Conservationists Fear Tourist Onslaught in an African Paradise

MISALI ISLAND, Zanzibar — This sun-soaked islet and its surrounding waters are a spectacular showcase of nature’s diversity. Rugged coral reefs jut from the sea. Myriad marine life--including octopuses, hawkbill turtles, dolphins and crabs--lingers beneath.

Above, in the rare coral rag and mangrove forests, long-tailed vervet monkeys dart through the thickets and squawking, multicolored birds flutter in the haze atop broad-trunked baobab trees. At night, a chorus of wildlife pierces the darkness. Indigenous “Pemba flying fox” bats cast eerie silhouettes against the star-spangled sky.

Add to this tales of buried pirate treasure and a revered Muslim prophet, and Misali Island’s reputation as a place of mystery and natural beauty is secure.

Conservationists consider the island one of the few remaining sanctuaries of rare plant and animal life in Africa, where war, waste and human indifference already have destroyed much marine life, flora and fauna. But Misali is an endangered paradise. It is an open question whether the island, one of a flotilla of remote, uninhabited islets near Zanzibar off the east coast of Africa, will be preserved.

Tug of War Between Values

Authorities last May declared Misali a protected area where fishing and tourism are controlled, and they insist they will keep it that way. But Zanzibar is short of cash. The quest for economic development has led to a tug of war between tourism and foreign cultural values on one side, and preservation of the island’s environment and traditional lifestyle on the other.

Zanzibar, a semiautonomous territory lying 22 miles off Tanzania in the Indian Ocean, has seen an onslaught of tourism development recently, mostly from Europeans seeking an exclusive vacation playground. This trend has crept steadily toward the rolling hills, lush rice paddies and clove plantations of Zanzibar’s sister island, Pemba. Misali lies just west of Pemba.

Those who make their livelihood using Misali as a base to catch seafood fear it will be next.

In recent years, Zanzibar’s profitable clove trade has flopped due to plummeting world prices. Foreign donors have cut aid, citing government human rights violations and questionable election practices. Many officials here view tourism, currently the island’s second largest foreign currency earner, as their savior.

Zanzibar’s president, Salmin Amour, told a conference of African travel associations last year that since the early 1990s, 128 tourism-related projects worth more than $3 billion have been approved. “In view of the conscious need to stimulate the economy of Zanzibar, it is a government policy to utilize fully the lean industry of tourism,” Amour said. “Investors from abroad are most welcome.”

The government has resisted several proposals for hotel developments on Misali. The freeze on international donor money, however, means funding for the Misali marine conservation project will likely dry up this summer. Fishermen fear that the government, lacking its own funds to keep it going, might be tempted to turn the island into a tourist haven.

Such a move would threaten fishermen like Silima Hija Hassan, 49, who sails to Misali twice a month and each time stays at least a week to fish. He typically nets more than 40 pounds of octopus a day. “If they let developers build here, it would become their property and we would not be able to use [Misali] as we want,” he said.

Conservationists want to keep the developers out, but they are wary of the damage fishermen can cause too. In the absence of paid rangers, they worry, some fishermen might resort to harmful techniques like using drag nets and dynamite.

Zanzibaris are feeling sidelined by their government as it leases large tracts of land and beach to foreign investors.

“Land along the coast is very expensive. Some communities are being pushed inland,” said Yusuf Haji Kombo, chief forest officer for the Zanzibari government and conservation project coordinator for CARE, the international aid organization that is financing the Misali project with donor money. “This means an invasion of forest land, destruction of wildlife habitats and natural resources.”

However, sacrificing tourism development for conservation and cultural preservation is a tough sell.

Current statistics are not readily available, but according to regional news reports, Zanzibar earned around $2.4 million from tourism last year, about 3% of the government’s 1998-99 budget. It also is true that tourism has boosted employment and forced the government to start developing transportation and communications.

Fears of Development Are Being Realized

Except for a few officially protected areas like Jozani forest, a wildlife refuge, much of Zanzibar already has become what conservationists and fishermen fear for Misali--a jungle of hotels and beach resorts.

Excluding the short spring rainy season, tourists--most from Italy--flock to the island. Official figures indicate there were 86,455 last year, a fivefold increase in 10 years.

“Zanzibar still offers the charm of the unspoiled Africa,” said Jose Llompart, general manager of the 200-room Bravo Club beach resort, which opened in December 1997 and charges around $100 a night for full board.

But many islanders believe that Western visitors are eroding the predominantly Islamic and Swahili culture, which blends influences of Africa, India and the Middle East.

Once home to the Arab slave trade, an important marketplace for spices and a crossroads for travelers from as far away as Egypt, Greece and China, Zanzibar is steeped in history. European missionaries and explorers, including David Livingston, used Zanzibar, which until the 1960s was ruled by Omani sultans, as a launch pad to the African interior.

A labyrinth of narrow roads in the old Arab Stone Town, bustling street markets, and the blend of culture and race seen in the architecture and in the faces of the people give Zanzibar romantic charm.

The 17th century Scottish pirate Captain Kidd is fabled to have used Misali as a hide-out and a place to stash his loot. Legend also has it that the Muslim prophet Hadhara visited the island.

But with tourism comes pressure on natural resources and social norms. Conservationists estimate that an average tourist uses more than four times the water that an islander uses. They also are concerned about overfishing to satisfy tourists, which cuts supplies and drives prices beyond the reach of average people.

Islanders also accuse Westerners, particularly low-budget tourists like backpackers, of bringing bad habits and loose morals that lead to an increase in problems like prostitution, drug abuse, theft and even rape. Many Zanzibaris complain about foreign women strolling in town in shorts and bikini tops, and they are outraged by the consumption of alcohol in public, even during the holy Muslim month of Ramadan.

Visitors often don’t want to accommodate local sensibilities.

“I understand and respect the religion,” said Swedish tourist Malin Abbing, 27, who recently spent a week on holiday in Zanzibar. “But when I’m on holiday, I want to wear and be what I want.

“We like tourists to come to visit us, but some measures must be taken to respect our culture,” said Said Gwiji, 42, a local Islamic community leader. “[It] is being completely changed and destroyed.

“People used to complain about tourists walking around in bras and shorts,” Gwiji lamented. “But now it appears normal to them.”

In recent years, some local groups even have tried to bomb or burn down bars and liquor stores.

Residents also complain that hotels now stand on land they once owned. Reports of locals being barred from access roads and beaches in front of hotels, and being stopped from fishing, underscore their resentment.

Some officials acknowledge that, in the past, lack of proper zoning laws led to haphazard construction on land taken from local residents with little compensation. They insist that today such mistakes are being avoided. “Now the government policy is to encourage local people to have shares and investments, so that these people can have long-term interest from their parcel of land,” said Pereira Ame Silima, principal secretary at Zanzibar’s Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Natural Resources.

But the fishermen remain skeptical. They argue that protecting Misali is what will guarantee them a prosperous future--and they also have come to support the idea of keeping it a nature preserve. Since the island became a protected area, their catch has swelled.

Recently, there has been a steady trickle of tourists to Misali. Some fish; others snorkel. Cruise ships anchor offshore and shuttle passengers to the beaches to sunbathe, picnic or stroll. The fishermen welcome them--as long as they don’t do much more than that.

“We wouldn’t mind even if 1,000 tourists came here every day,” said Hassan, the fisherman. “So long as they don’t stay.”