Africa's dazzling parks and game reserves simply don't harbor enough terrain to sustain the large herds of elephant, zebra, wildebeest and other migratory animals that comprise Africa's unique heritage. When animals roam outside parks and conservation areas they often wreck havoc on the communities surrounding these areas. As land surrounding protected areas becomes increasingly populated with farms and villages, wildlife competes with people, their livestock and crops for land and water resources.

If natural habitats are to be conserved, the people who depend on them must also survive. AWF believes that through conservation enterprise, conservation can be developed as a commercially viable land use that can leverage space for wildlife while improving the livelihoods of local people. By assisting rural communities with few other resources to establish conservation enterprises, the presence of wild animals becomes a potentially profitable opportunity rather than a costly nuisance.

One way that AWF is helping meet the economic needs of these communities is through Community Eco-tourism. AWF has worked with many communities in its African Heartlands to develop a host of exceptional safari lodes and camps.

• Maasai Steppe (Tanzania)
• Kazungula (Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe)
• Kilimanjaro (Kenya and Tanzania)
• Samburu (Kenya)
• Virunga (Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Uganda)