Ecologicalan deconomi c impactso fgorilla-base dtouris mi n Dzanga-Sangha, Central African Republic Promotor: Prof.Dr. H.H.T. Prins Hoogleraar in het Natuurbeheer in de Tropen en Ecologie van Vertebraten Co-promotor: Dr. A.M.H. Brunsting Hoofddocent leerstoelgroep Natuurbeheer in de Tropen en Ecologie van Vertebraten Promotie commissie: Prof.Dr.Ir. G.M.J. Mohren Wageningen Universiteit Dr. L.E.M. Vet Nederlands Instituut voor Oecologisch Onderzoek Dr. C.E.G. Tutin University of Stirling, UK Dr. E.H.M. Sterck Universiteit Utrecht pm'^o},7^^- AllardBlo m Ecological andeconomi cimpact so fgorilla-base dtouris mi n Dzanga-Sangha,Centra lAfrica n Republic Proefschrift terverkrijgin g vand egraa dva ndocto r opgeza gva nd erecto r magnificus vanWageninge n Universiteit, Prof.Dr .Ir .L .Speelman , inhe topenbaa r teverdedige n opmaanda g 11jun i200 1 desnamiddag st evie ruu r ind eAul a Doctoral thesis (2001),Departmen t ofEnvironmenta l Sciences,Tropica lNatur e Conservation andVertebrat eEcolog y Group,Wageninge n University, Bornsesteeg 69,670 8P DWageningen , TheNetherlands . ISBN 90-5808-410-8 ^jol?^ ,t>"H ^ THESIS PROPOSITIONS (Stellingen) Accompanying the doctoral thesis: "ECOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OFGORILL A BASED TOURISM IN DZANGA- SANGHA, CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC" 1.Wester n lowland gorillas can not be classified as strictly vegetarian because they digest considerable amounts of insects, most notably termites. this thesis 2.Th e main reason that law enforcement in central Africa ispresentl y insufficient to stop the bushmeat trade, is lack ofsustainabl e funding. this thesis 3. Regular daily contact and forewarning the gorillas ofone' s imminent arrival are thetw o most important factors inpromotin g habituation inwester n lowland gorillas. this thesis 4.Notwithstandin g the potential oftouris m togenerat e substantial revenues for protected areas, itwil l never generate enough to sustainably and sufficiently manage those inth e Guinean-Congolian Forest Region. this thesis 5. Given thepoo r economic development of most ofth e countries ofth e Guinean-Congolian Forest Region,th e international community isgoin g to havet o pay the costs ofbiodiversit y protection in this region. this thesis 6. On average African nations spend almost three times as much ofthei r national budget on protected area management as do wealthy European and North American nations. Wilkie, D.S. &Carpenter, J.F., inprep. Theunder-financing of protected areasin the Congo Basin:so manyparks andso little willingness-to-pay 7.Th e evolution ofsocialit y and cognition are apparently intertwined with inequality and information sharing. PrinsHHT (1996) Ecologyand behaviour ofthe African buffalo. London:Chapman & Hall. 8.Th e refractive index (R),a s ameasur e ofth e consistency ofbutter , isnegativel y related both to the daily fat production ofth e cow( K in g) and the fat content ofth e milk (V in %). Blom, G.F.(1962) Het verbandtussen delipiden in het gras ende consistentie vande boter. Proefschrift.Mededelingen der Landbouwhogeschool te Wageningen/Nederland62 (9), 1-134. p:124-127. AllardBlom Lope,Gabon April 23,2001 In memory of: Urbain Ngatoua National Director Dzanga-Sangha Project and Dr.Gunthe r Merz World Wildlife Fund -German y Abstract Thisthesi sinvestigate sth epotentia lrol eo ftouris m inth efundin g ofprotecte dare a management inth eCong oBasin .A nassessmen to fth eprotecte darea san dgazette dforest s ofth e CentralAfrica n Republic (CAR)showe dtha tonl yabou ton ethir d ofth eprotecte darea si smor eo r lesseffectivel y managed.Almos t allth egazette dfores t andth eremainde ro fth eprotecte darea sar e insufficiently protectedfro m humandisturbance ,whic hi smostl yi nth efor m ofpoaching .Thi s exampleunderline sth efac t thatlon gter munder-financin g ofth emanagemen tha sseriousl y affected theintegrit yo fprotecte darea si nth eCong oBasin .Eve ni nrelativel ywel lmanage dareas , sucha sth eDzanga-Sangh aprotecte d areacomplex ,i nsouthwester n CAR,huma nimpac to n wildlife canstil lb emeasure dan di srelate dt oth edistanc efro mroads . Thecost so fmanagemen tt oeffectivel y protectth eforest s ofth eCong oBasi nar ehigh .Th e potentialrol etha ttouris m couldpla yi nraisin grevenu e formanagemen t andfo rth eloca l communitieswa sinvestigate dbase do nth ecas estud yo fap eviewin gi nDzanga-Sangha .Ape - viewingi sa hig hretur ntyp eo ftouris m andcondition st odevelo psuc htouris m inDzanga-Sangh a weregood .Th eare aharbor shig hdensitie so fwester n lowlandgorilla s(Gorilla gorilla gorilla) and severalpreviou sstudie so nthes eape sha dbee ncarrie dout .I norde rfo rvisitor st ob eabl et ovie w theape sthe yneede dt ob ehabituate dt ohuma npresence .Thi sthesi sshow stha thabituatio no f gorillasfo rtouris mi sfeasible .Althoug hfeasible ,th ehabituatio nproces srequire sa substantia l investment intim ean dmone yan di sno twithou trisks .I ti sunlikel ytha ttourism ,includin gape - viewing,wil lb eeconomicall yviabl efrom a commercia lpoin to fview . Iti sunlikel ytha trevenu e form tourismwil lcove rth emanagemen t costo fth eDzanga-Sangh aprotecte d areano wo ri nth e foreseeable future. Eventhoug htouris m canbrin gimportan tgain st oth eregion , sucha srevenu e andemployment ,manager shav et ocarefull y weighthes eadvantage sagains tth eapes ' wellbein g andth erisk yeconomic so ftouris m inCentra l Africa. Giventh e fact thatDzanga-Sangh a provides oneo fth ebes t opportunities forthi styp eo f tourism inth eCong oBasi n andtha t evenher eth eeconomi c success ishighl y questionable, iti s unlikelyt ob ea realisti c option inbu t afe w exceptional places inthi spar t ofth eworld .Thi scas e studyclearl y demonstrates that although someuse rfee s haveth epotentia l togenerat e substantial revenue forprotecte d areasi nth eCong oBasin ,thes e fees willb efa r from sufficient tomanag e theprotecte d area system. Acknowledgements Thisresearc h wassupporte d byth eDzanga-Sangh a Project, specifically through funding from theWorl d Wildlife Fund, Inc.an dgrant s from theWorl d WideFun dfo rNatur e- Germany. Several studentsworkin go nthi sprogra m received student grants from theFON A Foundation, LucieBurger sFoundatio n forComparativ e Behaviour Research andth e Wageningen Agricultural University Foundation. Iwoul d liket othan k the lateUrbai nNgatoua ,Directo r ofth eDzanga-Sangh a Project and hisentir estaff . Theseve nyear sI spen t inBayang awer e special. Thecircumstance s were not always easy,bu tw eachieve d somuch .Th ededicatio n ofpeopl e likeValenti nBombo ,Jona s Bobero,Honor eNgaim aan dJean-Bosc oKpano umad ei tal lhappen .Josep hPamb akep tm e safe andwa sgoo dcompan ywhil ew ewer e drivingthos e awful longmile st oan dfro m Bangui. Gabriel Yikilian dVicto rBabo ndi dno tonl yprovid e goodmedica lhel pwhe nI neede d it, but did sot oal lou rstaff . Theywer eals over yactiv e inth ecommunit yo fBayanga .Pierr ean dDeni s looked after mean dalway sassure d thatth ehousehol d wasru nlik e aprofessiona l hotel.Indee di t sometime seemedt ofunctio n thatway ,bu tthe y alwayskep tthing sunde rcontro l andtoo km y bestinteres ta thart .Merc imingi ,Pierr ean dDenis . Tryingt ojuggl etw ojobs an d doingm ythesi s atth e sametim ewa sa challeng e and without the support from UrbainNgatou a itwoul dno thav ebee npossible .Hi scal man d diplomacykep tthing smovin g along eveni fI wa sawa y forlon gperiods .Withou thi s leadership andsteadfas t dedication theDzanga-Sangh a Project mighthav e crumbled duringth eperio do f theprolonge d armymutiny ,whe n Iwa sunabl et oge tbac kt oBayanga . Hispresenc ewil l be missedb ymany . InBayang aI mad eman y friends. Thanksfo rbein gthere .M y"Dzanga-Sangha " colleagues:Gunthe rKlemm ,Jean-Mar c Garreau, "Dobre"Strgule c Slavko,Christop h Oertle, Daniela Renner, GuyRondeau , Lisa Steel,Nige l Orbell,Jean-Claud e Thibaud and Anna Kretsinger,al lth ePeac e Corps volunteers,an dfello w researchers especially AndreaTurkalo . AnnaKretsinge r andLoui s Sarnower e friends whohelpe d mebette runderstan d the BaAka and hopefully helpedm ei nbette rtakin gthei r interest atheart . Michele Goldsmith helped me discover BaiHoko uan d itsgorillas . Theresearc h campo fBa iHoko u isa n amazingplac et oliv ean dwork .Richar d Carroll wasth efirst t owor kher ean dhi sresearc h andhi ssubsequen t dedicationt oDzanga-Sangh a were aninspiratio n forme .Richar dno t onlyhire dm eoriginall yt oru nth eDzanga-Sangh a project,bu t heals osupporte dm y"crazy "ide ao fhabituatin go fwester nlowlan dgorilla sfo rtourism , althoughh emus thav ethough t (asmos tpeopl e did)tha ti twa sa wast e oftim ean dmoney . Gunther Merzwa sconvince d from the starttha tw ewoul db eabl et od oi tan dwen tt owor kt o find thefundin g needed.H esucceede dbeyon dhi sow nexpectations .I a mver ygratefu l tohi m andgla dtha th ewa sabl et ose eth egorilla sbefor e histragi c deathi nGermany . Dzanga-Sangha losta dea r friend. AndreaAlmasi ,Jean-Bosc o Kpanou, KennethOtto ,Pladel eGodob oan dEugen eMbe a were instrumental ingettin gth egorill ahabituatio n program started. CloeCipollett a madei t happen.He renerg y waseve nto omuc hfo rth e gorillas.The ydecide dtha trunnin g away from thispersisten t "ganguwali "wa sjus t toomuc hwor kan db y default became habituated tou s as well. Iespeciall y would liket othan kth efield team , consisting ofth epermanen tfield staff , students andvolunteers : CloeCipolletta , Jean-Bosco Kpanou, Kenneth Otto,Pladel eGodobo , Eugene Mbea,Jea n Tetoungbou, Michel Pounguinza, Flavien Pani,Jaso n Fink, DavidRitchie , David Greer, Franca Donati,Andre a Almasi,Claudi a Sieler, Linda Haartsen, Robert vanZalinge , Sandra deJong ,Igo rDijkers , Birgit Janssen,Nasj a Arends,Esthe rva nde rWal ,Pi mVugteveen , GuusKruitwagen , Liesbeth Noor, Christine de Siant-Rat, ChristineAmalfaltino , Veronica Vecellioan dBrigitt e Mbassangoa, Gorilla research andhabituatio n wouldno t havebee n feasible withoutth eknowledg eo f theBaAk atrackers .The y showedm eho wt otrac kgorilla s andI probabl y achievedth e level ofa threeyea rol di nthei r opinion.