SAFARI - Overbooked: The Exploding Business of Travel and Tourism - page 159

was serious. The photograph of the president and the crackling bonfire was published
around the world.
Then Leakey started grappling with the mundane and profound problems of managing
modern African wildlife parks. Roads had to be repaired and rangers trained, equipped
and clothed. Vehicles and gasoline were purchased, air transport arranged. Staff morale
improved. And Leakey had to raise money to solve many of these problems. The govern-
ment had earlier stripped the parks service of its independence, including the right to keep
their revenues from tourism fees. Instead, the money went into the general budget and the
government set the parks budget. How to pay for the parks' upkeep has proved to be an
ongoing issue. Like his predecessors, Leakey had to turn to foreign nonprofit groups, the
World Bank and a number of official donor agencies in the United States and elsewhere
for funds, despite his distrust of the strings often attached to the grants. While the tens of
millions Leakey raised, combined with his tough management, went a long way to restor-
ing the physical and human infrastructure in the parks, the problem of maintaining that
infrastructure was not solved. Revenues from park admissions and constrained government
budgets fell well short of meeting the costs.
Most African parks have been underfunded since they were established. Admission and
licensing fees pay from one-third to one-half the costs at most parks, with the exception
of South Africa's Kruger and a few other internationally known preserves. The fewer the
resources, the more likely that poachers will kill animals and locals will cut down trees.
Harold Wackman, who was the World Bank's country director in Kenya and works on con-
servation with Leakey, said that “tourism may be the biggest industry but tourism admis-
sion fees will never cover all of the costs of maintaining parks that are a huge benefit for
all of us. We have to find another way to do it.”
Tellingly, Leakey's most difficult challenge was rooting out corruption. A secret govern-
ment investigation had implicated several senior officials in poaching and the illegal ivory
trade. Corrupt officials drained resources. And corrupt officials undermined Kenyans' con-
fidence in the park system itself. Through patience, new hires, transfers and political man-
euvering, Leakey made progress. Then in 1993 en route to a meeting in Kenya, Leakey
was badly hurt in the crash of a Cessna airplane he was piloting. He survived, but both of
his legs were eventually amputated and his health was seriously compromised. An invest-
igation failed to explain how his airplane's engine had lost power so quickly, and to this
day Leakey cannot rule out the possibility that powerful figures profiting from corruption
may have been behind the accident. One year later, he resigned after his department was
severely weakened, an action taken at the suggestion of his political enemies and rivals. A
few years after that, as the parks began to deteriorate again, Leakey was rehired.
Nothing has been easy about saving elephants. Governments clashed with guardians.
Some turned to high-revenue private hunting. Others outlawed it. Nonprofits disagreed
with the tourist industry. No one had a secret formula for recovery. In every country and