GREW OUT OF RECOGNITION from international and national public institutions, conservationists, and the tourism sector altogether:

● Tanzania’s unique wildlife, nature, and culture are in danger and need to be protected.
● The citizens of Tanzania need to recover a sense of ownership regarding this heritage, with the related responsibility of preserving it in a sustainable manner for present and future generations.
● The curb of poaching is inversely proportional to the development of the tourism sector in the National Parks, the Wildlife Management Areas and the Game Reserves.
● Time has come for the promotion of local tourism, which is dramatically underdeveloped.
Some of Africa’s most iconic species, including many that are classified as vulnerable or endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Redlist of Threatened Species, reside in these parks. Significant cultural history is also harboured and preserved within these particular places. The parks provide opportunities to explore the Southern Tanzanian tribes, the early trade routes of Arab caravans, and the tracks of early European explorers, among other historically significant features.
Unfortunately, without continued protection, the species, ecosystems, and other treasures within Tanzania’s parks are at risk. Threats include habitat destruction from infrastructure development (eg. building roads through parks), illegal poaching of wildlife and overgrazing of livestock, to name a few.
The first president of the newly independent United Republic of Tanzania, Mwalimu Julius Kambarage Nyerere, declared in The Arusha Manifesto that the survival of native wildlife is “a grave concern” to all of Africa. Building awareness of, and support for, this conservation mission among Tanzanians remains one of our greatest challenges. To help motivate Tanzanians to protect these resources, ELP aims to show the connection between conservation and the benefits it can have to populations' daily lives (such as providing jobs, schools, clinics, etc).
According to TANAPA’s 2015 tourism statistics, the majority of tourists (60%) in Tanzania are foreign—coming primarily from Kenya, South Africa, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and France. While others travel great distances at significant expense to experience the wonders of Tanzania, only 40% of tourists are Tanzanians exploring their own country. At Tanzania’s national parks in particular, it is estimated that only 14 percent of visitors are Tanzanian, which is quite low in comparison to other African states.
Based on TANAPA surveys, some of the major factors resulting in low domestic tourism rates include:
● Low incomes
● Unfamiliarity with tourism as a source of recreation or revenue generation
● Lack of promotion for domestic tourism
● Illiteracy
These contributing factors to low domestic tourism rates makes it difficult for TANAPA and other law enforcement agencies to combat issues like wildlife trafficking, given that there is so little support and cooperation from the community. We believe that if Tanzanians and East Africans could explore all that their parks have to offer, an ethic of loving and protecting the country’s magnificent species, ecosystems, and other natural and cultural assets would follow.
Although it would be ideal for all Tanzanians to experience their parks firsthand to develop a sense of pride and the passion for resource protection, it is not practical for everyone. We need an appealing solution that is neither costly, nor time-prohibitive, to share information widely so that it may be easily accessible across all income and education levels.
Such an effort would prove beneficial to boosting domestic interest and tourism to Tanzania’s national parks. It would also garner greater understanding and support for efforts to conserve these precious places and the treasures they hold. We believe the Explore-Love-Protect© Campaign could be just the tool to do this.