Potentials and Pitfalls of Tourism in Dzanga-Sangha

Protected areas are a net cost to local and national economies, as they do not generate significant revenue in contrast to landscapes with, for example, agriculture and logging. Tourism as a long-term sustainable funding source for biodiversity protection was seen as the best option for sustainable development for the Dzanga-Sangha area. The managers felt that ape-viewing could relatively easily complement the unique wildlife viewing and accessible BaAka (Pygmy) culture in the Dzanga-Sangha area.
I estimate that it takes about 2 years to habituate a group of gorillas for tourism in these circumstances. As experience is gained it might be possible to reduce this amount of time considerably. Nevertheless, it is clear that habituating gorillas is a time consuming and expensive endeavor. The original three-year budget for our program was US$ 463,800. Although the exact expenditure is not known, it is safe to assume that it will cost at least US$ 250,000 over a two-year period to habituate a group of gorillas under similar circumstances. This is probably an underestimate if I consider that we did not take into account any health monitoring in this estimate (carried out on a separate budget), which should form part of the overall monitoring.
Prior to the gorilla viewing program in Dzanga-Sangha tourism was unable to become self-financing. Likewise, given the substantial investment needed to develop gorilla tourism and present numbers of visitors, I do not expect this type of tourism to be viable from a purely commercial point of view. However, the donors financing this program are not only interested in commercial viable enterprises. Tourism is an important local industry, both as a source of revenue as well as employment and gorilla habituation is a significant contribution to that economy. The additional jobs and revenue have improved local attitudes towards the national park and reserve and facilitated law enforcement.
Although tourism has become an important economic activity in Dzanga-Sangha, at present levels it cannot cover the protected area management costs. Gorilla viewing is potentially a high revenue-generating type of tourism thought to be able to substantially raise the existing level of revenue in Dzanga-Sangha. Given the fact that tourists are willing to pay fees of US$ 100 and more per visit, it would take about 8,000 visitors per year to cover the Dzanga-Sangha recurrent management costs. Although the contributions from the gorilla habituation program in covering the recurrent costs could be significant it is unlikely to approach the levels of funding needed, as the gorilla viewing capacity will not surpass 1,500 visitors a year in the near future.
Dzanga-Sangha provides great potentials for eco-tourism, with its combination of visible megafauna and BaAka culture. Although isolated, it does have its own airstrip, making access to this area relatively easy and certainly comparable to most other protected areas in the Guinean-Congolian Forest Region. Overall Dzanga-Sangha certainly provides one of the best opportunities for a successful eco-tourism venture in the Guinean-Congolian Forest Region. Even so, and even though tourism has become an important local industry, it is evident that it will not provide a solution for the self-financing of the protected area management in Dzanga-Sangha. The role of tourism in generating revenue for protected area management is limited at best in the Guinean-Congolian Forest Region.
In the case of Dzanga-Sangha, the development of its tourism program, including the gorilla viewing, is economically questionable, especially in the light of the high risks associated with investments in tourism in Central Africa. Moreover, the risk of serious disturbances to the gorillas makes this option more than only economically questionable. In Dzanga-Sangha tourism has certainly increased local revenue and employment opportunities and as such has helped mitigate some of the local costs and improved local perceptions of the park and reserve. Those are important gains, but managers have to carefully weigh these advantages against the risky economics of tourism and the apes' well-being.
If the international donor community is serious about biodiversity conservation and willing to help implement the vision outlined above it will need to change current funding strategies. They should stop demanding that protected area systems in the Guinean-Congolian Forest Region become auto-financed in the foreseeable future. Rather than invest at best in risky alternative economic ventures, such as eco-tourism, donors should invest their money in establishing mechanisms, such as trust funds, for stable and sustainable source of revenue to finance the considerable recurrent costs of the proposed protected area system.

Allard Blom

Dr. Allard Blom was principal technical advisor of Dzanga-Sangha. Recently he became ECOFAC's Gabon project executant.

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