiting [people], then they are going to be protective of them."
In much the same vein, Dennis Pinto, president of Kenya's Micato Safaris explained that while his company offers luxury tours throughout East Africa, being connected at the grassroots has been vital. Pinto sits on the board of Martha Honey's TIES. Micato was founded by his father more than 40 years ago and was one of the first tourist agencies to involve Africans in their operations. "One of our best decisions was to use only Kenyan guides," Pinto told allAfrica. "The competition didn't; they had 'white hunters'."
Anne Kent Taylor, President of A.K. Taylor International, also operating in Kenya, works with school children, bringing them to game parks which many have never visited because they are too expensive. It makes good business sense too, she says. After all if the animals disappear so does the business. "I do not know how they can be expected to protect the game if they cannot visit the parks."
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She has spun off a wildlife rescue fund to combat poaching. Slaughter of animals for "bushmeat" or ivory or horn remains a serious problem and she funds a "poaching patrol" of Maasai. "We don't interfere with anything that is not caused by man."
Ecotourism, conservation and organizing community involvement are still in the early stages, virtually everyone acknowledges. Opening the symposium, Botswana President Mogae pointed to continuing unresolved strains between human needs and wildlife needs. "...Growing human population results in increased demand for land." A Community-Based Natural Resources Management Program was initiated a decade ago but all the kinks -- including accountability and community administration -- have not been worked out, the president acknowledged.
And there are some problems with success. As a result of its strict conservation efforts, Botswana now holds about 20 percent of Africa's elephant population. It is growing at about 5 percent a year. "The impact of the elephants on woodland vegetation, the habitat of other wildlife species and humans is a major challenge," he said.
