Antecedents to the Community Wildlife Conservation Programme in Kenya, 1946-1964

Abstract Studies on wildlife conservation in Kenya have tended to overlook the efforts made by the colonial administration to involve African communities in wildlife conservation. In most of the existing studies, wildlife conservation in colonial and early independent Kenya is viewed as the perpetuation of a 'Western' or conventional conservation ethos emphasising separation of wildlife conservation from other socio-economic activities. Consequently, the evolution of community wildlife conservation in the country from the late 1970s is portrayed as a programme without antecedents. But as this paper demonstrates, attempts to involve Africans in wildlife conservation in Kenya have a long history.