Kenya's experience in development of wildlife tourism

Abstract

Kenya's wildlife resources have played a central role in socioeconomic systems within and outside her national borders from the very early times up to now. Hunter-gatherer communities together with pioneer pastoralists and cultivators used wildlife resources for food, clothing, weaponry and for production of a wide variety of household equipment and building materials. Long distance commercial exchange of wildlife products is known to have been on the Kenyan coast before the birth of Christ with countries such as Egypt, Phoenicia, Arabia and Persia. This trade expanded in the early centuries to China and India. Despite the introduction of a market economy and diversification of commerce by early European settlers, natural products formed the major bulk of Kenya's exports up to the start of the twentieth century. Today, wildlife tourism is the backbone of Kenya's economy and has been the mainstay of hard currency earning capacity for the last two decades.