Because most of Kenya’s wildlife exists outside of its National Parks, Kenyans have experimented with a range of community and private initiatives to set up tourism for
ecotourism enterprises on their land. These ventures may involve the setting aside of game viewing areas on large private ranches, or on group ranches, and sometimes collaboration between groups and individual ranchers to increase the total area of land available for conservation and ecotourism activities. Il Ngwesi, a 16,500 acre group ranch in the northern area of Kenya, opened a small lodge in 1996, grossed US$40,000 in 2000. The Mara Conservancy, in the Trans-Mara area of Kenya, is a new initiative aimed at ensuring that the local community actually receives the proceeds from tourism activities carried out in their area. Several group ranches have subcontracted a private company to manage their game viewing area collect entry fees, reinvest funds in the reserve’s infrastructure, and pay the community.