This initiative by Amahoro tours to encourage people visiting the Kahuzi-Biega national park helps act as an example geared at creating awareness and attention for other tour operators in the region to open their eyes and consider not only the natural benefits within the park, but contributes with education measures and financial support to local peoples positive involvement in the park’s management. The local tour operator Amahoro tours engages with its non-profit organization Redrocks Rwanda to ensure it works with local communities and create more local activities. It is with the belief that the more people, who visit Kahuzi-Beiga, the more local jobs are created and sustained, with the effect that local communities support the objectives of the national park. Sustainable conservation for future tourism is the aim.

These activities of an Africa-based tour operator needs, in particular, be seen as a very positive contribution in the context of solving what UNESCO World Heritage describes as a problem of the national park: “Political instability in the region, provoking the displacement of thousands of people, represents a very serious threat to the integrity of the property, resources, and populations of large mammals in the Park have declined dramatically. The Park does not have a designated buffer zone, supporting cooperation of the neighbor populations in the conservation of the property is one of the principal tasks of management, in particular in the zones of heavy human density.”

The DRC National Park authority ICCN has established a long term relationship with the Red Rocks initiative and confirms the value the non-profit organization as a subsidiary of the Rwanda based tour company Amahoro Tours produces for the park and the local inhabitants: ICCN recommendation letter

Our marketing as a tour operator in collaboration with the community non-for profit RedRocks of KBNP as a destination will in the future rotate with the marketing of other national park destinations in the region. Continuous promotion of these destinations will also be achieved by organizing workshops for other stakeholders and policymakers. More attention to highlight the biodiversity richness of KBNP should be given in the context of supporting several national parks in the region. Communicative networking with several other national parks could promote the Kahuzi-Biéga national park a part of destination packages.

Established partnerships with other authorities and organizations, in particular with other park management bodies, could enable different tour operators to join this cross border collaboration. This could encourage learning from each other in a broader region and accelerate activities of more tour operators in a direction, which increases benefits from tourism by supporting at the same time several national parks and surrounding local communities. A partnership with another cross-boundary national park region in Africa could be a way to transfer experiences from this example.