KAYAKINONDO COMMUNITY ECOTOURISM PROJECT IN
KENYA: A DECADE LATER
*Dr. BonfaceOdiaraKihima and Mr. Elias Kimaru
Hospitality and Tourism
Kenyatta University, Mombasa Campus
P.O BOX 16778-80100 Mombasa, Kenya
*Email:
ABSTRACT
Coastal areas are largely known for beach and marine tourism. However, forested areas along the coastal strip do also provide relatively good leisure grounds for escapism away from the crowded beaches. In such areas, conservation organizations and communities have established ecotourism ventures as a means of linking conservation and socio-economic development for the concerned communities. KayaKinondo ecotourism project is one such project which was started in 2001. The purpose of this project was to test the viability of ecotourism in linking conservation to tangible social and economic benefits to the local community. A decade later, has the project succeeded in diversifying tourism in the coastal area of Kenya? Secondly, do the local people feel the accrued tangible social and economic benefits as a result of the project? This paper seeks to identify the critical components of coastal forest tourism development, the problems associated with it and some of the possible solutions.
Key words: Benefits, Ecotourism, Kaya Local Community, World Heritage Site.
1.0 INTRODUCTION
Coastal Forests of East Africa represent one of the greatest densities of plant and animal species in the world in terms of richness and endemism (Burgess and Clarke, 2000). They are of great interest in view of their protective role against environmental degradation especially soil erosion. Therefore, they play a big role in the conservation of other coastal ecosystems against siltation and erosion. Centuries of human residence and interaction with the resource have reduced this role which had been more extensive previously (CEPF, 2003). In Kenya, coastal forests exist mainly as isolated blocks comprising about 83,800 ha in a narrow belt which extends inland to about 30 Km from the Indian Ocean (UNEP, 1998, and CEPF, 2003). Such notable closed canopy forests include ArabukoSokoke within the coastal strip and Shimba Hills Game Reserve which is a few minutes’ drive from the coastal beach. Others include Mangrove and the numerous sacred Kaya forests (about 50 in number) that have cultural value to rural people and are protected by the local Mijikenda communities (Giriama, Chonyi, Kauma, Kambe, Ribe, Jibana, Rabai, Digo and Duruma) who share common dialects and similar culture. In such areas, they conduct prayers, rituals and sacrifices (Githitho, 1998).
Coastal areas are largely known for beach and marine tourism and are major destinations worldwide. The beach spaces are basically found on the fringes of human habitation providing for contact between the tourist resorts and the ‘empty’ water spaces. Gradually, the interface between the sea and the dry land integrates into the surrounding urban public areas commonly known as beach resorts and commercial centers – Mombasa, Malindi, Diani, Kilifi etc. This then gives way to the hinterland where the local communities live and interact with the tourism industry in various ways.
Such interactions include entrepreneurial activities in ecotourism and community based tourism. Being close to the mass market destination, the beach or ecotourism in such areas is in fact a “complementary or supplementary economic activity, not a substitute” (Cater, 2004, p.489) and is seen in the context of beach tourism and not as an isolated alternative. In the south coast of Kenya, there are several attempts to develop ecotourism-based initiatives as an extension of the mass beach tourism. Such include the Mwalujange Community Elephant Sanctuary, the Wasini Women Group Mangrove Board Walk, Gazi Women Group, Shimoni Slave Caves and KayaKinondo Ecotourism Project.
KayaKinondo forest (also called Ngalaani) is a sacred site for the Digo sub-group of the Mijikenda community found along Kenyan coast. The forest, measuring about 30 hectares, is situated in Kinondo Location, Kwale County on a fossil coral reef. This forest is regarded as a holy place by the Digo community who commune with their ancestral spirits through worship and sacrificial offerings. They also offer prayers for the sick and the troubled, for rain and for good harvests, for wisdom and for strength, atonement for offences against nature, rites of passage and other rituals.
In 2001, KayaKinondo became the only Kaya with an active ecotourism venture. This was in response to the need for sustainable utilization, conservation and management of Kaya forests to achieve social and economic development for the surrounding communities (Kimaru, 2001). The project comprises of four villages surrounding the forest with a total population of 2,500 people and 555 households as per the 2009 National population census results (KNBS, 2010). The economic activities of the people are mainly fishing, small scale farming and cottage industries (Makuti, wood carving, and herbal products). The common goods extracted from the forests include fuel-wood, poles, timber, logs for carving, water, pasture for livestock, herbal medicine, butterflies, snakes and honey. Threats on forests are many: excision, unsustainable cutting of forest produce, overgrazing and charcoal burning. These threats are caused by many factors, mainly increased human population and activities, poverty, unregulated use, insufficient local and national institutional capacities, policy gaps and weaknesses and lack of alternative means of livelihood among others.
2.0 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The study (carried out between January and March, 2011) employed both primary and secondary data collection. Direct interviews using semi-structured questionnaires and interview guides were used. Secondary data was gathered from minutes of the meetings, reports and records of KKCDG (KayaKinondo Conservation and Development Group) and partnering institutions such as NMK (National Museums of Kenya) and WWF (World Wildlife Fund for Nature).
All the four villages were targeted in this study: Chale, Makongeni, Mgwani A and Mgwani B. A sample size of 70 households was used representing 13% of the total. The study used systematic random sampling where randomly selected individuals in the households were interviewed. Starting from the first household on each identified village path, every eighth household was selected for interview. In the case where nobody was found in the target household, the next household was taken as the sample.
Interview guides were used to gather information from direct beneficiaries on their opinions about the project, the effects of the project on their livelihoods and their level of participation in the project decision making process. This was done through focus group discussions targeting women who sell handcraft and food to visitors, dancers, medicine men/women, families that are visited in the villages and schools administration. An interview guide was also used to gather information from Kaya Elders on their perception on the project and their roles, especially on cultural impacts and forest protection.
3.0 DISCUSSION
3.1 KayaKinondo: Pioneer Kaya in Ecotourism
Kaya forests are sacred areas which sheltered small-fortified villages of the Mijikenda groups found along the Kenyan coast. Such places are considered to have an important cultural value to rural people since they form an important part of sacred natural sites. As a result of this great value, nine of such sites were declared World Heritage Sites by UNESCO in 2008 for their outstanding universal value. This means they have cultural and natural significance and values that are so exceptional that they transcend national boundaries and are of common importance to humanity (Githitho, 2008).
In the last two years, over 50 education institutions and community groups have visited the Kinondo project – identified as a model in ecotourism development (KKCDG reports). Many donors still inject funds to support the project in achieving community integration in conservation efforts. Such integration may also come from the tourism sector due to the strategic location of the Kayas which have diverse audiences: the potential tourists, the tour operators, travel agents and hoteliers in the coastal area, the local residents as well as politicians. Unlike the national parks under the state custody, the Kaya forests embrace tribal or ethnic based management regime.
Kinondo project is managed by a registered community organization (KKCDG) while the council of Elders is mandated with monitoring and implementation of the project to ensure conformity to the rules and regulations developed to guide the project (Kimaru, 2000). This ensures that the sanctity of the forest is maintained at all times. A tour of KayaKinondo entails a guided walk in the sacred forest and a walk through the nearby villages. The village walk involves visiting a medicine man/woman, local families, mosques, farms and ends with a visit to a local primary school. This enables the visitors to connect between the past and the present.
The purpose of Kinondo project was to test the viability of ecotourism as a means of linking conservation to tangible social and economic benefits to the local community. The premise was that direct benefit from the management of the natural resources will motivate communities to protect and use the forest in a sustainable manner. Ten years down the line, no study has been conducted to assess its effects as envisaged during the project formulation. Is the forest better managed than before? Are the people feeling the accruing tangible social and economic benefits as a result of the project? Are the Kaya Elders monitoring the forest to ensure that the sanctity of the site is maintained? Do people understand better the value of the forest? This paper seeks to answer these questions within the context of social and economic benefits to the local community against its original goals and objectives.
3.2 Conceptualizing KayaKinondo Ecotourism Project
Kinondo boasts of sacred sites and more than 52 bird species recorded in the area, two of which are endemic and one is threatened. Also found within this forest are 56 species of butterfly and 98 species of larger moths including one that is rare (GeometridaeRacotisbreijeri). The forest is also home to primates including the threatened black and white colobus monkey. Nevertheless, unlike forested areas such as the Shimba Hills that receive more than 20,000 tourists in a year (due to the presence of big mammals), the Kayas may be less interesting to visit if they position themselves as nature based tourism destinations.
Instead, projects like Kinondo should be geared towards education and creation of greater understanding of the areas visited through high quality tour guiding and interpretations. Indeed, as noted by Fennel (1999), during the contact stage, interpreters should focus on the need for participants to seek for answers on a variety of questions. The goal is to bridge the gap between an individual’s initial knowledge base and the current perception of the world. In other words the message presented must be focused in its appeal and presentation (Boniface, 2001).
For this to be achieved, Kinondo community pushes for the need to have local guides, arguing that they have a vast knowledge of the community and culture. Moreover, Ipara (2006) recognizes the crucial role played by such stakeholders in destination areas. Nonetheless, possessing indigenous knowledge may not be sufficient enough to satisfy the knowledge thirsty tourist. The guides in Kinondo lack a depth of formal scientific training and knowledge and frequently speak in broken English. The support for developing capacity of the locals to become professional guides is usually downgraded arguing that guiding can be learnt on job.
As a result, locals with substandard knowledge take over a very crucial component of the whole venture, resulting in unsatisfied clients. Kinondo is particularly sensitive since it is a living museum of the people’s culture. If the guides cannot elucidate the science behind the strong bond between the culture and forest, visitors will lose the basic foundation of the whole concept on the existence of Kaya Forests. As Ipara (2006, 137) noted “boosting the interpersonal, interpretation and communication skills of tourist guides is necessary in improving the knowledge tourist guides have and also their participation in tourism”.
With proper guiding, good interpretation of the landscape (natural and human) can be guaranteed. This enriches the tourist experience by providing social and traditional backgrounds that offers a varied experience to the tourists. For instance, Boniface (2001, p.28) noted that: “the key aspect to Japanese gardens is that their features, compositions and arrangements have meanings. These meanings are connected to the philosophical and spiritual side of the world, and so signify philosophical and spiritual depth, adding special interest to the gardens. Japanese gardens offer contrast and completeness, both of which are needs that dynamic tourism has identified among those it strives to serve”. Moreover, she uses an example of Bordeaux in France by noting that it is not its landscape which attracts tourists, but rather the wine and the cultural life of this French town. Thus, even though the Kayas may not be ‘attractive’ to the average tourist, like the gardens of “Zen” in Japan and the Bordeaux region in France, they need to be bestowed with cultural and spiritual significance – an interpretation – arousing an important interest in the tourists.
Due to their location advantage of being next to the beach, one would expect that the Kaya forests like the Kinondo would experience an influx of tourists. On the contrary, that is not the case. The link between such projects and other sectors of the industry (hoteliers and tour companies) seems to be missing. In fact the tourists in the enclaves seem to be largely motivated by the sun, sand and sea with little interest in the local culture. Apart from safaris in the national parks, a good number of them remain in the hotels interested only in passive leisure and other nautical activities, not ready to meet the others (the locals). Being close to beach, the Kayas need to be conceptualized as an extension of the wider beach tourism product. The economic advantages generated by the international tourists can even be much higher than that generated by the local tourists. Each international tourist to Kinondo (Kshs 500) generates revenue equivalent to 5 local tourists (Kshs. 100).
3.4 Kinondo Ecotourism Project: More Than Just Conservation?
A key component of success or failure of tourism projects is the path taken in activating the process of setting up tourism projects. During this process, greater emphasis is given to inventorying tourist resources. However, in addition to aesthetic and scenic quality, the mark of a tourism destination resides also in the local actors who participate and benefit from tourism. This therefore underscores the importance of local participation in destination areas. Manyara and Jones (2007) describe Community Based Enterprises (CBEs) as “projects where the local communities are true owners, are directly involved in managing, and derive direct benefits from them”. In this case study, the local community is the true owner of ‘KayaKinondo Ecotourism project’. The extent to which they are involved in the management of these projects and the sharing of benefits is the subject under investigation.
The term “local participation in tourism” is defined as the ability of local communities to influence the outcome of development projects (Tensie, 1991). Still, it is not only enough to influence, but according to Marphree (1996) cited in Barrow and Fabricius (2002), these projects should be by, for and with the local people. Generally, ecotourism is perceived as being impregnated, integrated and diffused within the local populations; an activity which can enrich the life of the local populations; which can increase the economic resources for these people; which can be sensitive to the natural environment and humans and which can protect them; an activity which can be integrated in a community system with a positive impact (Honey, 2008; Fennel, 1999). For this to be realized, the tourism industry must be aware of the existence of such projects. However, the challenge lies in the fact that what is beautiful and worth of admiration has not changed radically over the years. The tourism itineraries seem to have remained virtually the same – beach and safari tourism in the national parks.
The Kinondo project is part of the larger cultural and environmental ecosystem encompassing the nearby south coast – the home of the finest beaches in Kenya. Initial project objectives included the need to create awareness on the forest cultural and biodiversity values; enhance conservation of cultural and biodiversity values of the forest; promote the forest for its ecotourism values, to boost visitation and to contribute to the livelihood of the community adjacent to the forest (KKCDG Records). However, a part from the Kaya Elders who acknowledged having been extensively involved in project formulation, only 54% of the respondents said they were consulted.