Impact of Eco-Tourism on African Societies-Case Study of the Maasai

Presently, we are witnessing a form of re-colonization by tourism and international environmental and animal rights concerns under the “auspices” of conservationism and the promotion of tourism as viable strategies for economic growth. In Southern Africa alone, there are over six hundred game parks approximately equal to the landmass of China. While stimulating profits in primarily government and private sectors with some spill over affect on local populations, the expansion of animal reserves and conservation areas has also precipitated a myriad of challenges. The aim of this research is to explore aspects of the socio-economic, political, and cultural ramifications of tourism as regards the Maasai in Kenya and Tanzania. The most contentious issue in this area is land displacement as the reigning paradigm of conservationism is that humans are a detriment to natural habitat and its species. This has resulted in the creation of “Conservation Refugees”, as it is apparent that land use decisions by rural people are incompatible with wildlife tourism (Homewood 2009; Hughes 2006; Dowie 2009). Secondly, the identification of some ethnic groupings over others, a practice that has survived its colonial inception, as part of tourist attractions, has served to promote major inter, intra-ethnic and class cleavages while reinforcing stereotypical images of Africans through objectification (Shivji 1998, Campbell 1993). In 2000, the Maasai became poster children for Pepsi’s Kizazo Kijacho campaign, ironically translated as “for the future”, at a time when their populations were under siege. This face of Africa perpetuated from the colonial era to the present, has enticed people to visit the continent and view “the other”; thus, the Maasai have played a dichotomous role as object of the trade while receiving limited benefits. As there is an inextricable connection between ethnicity and socio-economic formations, what happens to populations when pastoral and agrarian economies shift and in many cases erode as a direct result of eco-tourism (Homewood 2009; Dowie 2009; Chapin 2004)? To what extent does the tourism industry then provide sustainability, or does it serve as a catalyst to further impoverish or redefine the cultural contours of ethnic groups? Land displacement, political alienation and class cleavages are realities that plague most African societies; yet, does the objectification, and in some cases, demonization of the Maasai preempt formation of inter-ethnic coalitions in addressing those concerns? To this end, analysis of the role of ethnicity within tourism as regards the impact of the monolithic representation of the Maasai as an exotic people to the global community on their self-identity and the affect of victimization and exploitation on their relations with other groups will be undertaken. The number of areas capped off for conservation and wild life viewing are growing at an exponential rate in spite of contravening evidence of their negative consequences (Spear 1993; Dowie 2009). In the past three years, the Kenyan government has been in the process of revamping its tourist industry to make it more lucrative while simultaneously reacting to a series of disputes with the Maasai. It is clear that the deconstruction of the reigning paradigm of eco-tourism and a reassessment of the role of local populations will only take place with substantiated evidence. The role of ethnic groups in tourism needs to be reframed to a respectable and participatory level and support given to those displaced populations whose interests have been relegated below that of wildlife.