University of Aarhus ECOTOURISM AS A WAY TO PROTECT ...

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Ecotourism as a sustainable way to protect nature sight these animals were provided. They then had to move some of the vegetation, which was essential to some species. For example, an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) was done to prevent problems in Thornybush Game Reserve. They wanted an open space to view wildlife and for that, they had to remove scrub. The EIA concluded that this clearance would be good to that kind of animals which are natural predators or big enough to find refuge in scrub such as lions, zebras, etc. But other kinds of animals such as kudu survive thanks to these scrubs, so they would be in danger. However, this has been done for a long time in national parks. 3.2.8. Social problems The social problems caused by national parks have been commented along this project too but it is necessary to name them again. Firstly, for natives these have been one of the apartheid forms. They have not been allowed to get in to the national parks for a number of reasons. Firstly, because it was the natives “fault” that wildlife was disappearing. Secondly, because the natives couldn't understand a very refined sport due to the barbarian race they belong to. Thirdly, because they were damaging the ecosystem in general, etc. Natives realised that the only way to fight against this imposition was by killing wildlife. Not allowing the natives to enter the national parks will not only influence their survival possibilities but also their customs. Most tribes in Africa venerate their dead, by going to the burial sites. Many of these sites are in the national parks, but because of the national park regulations they cannot follow this tradition. Violence is recognised as one of the most important handicaps in national parks nowadays. And it can threaten the marketing of any national park, such as commented in the news: On September 15, 2000 a honeymoon couple went to KNP from New York but they were robbed. “They filed a complaint with the 68
Ecotourism as a sustainable way to protect nature police, the American Embassy replaced their clothes and they flew back to New York on Tuesday. They will not recommend South Africa as an ecotourist destination to their friends” (Yahoo news, 2000). As commented before, a programme of formation/information would solve part of these problems. During a long time, National Parks managers have not informed the population about what was happening because they never considered it necessary (it is different nowadays as Ronnic McKilvey - Londolozi’s managing director - explains “We created Londolozi as a model not because we’re good guys. We know if we want to stay in tourism, we have to have friendly neighbours” (Honey, 1999). Now they continue not giving information but for a different reason. They are scared of what happened in later years, as explained by Ndumo’s manager, Ian Derrick, “The community as a whole and the tribal authorities up in the mountains have not been well informed about what’s happening here. It’s hard for us to go out and tell them. They’ve been lied to before by whites, so why would they believe us” (Honey, 1999). This is a very understandable feeling but anyway, information cannot be denied in advance because of problems, which were encountered a long time ago. Although, there still is a problem. 3.2.9. Conclusions This chapter has shown that the problems in managing wildlife and local people are numerous and very different. This is, however, not an excuse for not working with the problems. When protecting animals, local people should not be forgotten because they are not an integral part of the solution; the animals may suffer, so both factors (locals and animals) are keys to protecting nature. Education is the key to the problem. As explained before, visitors of national parks want to have more information before coming to the parks. If visitors are well educated with 69
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