ABSTRACT
If it were desirable to list the factors which account for the contemporary shape of tourism in the vast continent that is Africa, the most significant would undoubtedly be its geographical diversity. Even a cursory glance at a map of Africa (Map 3.1) shows that it can be readily divided into five major regions on the basis of topography, environment and cultural history. The first of these would include the ten million square miles of the Sahara desert (together with the sub-Saharan Sahel region), and the second would be the west coast (south and west of the River Niger). An eastern region is focused on the countries surrounding the Rift Valley, and there is a southern region south of the Kalahari Desert. This leaves a central area which today includes countries such as the democratic Republic of Congo (once Zaire), with very low levels of tourism activity. Each region has a distinct political history, with its natural and cultural history and its environment shaping its current tourism geography. Other highly significant factors include the different legacies of colonial rule, the legacy of the slave trade (in western and to a lesser extent in North Africa) and the political uncertainties of post-colonial Africa, which persist right into the present day and create extensive no-go areas for visitors. These can sometimes be temporary and reversed by a change of power, but there are some countries in all five regions that seem almost permanently out of bounds for that reason (such as Liberia, Congo and Sudan). The geography of Africa also means that certain areas are richer in tourism resources than others. East Africa, for example, is famous for its mammalian biodiversity which (when combined with the legacy of British colonial rule) accounted for the early development of the safari industry (now sanitized into wildlife-watching holidays).
