The Tourism Wake-Up Call We Can’t Ignore

Tourism in Kenya is often portrayed as a success story, a golden goose that funds conservation, creates jobs and boosts national pride. However, beneath the glossy brochures and curated game drives lies a growing tension: the often overlooked conflicts, both literal and metaphorical, between a booming tourism industry and the local communities living alongside the wildlife that sustains it.

Occasionally, tragic incidents such as vehicle crashes, livestock encounters or viral confrontations jolt us into awareness. While these events are often dismissed as isolated incidents or unfortunate accidents, they are signals of a system under strain. If we reduce them to reckless herding or careless driving, we risk missing the deeper, more complex narrative.

The Invisible Burden of Living With Wildlife

Let’s confront an uncomfortable truth: in Kenya, most wildlife does not live in fenced parks. Instead, it roams freely across community lands, lands where pastoralists raise their families, graze their livestock and struggle to survive droughts, inflation and policy neglect.

These communities pay a high price for this coexistence. Crops are trampled, cattle are killed, and at times, people are injured or even lose their lives. Meanwhile, when the tourism economy benefits from wildlife sightings and landscapes, the local communities that host this reality often receive very little in return.

What is marketed as “coexistence” often feels like an unequal negotiation for many. Communities are expected to protect wildlife, yet they frequently have a limited voice in decision-making and little access to the wealth generated by tourism.

Performance vs Participation

Local engagement in tourism is often reduced to mere spectacle, featuring beadwork for sale, dances for visitors and guided tours of “authentic villages.” While these activities may appear to promote cultural preservation from an outsider’s perspective, for many locals, they are simply a means of survival rather than a path to empowerment.

True inclusion goes beyond performance. It occurs when communities have a genuine role in decision-making, land-use planning and benefit-sharing. It means they are not only instructed to preserve wildlife but are also supported, equipped and respected in their efforts to do so.

Fences, Frustration and Forced Proximity

As more land is designated for private conservancies and tourism lodges, herders find themselves confined to smaller areas. Grazing corridors vanish, making movement increasingly shaky. As a result, cattle are often seen along roads, wildlife encroaches on human settlements, and the potential for dangerous encounters grows.

When incidents occur, such as collisions, injuries or fatalities, the blame game begins. Is it the herder’s fault? The drivers? The government’s? However, these incidents stem from systemic issues rather than individual failures. Until we address the root causes, these conflicts, both literal and figurative, will continue to occur.

This Is What Broken Policy Looks Like

We require more than just a response to crises; we need the long-overdue structural reforms. This process begins with:

1. A National Land-Use Policy That Respects Mobility and Culture

Mobility is crucial for pastoralism. Policies must acknowledge that grazing is not a chaotic nuisance rather it is a survival strategy that has shaped ecosystems for centuries.

2. Revenue Sharing That’s More Than a Handshake

Communities should not be token stakeholders in conservation. They should be co-owners of projects, parks and policies. This requires sharing profits, not just making promises.

3. Shared-Use Corridors for Livestock and Wildlife

Wildlife and livestock have always coexisted peacefully. Our infrastructure and conservation plans should acknowledge this relationship, rather than pretend they are incompatible.

4. Safety Standards That Reflect Lived Reality

Roads in conservation areas should be designed for mixed use: livestock, wildlife, children and tourists. Anything else constitutes reckless planning.

5. Community-Led Conflict Resolution Mechanisms

When things go wrong, justice shouldn’t be one-sided. Systems must protect all parties, not just the most powerful or visible.

The Reckoning Tourism Doesn’t Want

There is an elephant in the safari van: Much of our tourism model still reflects colonial ideals. Landscapes are portrayed as pristine and empty when in reality, they are inhabited, cultivated, loved and fought for by real people.

A tourism sector that thrives only when locals are silent or invisible is not sustainable; it represents exploitation in khaki shorts.

So, What Now?

We need a tourism model that reflects reality, not fantasy.

• Tourism must collaborate with communities, not bypass them.
• Conservation must respect pastoralist rights, not suppress them.
• The state must lead with equity, not neglect.

The next time an incident happens, and sadly it will let’s not scramble for scapegoats. Let’s ask better questions, acknowledge the system that’s producing these outcomes and rebuild a model that respects both people and the planet.

Because without justice, there is no conservation.

And without equity, there is no sustainable tourism.