The Balancing Act between Touism and the Environment in Maasai Mara - Case Study: Mara Serena Safari Lodge

Bid, Hema (2006) The Balancing Act between Touism and the Environment in Maasai Mara - Case Study: Mara Serena Safari Lodge. [Dissertation (University of Nottingham only)] (Unpublished)

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Abstract

This dissertation aims to analyse the balancing act between tourism and the environment in the Maasai Mara National Reserve, and assess its impacts in relation to sustainable tourism. Furthermore, the researcher will analyse how tourism wildlife laws have changed from 1930 to present, and the evolution of the relationship between tourists, local people (Maasai) and wildlife in the area. The main objectives of this dissertation are to make different stakeholders in Maasai Mara aware of:

- How Maasai Mara's tourist attractions can be managed and utilised on a socially, environmentally and ecologically sustainable basis, using Mara Serena Safari Lodge as an example.

- How much of the revenue from tourism trickles down to local people at the grassroots level.

- How the awareness in sustainable development and the participation of the local community will ensure a good quality eco-friendly tourism product.

The findings show that striking a balance between the expansions of tourism, stopping degradation of the Maasai Mara, saving the wildlife and leaving the local pastoralist community's lifestyle intact is probably the greatest challenge facing conservation in the game reserve. However, this research has proven that the MMNR needs more private help in the management of the reserve, for example, from European Game Wardens and external funding mostly from World Wildlife Fund for Nature, International Union for the Conservation of Nature and National Resources. Thus, the future of MMNR lies in the hands of a better management system that is needed by the County Councils.

Furthermore, this research has shown that tourism is not just a narrow business world where the key social actors are the tourists and the tourism providers, but other stakeholders, like host communities, that should be given a greater voice whether they are positively engaged in the business of tourism or not.

Item Type: Dissertation (University of Nottingham only)
Keywords: Environment, Tourism, Kenya, Maasai Mara
Depositing User: EP, Services
Date Deposited: 29 Nov 2006
Last Modified: 30 Jan 2018 22:12
URI: https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/id/eprint/20279

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