“We all voted for it”: experiences of participation in community-based ecotourism from the foothills of Mt Kilimanjaro

Kenya recognizes tourism as an important economic sector with significant potential to contribute to the national gross domestic product (GDP) and to the country's sustainable development goals. Ecotourism ideals intend to enable communities to benefit from the use of natural and cultural resources available to them by fostering sustainable socio-economic development while maintaining the integrity of those resources. Presently, participation in ecotourism and sustainable development is an issue of contention; mounting criticism due to lack of substantive outcomes, on the one hand, are weighed against conventional tourism characterized by the absence of community participation altogether, producing progressive discourse with the potential to revolutionize conceptualization and practice of participation. To engage with this debate, the objective of this study was to explore individual and household experiences of long-term participation in Kimana Community Wildlife Sanctuary, a former flagship ecotourism initiative in Kenya. Using secondary data, in-depth interviews, a survey, and participant observation in the community hosting the sanctuary, the study found conflicting experiences of participation, especially in the conceptualization and operation of their communal ecotourism initiative. Even though the initiative has been reported as being inclusive and profitable, the study found differentiated experiences of participation, some of which were congruent and others incongruent with the positive ecotourism outcomes previously reported for this initiative. The study advocates reflexive participation by the community together with national and local institutional changes in order to substantiate community power to impact meaningfully upon the performance of community-based ecotourism partnerships.