Sustainable Tourism in the Selous Game Reserve

Winning the battle for sustainable Tourism in the Selous Game Reserve are a small staff of about 350 game scouts and technical staff; that is one scout per 140 square kilometers. The headquarters for the Selous Game Reserve staff are in the Northern section of the Selous at Matambwe. The battle for sustainable tourism in this vast game reserve has not been easy and hard lessons have been learnt and now the battle for sustainable tourism is beginning to be realized.

Half the income from the Selous is returned to the reserve to help keep this park in existence. A second scheme is involving the communities around the park; by allowing controlled hunting by the local communities and thereby providing direct tangible benefits for the local people. Without local support from surrounding villages poaching would be impossible to maintain. Working with and through the local communities rather than against them has helped the reserve to flourish.

As a direct result of international pressures hunting was banned in the 1980