ABSTRACT
Land, land use, land contestations and land reform are common terms in Africa’s current affairs and news, due in part to the continent’s colonial heritage. Following decades of Apartheid, a regime that manifested itself through oppression and racially based land dispossessions, the post-Apartheid South African government established a platform for previously oppressed people to reclaim their land. Successful land claims on conservation areas by previously disenfranchised communities have often resulted in co-management agreements to pursue community-based ecotourism and enhance community livelihoods. This chapter adopts a Social Network Theory approach to examine the contributing factors for the collective success of Somkhanda Community Game Reserve in Northern KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, a community-based ecotourism project in a land-reformed community. It further highlights the importance of community social networking in building strong social capital for co-management of common-pool resources.
