Wildlife Safari Tourist Destinations in Tanzania: Experiences from Colonial to Post-Colonial Era

Tanzania is currently one of the world's most visited countries for wildlife
tourism, but its main destinations are at risk from changes in climate and local
land-use. The consequences of these changes on tourism demand are,
however, unclear. Despite Tanzania's two centuries of experience with
wildlife tourism, the trends in Tanzania s wildlife tourism demand are poorly
understood. Insights into past, current and future tourists motivations and
preferences are thus vitally important to successfully manage wildlife safari
tourist destinations and tourism. This study aims to document and explain the
developments in tourist motivations and preferences since the early 19th
century. Changes in motivation and preferences, and the consequent wildlife
resource utilization are analysed. These study recapitulates two centuries of
wildlife resources governance. Wildlife resource uses in Tanzanian protected
areas vary historically from exploration and discovery, ivory collection,
hunting for trophies, safaris and nature conservation. These different purposes
in different periods are summarised in an annotated map of the evolution and
distribution of Tanzanian tourist destinations. The results are relevant for
spatial planning and wildlife conservation in relation to tourism. Additionally,
the map provides building blocks to develop exploratory scenarios to cope
with the current climate and land-use change risks