Introduction

Tourism in Namibia has a strong focus on nature. ‘Cultural tourism’ or ‘ethnic tourism’ is there, but on the margins of nature-based tourism. Wildlife parks and beautiful landscapes are the main attractions here. Te Fish River Canyon, the Namib Naukluft Desert and of course Etosha National Park are amongst the highlights of Namiba. It is a country with good infrastructure and there are plenty of high quality guest farms, hunting farms and lodges where tourists can have an ‘African experience’. Wildlife is numerous, also outside the parks and in conservation areas. In a comfortable setting, tourists can go trophy hunting or for game drives in the parks, conservation areas and on farms. In a cheaper setting, camping tourism has evolved.

Community Based Tourism (CBT) and Community Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) started to evolve already before 1990 and since 1994 it has been possible for many Namibian communities to acquire limited property rights to use and manage wildlife resources. Te most important natural resources in these CBNRM projects are wildlife viewing and trophy hunting. In a large country as Namibia (830.000 km) the population of 1.7 million is mostly rural. Today these local communities sometimes work together with partners from the private sector in so-called joint ventures, such as the Damaraland Camp in the Torra Conservancy.