The role of ‘dangerous animals’ in tourism
By Ramadhani Kupaza

The Arusha Times, August 4-10, 2007


It is reasonable to assume that qualified people make informed and rational arguments on issues concerning their professions. It follows that it may not be necessary to pick arguments with conservationists when they inform that there is no such thing as dangerous animals. Conservationists make the bold statement to encourage conservation rather than destruction of animals.

The conservationists dismiss as ridiculous any proposition to kill animals indiscriminately. The professionals in the field further justify the right of animals’ existence by suggesting that the so called dangerous animals enhance tourism by creating situations that keep tourists in suspense resulting from fear of the animals. Suspense is a form of entertainment.

Tourists associations with potentially dangerous animals at close range can be likened to acting amongst wild animals in horror movies whereby tourists rather than beasts emerge victorious from scenes of action. The animal groups that are feared by many in Tanzania include elephants, buffaloes, rhinos, hippos and lions. Others are leopards, wild dogs, crocodiles, cobras and black mambas. The animal groups create suspense in the wilderness in different ways.

There are scenes in the wild whereby herds of tens of elephants decide to stand in the way unconcerned of the presence of tourists’ convoys along walking trails or viewing roads. Such situation prevents tourists from proceeding to their next destinations. Wise guides stop at a distance to observe the behavior of the elephants while entertaining clients by revealing meanings about various aspects of the animals’ lives. The activity to reveal meanings also serves as a strategy to buy time in order to allow the animals to get out of the way. Sometimes the animals have different ideas.

The elephants may become furious and decide to run towards the innocent tourists often just to threaten them. The tourists become scared to death. They deserve to be scared because the mere size of an adult elephant intimidates particularly when the animal is at close range. It should be remembered that elephants are the largest land animals in the world. Wildlife officials refer to the elephants’ teasing scares as "mock charges" as opposed to real charges.

Tour guides enable tourists to move out of the way on time incase they realize that elephants are in the process of preparing to make real charges towards the tourists. Apparently, elephants prepare for mock and real charges differently.

The guides lead tourists to move quickly to locations where the elephants cannot pick smell from the tourists. Such locations are in the direction whereby the wind blows from the elephant to the tourists. This is to ensure that the elephants do not detect correctly the presence of the tourists by smell since their sense of smell is better developed than the other senses.

In order to enhance their safety further, tourists move to locations that are at least fifty meters away from the animals. Tourists are said to be safe from angry elephants at fifty meters away since the animals’ eyesights are poor. Most animals despair during fighting if they cannot focus clearly on the enemy. At that stage tourists can take a sigh of relief because they are finally safe. They feel victorious because they have outsmarted the elephants. The visitors now have exciting experiences to share when they go back to the camps and when they write home. But, it is not over until it is over.

During the night elephants may visit the tourists’ campsites and feed comfortably next to the tourists’ tents. The tourists in the tents can hear the usual elephants’ growling sounds coming from the animals’ stomachs. To be safe, the tourists remain calm in their tents. Eventually, the elephants leave the campsites allowing the tourists to keep guessing as to whether the animals have really gone away. Or, whether they intend to return later during the night. Brave tourists enjoy deep sleep immediately thereafter.

Wounded buffaloes can stretch tourists’ suspense to the limits. For instance, a wounded buffalo can run after an escaping tourist hunter and jump just behind him into the back of the hunter’s open pick up if the vehicle’s rear door is open. Usually the buffalo fails to get its full body into the vehicle leaving particularly the hind legs hanging outside. The furious animal tries to hit the tourist by using its curved, solid and bulky horns. But it fails to do that because it has no grip on the surface and the tourist is just far enough from the horns. The animal attempts to use its teeth and tongue to pull the tourist by his clothes. Meanwhile, the tourist moves backwards just far enough to deny the animal’s tongue and teeth to have a firm grip on his clothes. At the end, the desperate buffalo remains panting with its wet and scary big eyes wide open while focused on unimpressed tourist’s eyes. It is anyone’s guess as to what a tourist in such situation thinks about. Then, the driver comes to his senses and decides to drive over bumpy surfaces where the buffalo eventually drops to the ground. The tourist shoots the buffalo at point blank to ensure that it does not hurt people who operate in the area. It is said that buffaloes like to revenge even against innocent beings. The tourist emerges victorious, once again. Other animals create equally dramatic and scary situations in the wild.

Conservationists refer to the numerous safe outcomes of tourists’ encounters with animals as evidence to support their claim that there is no such thing as dangerous animals. They plead to people that, animals do not deserve to be killed indiscriminately. They elaborate that, after all, the potentially dangerous situations occur only occasionally. In addition, tour guides are trained such that their most important responsibility is to ensure that tourists are safe. All told, tourism in the wildlife areas will not be the same without the feared animals.