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ECOTOURISM – WHO OWNS PARADISE?, Chapter 8 (Kenya: The Ups and Downs of
Africa’s Ecotourism ‘Mzee’)
1) THESIS: IYOW, post a single sentence that captures the thesis for EACH CHAPTER/ SECTION of our reading.
2) EVIDENCE: Post and number THREE specific observations from EACH CHAPTER/SECTION of our reading(s) that supports your thesis.
Use 2-3 sentences for each observation, and combine direct quotations from the text (AUTHOR's LAST NAME, 27), with IYOW analysis.
3) QUESTION: Include in your post a SINGLE SPECIFIC question you'd ask the class based on our readings.
Thesis: Masai Mara offers a rare example of of a well rounded ecotourism approach, but—like in the case of Zanzibar—it falls prey to mismanagement and greed.
ReplyDelete1. “What makes Mara exceptional, in comparison to most famous wildlife parks and resources in Africa, is that the local community through their elected County Council, actually owns and manages the reserve instead of the central government” (295). This line gave me hope for the reserve. By decentralizing management of the reserve, my immediate reaction was that it should have improved its function. While this is in part true, it also had its downsides. The reserve has done exceedingly well, but the sad part is that most of the money raised ends up being stolen by “avaricious leaders”.
2. “Kenya is the mzee, or elder statesmen, of nature tourism and ecotourism in Africa” (296). Kenya has become one of the leading examples of how ecotourism can be shaped in the modern global world. They blazed the path for other countries (both African and non-African). They’ve had a rocky history with the industry, but their local community driven ecotourism should be held as the goal for other countries.
3. “Overall, however, from the early 1990s onward, Kenya’s tourism industry has been buffeted by internal and external catastrophes, both natural and man-made (299). There were domestic issues such as deteriorating infrastructure, There were environmental issues like the politically linked draughts, and the incredibly sad ethnic killings and clashes. All of the factors contribute to Kenya’s fall from grace in the tourism world. They were once the leading tourism destination in Africa, but more recently they have been challenged by Tanzania. Tanzania has seen economic reform, more funning for tourism, and a larger volume of wildlife tourism. Kenya has an amazing ecotourism infrastructure in place, but the unfortunate fact is that corruption and greed caused the industry to struggle greatly.
Discussion Question: Is Kenya’s community management style of ecotourism something that could be adopted by other countries? Is it possible to accomplish the same thing, but without corruption and mismanagement?
Thesis: There is promise of Kenya’s ecotourism industry helping the country grow, evolve, and prosper, but the lack of proper planning and the excessive amount of corruption has stunted the progress throughout the industry’s years.
ReplyDelete1. From the 1990s onward, Kenya’s tourism industry wass full of internal and external catastrophes, both natural and manmade. This lessened the success of its ecotourism industry and overall well-being of the country. There was deteriorating infrastructure as well as political ethnic clashes and killings weakening the strength of the country.
2. “Some donors and conservationists voiced concern that Western was concentrating too heavily on community projects in the buffer zones and neglecting conservation, protection, infrastructure improvement, and income-generation priorities” (311). A lot of dispute, especially with locals like the Maasai, was over where the profits were being allocated. Through corruption, a lot of the money was put towards efforts that weren’t social or even environmental.
3. The Masai Mara Game Reserve was considered a “complete success” at the end of first decade, but fell victim to mismanagement and corruption. It was well maintained and managed in its early years and now “The Mara has become Kenya’s poster child for tourism overdevelopment” (319).
Question: How can Kenya reform its ecotourism industry to benefit more locals as well as the environment?
THESIS: Kenya's tourism industry has had many ups and down since beginning, and still has room for improvement, but ultimately allows for the involvement and empowerment of local people in many aspects of the industry.
ReplyDelete1. "By 1987, tourism had become Kenya's number-one foreign exchange earner, surpassing both tea and coffee" (Honey 296). This quote shows the rapid growth of tourism in Kenya once it began. Unfortunately, it did not stay this prosperous. Tourism in Kenya would experience a fall in popularity shortly after 1987 following terrorism acts carried out against the U.S. embassy. However, after this event and the rising of more national parks and outreach about Kenyan tourism, numbers of tourists began to increase again.
2. In attempt to bring back declining wildlife, it was proposed that two areas largely inhabited by Maasai people be made into reserves. This ultimately pushed the Maasai out of their homelands and denied them access to their animals, water, and spiritual sites. The Massai, the Game department, and the wildlife advisor to the Kenyan Government proposed that if these lands were to be used as conservation reserves, than those in and around them must receive some of the benefits and compensation of these lands. "...if the areas were to be conserved for the benefit of the country and posterity, they would have to be supported by the people who lived near them" (Honey 314). This was a step in making the Masai Mara Game Reserve the most popular game reserve in Eastern Africa.
3. One box that Kenya manages to check fairly consistently is providing financial benefits and empowerment to local people. Besides privately owned lodges and hotels, Kenya has empowered local people, especially members of the Maasai, to be deeply involved in tourism. "In terms of employment within the tourism industry, the county councils' deep involvement in Masai Mara and Amboseli has meant that significant numbers of Maasai have long been hired as guides, drivers, hotel staff, artisans, and cultural performers" (Honey 343). This involvement allows locals to have ownership over the tourism, and take in the benefits and profits.
QUESTION: Is it always possible/ethical to involve indigenous peoples in tourism? What if indigenous peoples do not want anything to do with tourism and want to live peacefully without travelers?
Thesis: Although tourism in Kenya has many ups and downs, there are countless opportunities that ecotourism brings to the country if it’s able to improve.
ReplyDeleteFact 1: “95 percent of the KWS’s revenue coming from tourism” (Honey, 308). I never knew how much the tourism industry brought into the Kenya Wildlife Service. This percentage definitely made me think more about how important it really is to them to preserve their land.
Fact 2: “Since 1977 — the year that monitoring began and also coinciding with the hunting ban — Kenya lost about 40 percent of its wildlife” (Honey, 311). I was surprised to learn that even with a hunting ban, Kenya was still consistently losing wildlife. It just goes to show that you really can’t stop people from trying to make a profit from the animals that reside there and draw in tourists.
Fact 3: “While Kenya’s conservation policy debates have continued for the past two decades, efforts to develop ecotourism successfully at the local level have emerged in ways that reflect both entrenched challenges and new opportunities” (Honey, 313). I feel like this is similar to what other countries have been doing. There are always going to be challenges along the way but with those challenges come countless opportunities and that’s what makes it all worth it.
Question: Will the wildlife that is already in danger in Kenya be able to withstand the amount of tourism as well as poaching that occurs?
Thesis: The tourism and ecotourism industries in Kenya have mirrored the unsteady patterns of their internal affairs rocky and international relations. Despite this, they continue to be upheld as a “trailblazer” in ecotourism.
ReplyDeleteEvidence #1: “the Kenya Wildlife Service pioneered the concept of “parks beyond parks,” which helped to propel the growth of ecotourism in Kenya with new community and private sector initiatives, even as the country’s overall tourism industry declined as a result of internal political conflicts in the late 1990s and security problems linked to terrorist attacks in 1998 and 2002” (Honey 296). It seems that over time, Kenya continuously struggles with balancing the support of multiple industries and areas of specialization necessary to uphold a successful country.
“The National Parks Ordinance of 1945 marked “a shift in conservation policy from protection through hunting legislation to preservation through land protection,” and eviction of local people from newly established national parks” (Honey 297).
Evidence #2: “From the early 1990’s onward, Kenya’s tourism industry has been buffeted by internal and external catastrophes, both natural and man-made. Domestic travails included deteriorating infrastructure, a rise in crime as Nairobi has cemented its reputation as one of the world’s most dangerous cities, the 1997 El Nino floods followed by one of the worst droughts in recent history, and a rise in politically linked ethnic clashes and killings” (Honey 299). Another example of the struggle for Kenya to keep their head up when faced with multiple industries and issues.
Evidence #3: “Kenya’s increasingly corrupt and violent political environment, a lack of planning, and an array of unfortunate external shocks all brought about a serious downturn in the tourism industry by the mid-1990’s” (Honey 339). Overall, the country has been dealt a really rough hand when it comes to interior and international problems, all of which have not made it easy to develop their tourism and ecotourism industries. Yet, they continue to remain an influence in the ecotourism sphere, despite their repeated failures and corruption.
Question: Kenya is considered a pioneer of the ecotourism industry, and an original ecotourism destination...but at what price?
ECO goes BOOM!
ReplyDeleteWell done, friends.
All posts below this line = C/LATE.
W
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ReplyDeletehttps://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1F6K_dK3-datJ8HZp1uXUQF3zsJKIQ68obJhSPuYumko/edit?usp=sharing
ReplyDeleteThesis: Kenya is both great and terrible, it was some of the first international nature tourism and sacrificed much of its indigenous culture as a result. There is still hope for this proud nation.
ReplyDelete1) “The council secured agreement from the local Maasi group ranches to set aside a seventy-eight-square-kilometer area with the basin solely for wildlife. Tourism… grew quickly. By 1968 the council was getting 75 percent of its annual income from the reserve,” (Honey, 321) I hope that the council shares some of those refits with the Maasi groups, as from what we’ve seen it looks as if the animals, and the profits that they apparently represent, are more important to the Kenyan government than the peoples who live in their nation.
2) “These private landowners are under incredible pressure `to share their land. Africa is no place for whites to be owning huge tracts of land and seemly dong nothing with it”, (Honey, 329) that comes from Steve Turner, and may I say ‘hear, hear’, I means seriously say it louder for the people in the back Africa is not for the white man to do whatever they wish with, and anyone who thinks different is part of the problem. I don’t think I can say it better than Mr. Turner so lets just repeat: AFRICA IS NO PLACE FOR WHITES TO OWN HUGE TRACK OF LAND AND DO NOTHING WITH IT, go back to England you paste-y devils!
3) “Ecotourism Kenya launched Africa’s first green tourism certification program in 2003,” (Honey, 338), I’m glad that Kenya is recovering from past mistakes and shortcoming, which were not always their own. Bring in the government and industry with the natural resources of the nation is one of the only ways we will see solid, continuous economic development.
Question: Can Kenya do more for their native tribes than they are currently doing, does ecotourism have to be limited to animals o could it also include the native culture?