Over the years, protected areas have largely been associated with tourism activities where the global meets the local. Indeed, it is widely acknowledged that ＂parks are for people and forever＂. This implies that con...Over the years, protected areas have largely been associated with tourism activities where the global meets the local. Indeed, it is widely acknowledged that ＂parks are for people and forever＂. This implies that conservation areas must serve different and divergent interest groups for posterity. Moreover, amidst the proposal to manage natural resources at a local level, it should be appreciated that the local people have continuously been alienated. This paper discusses the conservation areas of Kakamega Forest and Saiwa Swamp in Western Kenya. Through questionnaire interviews with the local communities and natural area managers, it investigates the link among the local communities, protected areas, and tourism as envisaged in the Ecotourism Kenya motto. It concludes that sometimes tourism can be so close to the local people yet so far. Thus, for this linkage to occur, tourists should be fascinated by the cultural aspect （if provided by the local people） and that the local people should seize the opportunity to benefit from such visits.展开更多
文摘Over the years, protected areas have largely been associated with tourism activities where the global meets the local. Indeed, it is widely acknowledged that ＂parks are for people and forever＂. This implies that conservation areas must serve different and divergent interest groups for posterity. Moreover, amidst the proposal to manage natural resources at a local level, it should be appreciated that the local people have continuously been alienated. This paper discusses the conservation areas of Kakamega Forest and Saiwa Swamp in Western Kenya. Through questionnaire interviews with the local communities and natural area managers, it investigates the link among the local communities, protected areas, and tourism as envisaged in the Ecotourism Kenya motto. It concludes that sometimes tourism can be so close to the local people yet so far. Thus, for this linkage to occur, tourists should be fascinated by the cultural aspect （if provided by the local people） and that the local people should seize the opportunity to benefit from such visits.
