Parks beyond parks: genuine community-based wildlife eco-tourism or just another loss of land for Maasai pastoralists in Kenya?

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Title:	Parks beyond parks: genuine community-based wildlife eco-tourism or just another loss of land for Maasai pastoralists in Kenya?
Author:	Rutten, Marcel
Year:	2002
Issue:	111
Pages:	27
Language:	English
Series:	Issues paper (ISSN 1357-9312)
City of publisher:	London
Publisher:	International Institute for Environment and Development
Geographic term:	Kenya
Subjects:	Maasai natural resource management community-based tourism wildlife protection environment ecotourism
Abstract:	In 1996 the Kenya Wildlife Services (KWS) embarked on a 'Parks beyond Parks' programme, which aimed to bring some of the benefits of wildlife tourism to the local population. Under this programme, local people were allowed to start tented camps and other tourist activities in areas bordering national parks. The present paper discusses the development of a new ecotourism initiative in the Selengei region, bordering Amboseli National Park, in Kajiado District. An overview of the history of wildlife conservation and tourism in Southern Kajiado District is followed by a detailed description of the Eselenkei Conservation Area initiative. The conclusion is that, although KWS presents the development of wildlife sanctuaries as a new form of 'partnership' with the local Maasai population, the case of Selengei shows that in order to be truly community-based, certain conditions should be met. The benefits to be gained by the Selengei Maasai were still uncertain in 2000. [ASC Leiden abstract]