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Flagship Species, Tourism, and Support for Rubondo Island National Park, Tanzania

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Flagship Species, Tourism, and Support for Rubondo Island National Park, Tanzania University of Massachusetts Amherst ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst Open Access Dissertations 9-2011 Flagship Species, Tourism, and Support for Rubondo Island National Park, Tanzania Sadie S. Stevens University of Massachusetts Amherst, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/open_access_dissertations Recommended Citation Stevens, Sadie S., "Flagship Species, Tourism, and Support for Rubondo Island National Park, Tanzania" (2011). Open Access Dissertations. 487. https://scholarworks.umass.edu/open_access_dissertations/487 This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. It has been accepted for inclusion in Open Access Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. For more information, please contact [email protected]. FLAGSHIP SPECIES, TOURISM, AND SUPPORT FOR RUBONDO ISLAND NATIONAL PARK, TANZANIA A Dissertation Presented by SADIE S. STEVENS Submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Massachusetts Amherst in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY September 2011 Wildlife and Fisheries Conservation © Copyright by Sadie S. Stevens 2011 All Rights Reserved FLAGSHIP SPECIES, TOURISM, AND SUPPORT FOR RUBONDO ISLAND NATIONAL PARK, TANZANIA A Dissertation Presented by SADIE S. STEVENS Approved as to style and content by: __________________________________________ John F. Organ, Co-chair __________________________________________ Thomas L. Serfass, Co-chair __________________________________________ Jan E. Dizard, Member __________________________________________ Todd K. Fuller, Member __________________________________________ Robert L. Ryan, Member _____________________________________ Paul R. Fisette, Department Head Department of Environmental Conservation DEDICATION To my parents, for always being there ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I am grateful to my advisors, John Organ and Tom Serfass, and committee members, Jan Dizard, Todd Fuller, and Robert Ryan, for their invaluable advice, encouragement, and guidance. I thank TANAPA, TAWIRI, and COSTECH for allowing me to conduct this research, as well as the Frankfurt Zoological Society for providing housing on Rubondo Island National Park. This research was made possible by funding graciously provided by Tom Serfass from a University of Maryland Wilson H. Elkins Professorship, and my degree also through an internship with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. For both I am thankful. Funding from the Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium was valuable in enabling students participating in surveys to have a meaningful experience. Bridget Amulike was integral to the completion of this project, and her help with field work and translation have been invaluable. Maggie Triska provided much appreciated last- minute help with mapping. I am proud to have had an opportunity to work with the amazing staff of Rubondo Island National Park, who were all so gracious in assisting throughout this project, from driving boats and helping with housing maintenance to collecting surveys, introducing me to local village officers, and answering continuous questions. Hobokela Mwamjengwa was a wonderful asset to the project and I am grateful for the hours she spent assisting with arranging and administering surveys, as well as providing background information on Park outreach. I am also thankful for the support of the Chief Park Warden at Rubondo, Steria Ndaga, during all phases of this research. I thank Arthur Ogada, the very talented artist who drew the otter, genet, silver cyprinid, sitatunga, hippopotamus, monkey, fish eagle, little egret, Egyptian goose, crocodile, and monitor lizard images used on children‘s survey. I am grateful to the local governments in the villages surrounding Rubondo and the Kilimanjaro International Airport for allowing me to ask their citizens and patrons to participate in this research. Perhaps most importantly, I thank the people who were willing to take part in and inform this research, including residents of communities surrounding Rubondo, travelers in and visitors to Tanzania, members of the tourism industry, staff of TANAPA, and many others who shared their opinions about Rubondo Island National Park with me. I hope they will find the results worthy of their time. Finally, I thank my my fiancé, Pete, family, and friends for their endless support and encouragement. v ABSTRACT FLAGSHIP SPECIES, TOURISM, AND SUPPORT FOR RUBONDO ISLAND NATIONAL PARK, TANZANIA SEPTEMBER 2011 SADIE S. STEVENS, B.A., UNIVERSITY OF MAINE M.S., FROSTBURG STATE UNIVERSITY Ph.D., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST Directed by: Adjunct Associate Professor John F. Organ and Adjunct Professor Thomas L. Serfass Two major goals of managers of Rubondo Island National Park (Rubondo), Tanzania are to increase the number of international visitors to the Park (and thereby increase revenue generated) and to increase support for the Park among residents of nearby communities. I investigated species preferences among children living around Rubondo and the wildlife viewing preferences of international visitors to Tanzania in an attempt to identify flagship species that Park management could use in marketing and outreach campaigns designed to meet their goals. I also assessed local interest in visiting the Park. As local flagships for Rubondo, the Egyptian goose (Alopochen aegyptiacus) and silver cyprinid (Rastrineobola argentea) appear to have the most potential among the species that I assessed (i.e., fish eagle [Haliaeetus vocifer], Egyptian goose, silver cyprinid, little egret [Egretta garzetta], sitatunga [Tragelaphus speki], genet [Genetta tigrina], monitor lizard [Varanus niloticus], spotted-necked otter [Lutra maculicollis], vervet monkey [Cercopithecus pygerythrus], crocodile [Crocodylus niloticus], hippopotamus [Hippopotamus amphibius], giraffe [Giraffa camelopardalis], and elephant [Loxodanta africana]). However, based on either range or limited aesthetic/behavioral appeal, I considered neither species useful as an international flagship. Among species on Rubondo included in investigations of potential international flagships for the Island (including the chimpanzee [Pan troglodytes], crocodile, elephant, giraffe, hippopotamus, vervet monkey, bushbuck, fish eagle, large-spotted genet, goliath heron [Ardea goliath], monitor lizard, sitatunga, and spotted-necked vi otter), few were concluded to have potential, either because participating visitors had limited ―awareness‖ of and ―interest‖ in viewing the species, local people had strong negative opinions of the species, the animals are not native to the Island, and/or the animals are more easily viewed in more readily-accessible locations. Local people generally had not visited Rubondo but wanted to visit. Not having visited the Park appeared to influence perceptions of the Park, wildlife tourism, and conservation among some participants. Recommendations for local and international marketing and outreach strategies for Rubondo are made based on the outcomes of the aforementioned investigations of local and international species preferences and interest in visiting the Park. vii CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ............................................................................................................ v ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................. vi LIST OF TABLES ...................................................................................................................... xii LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................................... xvi CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................. 1 National Parks ......................................................................................................................... 1 Protected Areas in Tanzania ................................................................................................... 2 Rubondo Island National Park ................................................................................................ 3 History .......................................................................................................................... 3 Habitat and Wildlife ...................................................................................................... 6 Challenges for Rubondo Island National Park ........................................................................ 7 Tourism on Rubondo .................................................................................................... 8 Marketing Wildlife Viewing ............................................................................... 8 Relationship Between Rubondo and Surrounding Communities ................................ 11 Community Outreach ........................................................................................ 11 Increasing ―Local‖ and ―International‖ Support: Flagship Species ...................................... 12 The Research Project ............................................................................................................ 13 Background ................................................................................................................. 14 Components ...............................................................................................................
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