Author: Lovro Mišak, OŠ Horvati
Kenya is located in central Africa. It is known for many wonderful landscapes: beaches, deserts, forests, coral reefs and snowy mountains. It has a lot to offer like safaris and white water rafting. It also has a lot of ecotourism consisting of over 50 national parks like Hell’s Gate National Park, Lake Turkana National Park, Mount Kenya National Park and much more. These many natural attractions help draw more than 500 000 tourists every year. There are also many eco-friendly lodges and ranches which use sustainable energy sources and conserve water. Some locations in Kenya are also on the UNESCO World Heritage Sites list.
The biodiversity also means a lot to the everyday’s life but recently biodiversity is downgrading because of pollution and climate changes. During centuries big part of that biodiversity was taken away by the colonial governments.
In Kenya, they have many animals like the African elephant, leopard and the African lion. But there are many endangered animals due to poaching, like the Egyptian vulture, the Saker falcon, the rhinos, cheetahs and much more… Though elephant hunting has been banned for a 40-year period in Kenya, poaching has not reduced because of the high value of elephant tusks – they are shipped and sold on the black market.
The national parks attract large numbers of tourists, who are attracted to the large migration of wilder beasts. There have also been some negative things that have affected the environment. Some of these include pollution, habitat destruction, and littering.
Ecotourism is very important to Kenya, some 50 000 people are employed in “wildlife industry”. Money earned in tourism goes back for children scholarships and for development. However, earnings from tourism have not flowed proportionally to the tribes and this caused a lot of conflicts. For example, the Masai Mara tribe lives in Kenya and they have lived in harmony with the animals for centuries. When the parks were created they were forced to move out without compensation.
Ecotourism is really important. It is the only type of tourism that is sustainable and will last longer than the normal one.
