A journey through Rwandan national parks: a link between conservation and community development

Photo by Elisa Scampinato

Tourism has a crucial role to play in the conservation of the natural environment. In the African continent, in particular, it has been the main tool used in modern times to fund wildlife management protection–and with great visible results. The wildlife has returned and, although many species are still endangered, the populations of rhinos, hippos, lions and elephants are growing back in numbers.

However, the so-called human-wildlife conflict continues to be a fiery one in many sub-Saharan African countries. The challenge to maintain the two factors in the same equation in a healthy balance is a heavy responsibility not only for every government in the continent, but also for the private and civil sectors of the regions in which tourism serves as a critical player.

African countries face conservation with different histories, powered by diverse internal dynamics and approaches to tourism. However, regardless of the differences, it seems that attitudes towards communities have been changing. Traditionally local communities  have been kept at the margins of the picture, nowadays it is evident that we need to actively include them in any national conservation strategy. Recently, I had an opportunity to take a closer look at what is happening in Rwanda and what emerged was an inspiring picture.

THE TINY BOLD COUNTRY

Rwanda is a tiny and densely populated country. However, with protected areas comprising 8.9% of the national territory, it has an exemplary history of conservation. Between 2005 and 2016 the number of national parks increased from two to four, and in 2022 the Rwandan government announced a 23% expansion in the national park in the northern province, which will also include a buffer zone of more than six thousand hectares that is expected to reduce human-wildlife conflict by 80%

With all these protective measures in place and the great achievements in conservation for which  the country has been internationally recognised, we wonder where the local rural communities that live in the areas surrounding the national parks are and how are they doing?

How can tourism, with the support of the government, operate in a responsible way and create opportunities for sustainable development for the communities, as well as for the wildlife and the natural environment?

Some of the most interesting community projects I have ever seen are happening around the four national parks in Rwanda, and they are some of the most inspiring stories that I gathered during the relatively brief time I spent in Rwanda last August and September.  I observed and learned about the various ways in which conservation and community development are connected and intertwined in Rwanda.

Volcanoes National Park (NP) 

Photo by Elisa Spampinato

Probably the most renowned Rwandan national park, Volcanoes NP, is located in the northern province and is home to the gorgeous mountain gorillas. These gorilla populations are the reason that Volcanoes NP,  the oldest national park established in Africa, is also the most visited.

The tourists venture onto the volcanic and fertile land to spend an hour with these beautiful creatures that peacefully allow them to share their break time while resting on soft beds of grass and taking a nap with their family members.

But how many of those travellers also visit the local communities? The answer used to be: not many. Yet, in 2013 a project, was born to change that. 

Red Rocks Initiative’s founder, Greg Bagunzi, is a pioneer of Community-Based Tourism (CBT) in Rwanda. The realization that almost all tourism activities in his country happen in national parks and protected areas moved him to start searching for ways to bring tourists to the local communities so that they could also start directly benefitting from it.

Today Red Rocks – located in the Musanze district, about 13 km from the Volcanoes NP, is a vibrant hub and a collective community project that is providing grassroots solutions to the equation. On the field stage where the annual cultural festival takes place or among the bamboo and palm trees of the campsite, many projects take place throughout the year. They all have a sole objective: to combine community tourism and conservation projects for the sustainable development of the local communities.

Tree planting along the local river, beekeeping and honey production, and the new herbs and medicinal plants workshops are some of the activities managed by the Community Innovation Centre. The centre began several new environmental projects like the Igihoho since 2016. By using eco-friendly banana bags, it has been helping local farmers to replace the use of plastic in local family farming while generating new income for the makers.

AKAGERA NP

Photo by Elisa Spampinato

In the eastern province, we visited Akagera NP where you will find savannah, but also wetlands, woodlands, and several lakes.

Jean-Paul Karinganire , Assistant Tourism & Marketing Manager at the NP, welcomed my group at Akagera and explained to us how the active participation of the local communities is related to the park’s goals.

The new strategy, which has been implemented since 2010 when the park came under the management of African Parks, focuses on better management and community engagement.

Illegal poaching was eliminated in the first five years under the new management, and since then lions and rhinos have been reintroduced, and the overall wildlife population is growing steadily.

Law enforcement counts strongly on the trust and collaboration of the local communities who have become the beloved partners of this long-term project.

In the parks’ vision, community engagement falls under one of the five pillars of the Africans Parks’ strategy - community development. This means that engagement in the decision-making process is always accompanied by education and enterprise activities.

Among the goals of the parks’ plan is the creation of new economies, like fishing and beekeeping. The community members participate both as part of the cooperative of workers and also as privileged consumers: a certain percentage of the produce from these new projects (20%–30%) is available for them to purchase at a lower price than the market value, which encourages a diet enriched in vitamins and protein intakes.

The day before my first-ever African safari I visited Gishanda Fish Farm, seeing in practice the development of an innovative and sustainable economic alternative for the people of the region.  It is worth mentioning that Gishanda is one of the projects implemented with the resources that come from tourism, through Tourism Revenue Sharing (TRS). The scheme was established in 2005 and invests 10% of all tourism revenue in social and alternative income-generating projects that will directly benefit the communities that live around the parks. Projects invested in include schools, health centres, and improvements to the water systems and agricultural production.

NYUNGWE NP

I visited this forest extensively, which is one of the oldest rainforests in Africa and extremely rich in biodiversity. I enjoyed the company of colobus monkeys, eating their evening snack while I was sipping my tea on the veranda of the Gisakura Visitor Centre. I walked speechless for hours, amazed by the view of monumental ancient trees standing around me.

I had no opportunity, though, to visit the local communities, and the only locals I encountered this time – apart from my porter and the park rangers – were the smiling tea leaf pickers I met after trekking to the Ndambarare waterfall.

However, what I discovered is happening in Kitabi, 33 km east of Nyungwe's Uwinka reception centre, is a great example of reversing the relationship that local communities have had with the forest in a way that opens up new economic opportunities while conserving natural spaces from damage.

Some activities have constantly put the very existence of the forest in danger. Beekeeping is one of them. A traditional method to harvest the honey is to set fire to the beehive, which has caused, and continues to cause, uncontrolled fires in Rwanda. Kitabi village has updated this tradition thanks to a collaboration with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) – an NGO active in the five districts touched by Nyungwe national park. Because of the productive collaboration with the park and intense education and outreach programs, there are now 13 beekeeping cooperatives that limit their activities to outside the park and not only produce and sell honey but also candles and other derivatives.

GISHWATI-MUKURA NP

Photo by Elisa Spampinato

In the youngest of the four national parks, only established in 2015, an important message came to me through the pages of a coloring book for primary school children, found on the bookshelves of Gishwati-Mukura NP’s headquarters next to technical books on air pollution by the Rwanda Environment Management Authority (REMA).

By leafing through the ‘Primates of Rwanda’ – provided by The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International – I learned a lot of interesting information about the primates that populate the country's protected areas, but I also acknowledged an important message about education.

By looking at the ways the Rwandan government (i.e. the RDB) is working with communities, it is clear that education is an important element of the overall strategy:

• Education of the local communities about the importance of conservation and biodiversity for our own survival on the planet.

• Education about alternative uses of the land, and of procurement of resources, to leave space for endemic plants and vegetation to grow.

• Education about the risk of unsafe interaction with wildlife.

• Education about the importance of tourism and the opportunities for sustainable development that could arise from the activities that are linked to it.

I also learned about how visitors are educated through tourism activities, becoming conscious of the environment and all the living beings that exist within.

If ‘Youth can help protect primates by sharing knowledge [with] friends and family’ – as quoted under the letter ‘Y’ in the children’s book, then ‘Tourism helps educate travelers visiting Africa from other parts of the world’ – as found under the letter ‘T’.

What these two letters remind us of is that in tourism we are all learning, or at least we should create favorable conditions so that this can happen – and we all have important roles to play, at the destination, as landowners, and government bodies, as well as tourists far from home.

Thanks, Rwanda for reminding us of that!

Murakose Chane!