Hayman 1
Serengeti National Park, Ecotourism, and the Maasai
An Analysis and Critique of Conservation and Ecotourism Endeavors in Eastern Tanzania
A research proposal submitted to the Urban Studies and Planning Program
University of California at San Diego
Deborah Hayman
USP 186
dthayman@gmail.com
October 18, 2011
Abstract
Studies suggest that the development of Serengeti National Park coupled with associated
ecotourism endeavors in eastern Tanzania have failed to benefit local populations, and have even
proven to be detrimental to local ecosystems as well as the local Maasai community. This
proposal examines the shortcomings of Serengeti National Park and its associated ecotourism
industries, and explores strategies for the development of a more socially and environmentallyconscious national park system and ecotourism industry in eastern Tanzania. The research
strategy focuses on examination of Serengeti National Park and eastern Tanzania’s ecotourism
industry from colonial rule to the present day, as well as a study of the activities, developments,
and programs of ecotourism companies presently operating in eastern Tanzania. Additionally,
this proposal uses case studies of national parks and ecotourism initiatives in developing
countries to formulate successful ecotourism strategies for Serengeti National Park. The study
will contribute to the literature on national park development and ecotourism in developing
countries. The results will also be shared with Serengeti National park officials as well as
participants in Tanzania’s ecotourism industry, including the local Maasai community in the
hope that the findings may aid in the successful development of a more sustainable and sociallyconscious national park and ecotourism industry within eastern Tanzania.
Key Terms: ecotourism, sustainability, conservation, biodiversity, ecosystem, Maasai,
Tanzania, Serengeti National Park, Ngorongoro Conservation Area
Introduction
The Serengeti National Park is located in eastern Tanzania, and covers an area of 5,700
square miles, and contains one of the richest varieties of wildlife in the world (Honey 220).
Serengeti National Park was established by Tanzania’s former colonial government through
ordinances passed between 1940 and 1951. When the park was first established, colonial laws
promised the local pastoralist Maasai people continued residence within the park, which was
located in their ancestral homeland, however this policy lasted for less than a decade. European
Hayman 2
conservation organizations and scientists lobbied to expel the Maasai form the park, claiming
that their lifestyle was detrimental to the park’s fragile ecosystem. The original law can amended
in 1959, and the park was split into two areas; The Maasai were excluded from the western part
of the park, but were allowed to reside in a newly created conservation area known as the
Ngorongoro Conservation Area. Over the years, the policies restricting Maasai residence and
use of land in Serengeti National Park became more militantly enforced, and conservation
organizations proved to be unsympathetic to the fact that the Maasai had been deprived of
precious resources through the creation of Serengeti National Park (Honey 1999, 223-226).
Since the late 1980s a brand of ecotourism called “safari tourism” has undergone
enormous growth, spurring the development of ecotourism ventures throughout Africa, including
Tanzania. This boom attracted a great deal of internationally-based tourism companies to eastern
Tanzania where they constructed new hotels, camps, and ecotourism programs. Although the
Tanzanian government originally hoped that tourism would aid in the country’s development and
prosperity, however the local Maasai people around Serengeti National Park receive little to no
benefit from the burgeoning ecotourism industry (Honey 1999, 221). Instead, the vast majority
of money garnered from tourism in Serengeti National Park goes directly to foreign tourism
firms or the Tanzanian government, and very little trickles down to the Maasai themselves. In
addition to this, the influx of tourists and development on and surrounding traditional Maasai
pastureland has caused the depletion of natural resources and has also damaged surrounding
ecosystems.
Thus, the development of Serengeti National Park and its associated foreign-based
ecotourism industry has continuously marginalized the Maasai by depriving them of essential
land and natural resources without adequate compensation or consideration of their needs, and by
Hayman 3
excluding them from any revenue garnered by the national park or ecotourism industry. This
proposal examines the shortcomings of Serengeti National Park and its associated foreign
ecotourism industries, and explores strategies for the development of a more socially and
environmentally-conscious national park system and ecotourism industry which empowers the
Maasai to have a voice in decision-making processes, to have an active role within the
ecotourism industry, and which gives the Maasai an opportunity to partake in the revenue
garnered from ecotourism in and around Serengeti National Park.
Case studies of national parks and ecotourism industries in developing countries provide
a variety of strategies and methods to implement a more sustainable ecotourism industry in
eastern Tanzania. Three key strategies for sustainable, socially and environmentally-conscious
ecotourism are tourist revenue sharing programs, incentive-based conservation programs, and
community-based tourism programs. Tourist revenue sharing (TRS) programs are programs in
which the national government returns profits from ecotourism directly to local communities in
the form of social infrastructure such as schools and hospitals (Archibald and Naughton-Treves
2011, 135 – 136). Incentive-based conservation (IBC) programs are programs in which
development opportunities and funding are provided to local peoples in exchange for their active
support of conservation initiatives and the protection of natural resources (Spiteri and Nepal
2011, 2 -7). Community-based tourism (CBT) programs are programs in which local people
actively participate within the ecotourism sector by providing services, lodging, and food to
tourists (Spiteri and Nepal 2011, 2, Vaughn 2011, 292 – 294).
This proposal analyzes these key strategies with consideration to eastern Tanzania’s unique
needs, and proposes methods to integrate a combination of these methods into eastern Tanzania’s
ecotourism industry.
Hayman 4
Literature Review
The Serengeti National Park was officially established by colonial rule in Tanzania in
1951, although the park initially allowed the native Maasai pastoralists to continue inhabiting the
park. This privilege was revoked in 1959, and 250,000 Maasai were relegated to the newly
created Ngorongoro Conservation Area, and were officially prohibited from inhabiting or using
the resources of 5,700 square miles of their former homeland. This loss of land has had
considerable negative effects on the Maasai. Kaj Ahrem found that the land reduction is directly
related to a decline in the Maasais’ quality of life, and has influenced traditionally pastoralist
individuals to become dependent on the mainstream national economy, thereby reducing their
self-reliance and even their existence as a cohesive ethnic group (19). Ahrem’s findings
correlate with those of Martha Honey who has found that the mass relocations of Maasai caused
by the creation of Serengeti National Park deprived the Maasai access to ancestral grazing land,
water, and wildlife resources (Honey 1999, 226). Honey has also found that the Maasai continue
to find themselves relegated to smaller habitation areas with more and more regulations
regarding their activities. This has greatly altered the Maasais’ traditional livelihoods, and has
also greatly depleted Maasai cattle populations due to the Maasais’ inability to migrate long
distances to avoid cattle disease (Honey 1999, 239). Ric Goodman’s research shows that the
Maasais’ decreased mobility due to land reduction has influenced the Maasai to turn to nontraditional methods of living and food production (108).
In 1995 Tanzania’s director of tourism touted ecotourism as a way to raise revenue for
community development and involvement projects (Honey 1999, 220 – 224). However, Martha
Honey’s studies have found that local Maasai people report that they do not receive any of the
Hayman 5
economic benefits generated by ecotourism, instead, all of the revenue goes to foreign
ecotourism agencies and the Tanzanian government. Honey has also found that many Maasai
believe they were illegally evicted from their homeland because, although the Maasai elders
signed agreements ceding the land of the Serengeti National Park to the national park system,
none of the signers knew how to read or write, and the agreements were not adequately
explained to them (227, 224). Honey’s findings correlate to those of Ric Goodman who states
that there are instances of Maasai signing land resources to tourism operators and conservation
organizations who claim private ownership of land and resources- a concept very foreign to the
Maasai who traditionally utilize communal land use. These shortcomings have resulted in the
continued marginalization of the Maasai people, and have made their traditional ways of life
almost impossible to continue. Therefore, some Maasai have therefore been forced to turn away
from their traditional livelihoods and rely upon unsustainable and ecologically destructive means
for survival (Goodman 2003, 110 - 111).
In addition to their negative impacts on local populations, the development of Serengeti
National Park and its associated tourism industry have had some harmful effects on eastern
Tanzania’s natural environment. Arian Spiteri and Sanjay Nepal state that when national park
development displaces native populations, local people often come to resent externally-imposed
conservation initiatives, and refuse to contribute to such conservation efforts, thereby limiting the
ability of the national park to protect biodiversity in the region (1- 2). In addition to this, in the
1990s foreign ecotourism companies started developing in areas in and around Maasai territory.
Two large hotels were built next to Maasai water sources thereby intensifying water scarcity
issues. Tourist companies also began to use diesel vehicles which caused further environmental
degradation and erosion of sensitive ecosystems (Honey 1999, 233 – 238).
Hayman 6
The eastern Tanzinian national parks system and ecotourism industry must take the wellbeing of the Maasai into consideration in order to create a more environmentally and socially
responsible national parks system and ecotourism industry. Three key strategies for creating an
improved national park system and ecotourism industry are tourist revenue sharing programs,
incentive-based conservation programs, and community-based tourism programs.
Karen Archibald and Lisa Naughton-Treves’ research focuses on tourist revenue sharing
(TRS) programs are programs in which the national government returns profits from ecotourism
directly to local communities in the form of social infrastructure such as schools and hospitals.
This approach is intended to raise local support for conservation projects by offsetting the costs
of national park and tourist developments for local people. There are a number of case studies
where tourist revenue sharing programs have been established in developing countries. In
studying a number of these case studies, Archibald and Naughton-Treves found that a majority
of survey respondents reported that TRS programs had improved their attitudes towards
protected sites and tourism. Key components of a successful TRS program are; long term
government and institutional support in order to ensure the continued distribution of benefits, an
identification of the appropriate target community of those affected by national parks and
tourism development, as well as “transparency, accountability, and adequate funding” of the
government and/or organizations overseeing the TRS program (Archibald and Naughton-Treves
2011, 135 – 136). Archibald and Naughton-Treves state that individuals are affected by national
parks and ecotourism in different ways, and in order to successful implementation of TRS policy,
it is necessary to define the boundaries of the affected community, and determine the degrees to
which different individuals were affected by national park and ecotourism developments in order
to assure equal support for local individuals (Archibald and Naughton-Treves 2011, 135 -136).
Hayman 7
Incentive-based conservation (IBC) programs are programs in which development
opportunities and funding are provided to local peoples in exchange for their active support of
conservation initiatives and the protection of natural resources. IBC programs strive to create
direct linkages between conservation initiatives and local needs and prosperity in order to
encourage stewardship and show a connection between conservation and livelihood opportunities
(Spiteri and Nepal 2011, 2 -7). Arian Spiteri and Sanjay Nepal also comment on IBC programs,
stating that in order for IBC programs to be successful, local communities must see the
incentives given as equitable and fair, and the incentives given must be distributed based upon
need, and the incentives given must be appropriate for local lifestyles (1). Like TRS programs,
IBC programs also require an identification of communities affected by national park
development, and an analysis of how benefits should be distributed based on the degree to which
individuals have been affected by national park and ecotourism development (Spiteri and Nepal
2011, 3).
Community-based tourism (CBT) programs are programs in which local people actively
participate within the ecotourism sector by providing services, lodging, and food to tourists.
Spiteri and Nepal state that CBT programs empower people in local communities by giving them
power in the planning and implementation of national park development and conservation
projects, and argue that this creates a sense of “accountability and ownership” in the local
communities which encourage continued involvement. In addition to this, CBT programs
directly sponsor the well-being and prosperity of local people because all of the funds garnered
from the ecotourism industry get funneled directly back into the community. This approach
involves local people in the conservation process, and offers them direct benefits through
economic opportunities (Spiteri and Nepal 2011, 1 – 2). Vaughn states that in order for
Hayman 8
community-based tourism to be successful, it is necessary for the local people to work directly
with tourism industries and conservation authorities, and employ entrepreneurial thinking in their
approach to conservation and local ecotourism development (293). In addition to this, it is
necessary for local people to have an understanding of international markets and have training
appropriate for participation in the conservation and tourism industries (Vaughn 2011, 287 –
289).
Each of these strategies has its own set of benefits and drawbacks, and each must be
tailored to fit the region, people, and cultures in the area in which they are applied. The
improvement of the Serengeti National Park system and ecotourism within eastern Tanzania will
require a carefully tailored syncretism of the best practices of each of these approaches in order
to improve the Serengeti National Park system and its associated ecotourism industry.
Research Design and Research Methods
This proposal requires a comprehensive research strategy which studies the effects of the
development of Serengeti National Park and its associated ecotourism industry on the local
people and natural ecosystems of eastern Tanzania. Once the shortcomings of the Serengeti
National Park and ecotourism industry are identified, it is necessary to address them by finding
environmentally and socially conscious alternatives to present practices.
This proposal will examine historical and modern literature accounts of the Serengeti
National Park and eastern Tanzania’s ecotourism industry from colonial rule to the present day.
In order to assess how national park and ecotourism officials collaborated with, or failed to
collaborate with the Maasai. Additionally, this proposal will perform a study of the activities,
establishments, and programs of ecotourism companies presently operating in eastern Tanzania
in order to study the impacts the industry has on the eastern Tanzanian environment, and to
assess if the companies take into account the environmental impacts of their actions and
Hayman 9
developments. This will help to understand the current situation, and assess both the best
practices and the shortcomings of existing national park and ecotourism practices.
Although there are currently some small-scale initiatives in Tanzania to improve the
operations of Serengeti National Park and the ecotourism industry, these activities are not
extensive or comprehensive enough to include all local populations and ecotourism operations in
and around Serengeti National Park. Therefore, it is necessary to examine case studies of best
practice national parks and ecotourism operations in developing countries in order to identify and
formulate successful ecotourism strategies that can be applied to eastern Tanzania.
This report will also review quantative and qualitative data regarding the natural
resources of Serengeti National Park and its surrounding areas. With this information it will be
possible to determine the amount of tourism and ecotourism activities the area can sustain while
also providing enough resources to for the needs of the Maasai people and their cattle herds.
Although extensive research will be performed, there are limitations within this project
and the research performed. Firstly, there will be no on-site analysis or interviews of people in
Tanzania; this limits the availability of primary sources of information and knowledge about
Serengeti National Park, its associated ecotourism industry, and the Maasai people. Additionally,
Tanzania and the Maasai face a host of environmental, social, and political issues which are not
caused by the tourism industry, but which have a great impact on ecotourism within the region.
While this information is outside the scope of this project, it is important to consider when
looking at ecotourism in a broader sociopolitical scale. Finally, this project strives to develop an
effective strategy for improving the Serengeti National Park system and the ecotourism industry
in eastern Tanzania; however this study does not include real-world applications of this strategy
in the areas in and surrounding Serengeti National Park. Therefore, it is necessary to realize that
Hayman 10
the proposed strategies cannot be guaranteed to have the desired outcomes if they are actually
applied to the areas in and around Serengeti National Park and its associated ecotourism
industry.
Outcome
This proposal aims to create a strategy which can be used for the improvement of the
Serengeti National Park system and ecotourism industry in eastern Tanzania. The resulting
strategy will include methods to reduce negative environmental impacts derived from the
ecotourism industry, and will incorporate strategies to fully integrate the Maasai into the tourism
and national park decision-making, development, and management process. Additionally, the
research strives to identify the amount of ecotourism the Serengeti National Park and its
surrounding areas can sustain while still providing enough resources for the Maasai community
and their cattle herds.
Hayman 11
Bibliography
Ahrem, Kaj. Pastoral Man in the Garden of Eden: The Maasai of the Ngorongoro Conservation
Area, Tanzania. Uppsala: Almqvist and Wiksell Tryckeri, 1985.
Archibald, Karen, and Lisa Naughton-Treves. "Tourism Revenue-Sharing Around National
Parks in Western Uganda: Early Efforts to Identify and Reward Local
Communities."Environmental Conservation 20.2 (2001): 135-49. JSTOR. ITHAKA. Web. 22
Sept. 2011.
Cater, Erlet. "Ecotourism: A Sustainable Option?" The Geographical Journal 159.1 (1993): 11415. JSTOR. ITHAKA. Web. 20 Sept. 2011.
Duffy, Rosaleen. A Trip Too Far: Ecotourism, Politics and Exploitation. Sterling: Earthscan,
2002.
Goodman, Ric. "Pastoral Livelihoods in Tanzania: Can the Maasai Benefit from
Conservation?" Global Ecotourism Policies and Case Studies: Perspectives and Constraints. Ed.
Michael Luck and Torsten Kirstges. Channel View Publications, 2003. 108-14.
Hampton, Mark P. "Entry Points for Local Tourism in Developing Countries: Evidence from
Yogyakarta, Indonesia." Geografiska Annaler, Series B: Human Geography 85.2 (2003): 85-101.
JSTOR. ITHAKA. Web. 22 Sept. 2011.
Honey, Martha. Ecotourism and Sustainable Development: Who Owns Paradise? Washington,
D.C.: Island, 1999.
Spiteri, Arian, and Sanjay K. Nepal. "Incentive-Based Conservation Programs in Developing
Countries: A Review of Some Key Issues and Suggestions for Improvements."Environmental
Management 37.1 (2006): 1-14. JSTOR. ITHAKA. Web. 23 Sept. 2011.
Vaughan, David. "Tourism and Biodiversity: A Convergence of Interests?" International
Affairs 76.2 (2000): 283-97. JSTOR. ITHAKA. Web. 22 Sept. 2011.