L EARNING FROM OTHERS : W HAT COMMUNITY - BASED TOURISM CAN AND CANNOT DO

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tourists from false and misleading lifestyles. Culture, traditions and customs in Salambala are also potential tourism products whose value cannot be priced.

Nevertheless, they provide an educational resource base for interested tourists.

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It was also clear from the Conservancy that communities have different views on conservation. There seem to be perceptual differences between authorities and the local community regarding conservation. Communities tend to view conservation areas as a move against collaborative communal management, something that deprives them of their rights to the supposedly ‘God-given’ resource. This view may exist when the do’s and don’ts of the specific area are not spelt out clearly to the community. For this reason, more co-ordinated efforts toward conservation are essential. As shown in the introduction, the future without tourism is something of concern for Caprivi and Namibia at large. Population growth has meant more pressure on land. More land must be cleared every year for agricultural purposes. Another aspect of CBT that tends to complicate its application is the reality of poverty. The people who live in poverty and have a limited choice of survival are to survive at the mercy of the policy-makers.

Policy-makers emphasise conservation and do not take into account the reality of poverty.

Communities will accept a rebuke if given sustainable alternatives. Communities that depend on firewood should not be stopped from cutting wood if alternative sources of fuel are not provided. Nonetheless, CBT is also a question of land use and planning.

Understandably so, for the policy makers it is conservation first before income starts to come. However, this should not exclude innovative solutions. Equally important is that should poaching continue and be tolerated, Salambala’s potential will be shattered. The CAMPFIRE’s model of how a community progresses from resource user to resource protector and from resource protector to resource beneficiary falls short of a ‘hands-on’

approach. There is some understanding that the communities on the overall have not assumed a comprehensive administration of the project. Zimbabwe Trustees, an organ of the state, have been running CAMPFIRE since its inception almost two decades ago.

In regard to marketing, there are a couple of issues to be noted. In contemporary tourism, cultures and rural areas are sometimes marketed and portrayed as areas that have been lost and need revival. However, it is important not to stereotype a community.

The tendency to advertise cultures as primitive, poor and backward only raises the question of ethics in tourism marketing. On the other hand, one has to ask: Is there an irreconcilable difference between the way a destination must be promoted to tourists and

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the way in which its indigenous population may perceive the destination? Answering this question in this study will be out of its scope and as such it can only be left as a research question. Nonetheless these are issues that the World Tourism Organization is pursuing (MCB University Press, Internet page).

In terms of latent markets for tourism in Salambala, there are notable potentials.

Wetlands and floodplains cover more than half of Caprivi Region. They provide excellent opportunities for adventure tourists during floods and the rainy season. In the absence of research, however, such tourism may not be sustainable and environmentally friendly. Within these landscapes there is a diversity of fauna and flora species that could be of interest to tourist. Within the wetlands, fish contributes a significant percentage of the inhabitants’ daily diet. Because of economic disparities, the majority of Namibians depend mainly on land and its meagre resources for their survival. This makes land, water and vegetation the most valuable but also the most vulnerable resources in the country. With great care taken, fisheries can be brought a step further and turned into an ecotourism input.

To reaffirm, marketing and promotion should be made a priority. This will enable the region’s income base to grow. As this happens, tourism would help reduce the depopulation of the rural youth. Fisheries in the communal areas within the wetlands and floodplains of eastern Caprivi can be a viable economic activity that may generate money. Fishing as a source of income and fishing as a leisure activity, are potential viable activities. In the latter context, fishing can be used to promote tourism. During and after floods, eastern Caprivi’s wetlands house a variety of natural food resources whose nutritional value is scientifically unknown but seriously recommended by the elderly within the habitat. The same is true for the terrestrial ecosystems whose wild fruit vary with the seasons. Other potential sources may include the strengthening of the already existing art centres and link them up with tourism- operating companies in Botswana, Zimbabwe and Zambia. Guided dugout-canoe trips are also potential opportunities.

These are the potential opportunities for community-based tourism in Salambala. Of course, there are always ups and downs in the management, planning, implementation and promotion of CBT. There are also variations in the perception of CBT ventures

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between the men and the women. They also do not know how much money the conservation area is raising and how much of it should actually be used for community work. They tend to accuse the state for interfering in their affairs. There seems to be a real issue of mistrust and fragile relationships between governments and local communities. Such fragile relationships exist not only in Namibia, Zimbabwe and Botswana but also in other parts of the world (e.g. Ransom 2000 on Kenya; Madsen 1996; Norström 1995).