SAFARI - Overbooked: The Exploding Business of Travel and Tourism - page 157

In the intervening years, while Hogg was learning his trade, the newly independent Afric-
an nations were grappling with a multitude of issues, including how to manage the na-
tional parks and protected areas they had inherited from the colonial era. More than a few
countries lacked officials with the expertise to manage the parks. And all were under ex-
traordinary pressure from within and without. Some African leaders questioned the need
for parks. With independence, villagers were demanding the right to recover tribal lands
that had been forcibly taken from them to establish these parks. In their eyes the govern-
ment had stolen the land that had been their homes for generations, and they wanted it
back. Absent official permission, they started hacking away at the bush, recovering the land
on an “informal basis” and cutting down trees for firewood and charcoal.
And there were many more people who needed land to farm and firewood to burn. The
continent's population had exploded to over 750 million, doubling from just a few decades
earlier and putting pressure as never before on the African wilderness. Even though Africa
is the second-largest continent, today its population is less than India's. For centuries this
thin population meant the sub-Saharan savannahs and forested areas were vast enough for
humans and beasts.
Despite the popular image created by Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle only 8 percent of Africa
is rainforest or jungle. A modest proportion is arable land, while vast areas are desert, semi-
arid, or water-short, with poor soils. Exploding population growth puts pressure on this lim-
ited space; subsistence agriculture and limited use of fertilizers has meant low crop yields
and farmers searching for more land to cultivate. Against this backdrop, the protected wild-
life areas have taken on increasing importance and the ability to protect them made much
more difficult.
The rise in human population mirrored the decline in elephants according to several
scientists. For most of African history, elephants and humans were competitors, and for
most of that history elephants won the battle for land and water. That changed dramatic-
ally in the middle of the twentieth century, when as many as 3 million elephants roamed
the continent.
Authorities in Kenya kept the best record of how that flipped. In 1925, when the coloni-
al system was entrenched and new national borders had been drawn, wildlife was abund-
ant and the elephants freely roamed 87 percent of the savannah in East Africa. Fifty years
later, after the colonial government ended and Kenya had been independent for a dozen
years, elephants had lost half of their lands and then half again, now restricted to a meager
27 percent of the savannah.
During the 1980s an old scourge reemerged. Poachers were back in force. Many of the
continent's largest national parks were wrecks. Governments hadn't paid for upkeep, the
corps of trained scouts and game wardens had been depleted. Those who remained be-
hind were often poorly paid. This made Africa's great herds vulnerable to poachers. No
longer just locals looking for a meal or a pair of ivory tusks to sell on the black market,