Each day on my walking safari, with stories of Rwanda as a chilling backdrop, I became more conscious of the opportunity for tourism to become a part of Africa's rural economy, not only for the sake of endangered rhinos and elephants, but for the most endangered species of all - humankind. C hinzombo is located along a stretch of the Luangwa River that borders one of the handful of Zambia's 19 national parks that is used for tourism. Zambia is trying to re-stake its claim as a desirable place to invest. My Chinzombo hosts insisted that I meet their 87 year old neighbor, Norman Carr, author of four books on Africa and the first game warden of Zambia's parks when it was still Northern Rhodesia. As we sipped tea over the deep ravine of the Luangwa river, Norman drew a stark contrast with earlier breeds of conservationists, like Diane Fossey whose war against Rwandan game poachers was often brutal and pitted the value of man against that of wildlife.
Game is a great tourism resource.
I realized early on, when I first managed the country's parks that game was fast being obliterated, and the only course to follow was to make sure that the profit from conserving wildlife was greater than hunting and killing it. That is the intention of Eco-tourism. In fact, several of these policies have helped shape the thinking of parks even in the more developed South Africa, where the legacies of apartheid have left a 3rd world society locked in the embrace of an industrialized one. Few if any African Americans have invested in tourism, but it is a dream of Byron Lewis, chairman of Uniworld. As we moved in single file through the grasslands, I discovered a place so silent that I still hear the sound the grass made as it closed about our legs, and I can sense its vivid perfume at nightfall.