Africa is a 'theme park' for Western tourists to experience untouched wilderness, untamed nature, and truly 'authentic' cultures, where the hosts, too, are part of a discourse about the 'other' and ourselves, about wildness, danger and roots.

Africa is a 'theme park' for Western tourists to experience untouched wilderness, untamed nature, and truly 'authentic' cultures, where the hosts, too, are part of a discourse about the 'other' and ourselves, about wildness, danger and roots.

Tourism is important for Africa: international tourist arrivals to Africa continue to grow, income from tourism is crucial to national economies, and tourism investments are considered among the most profitable. This edited volumedeals with the interaction of local communities with tourists coming into their areas and villages. Based upon a common theoretical approach, fourteen cases of African tourism are discussed which involve direct contact between 'hosts' and 'guests'.
The viewpoint throughout is from the side of the locals, establishing how the processes of interaction shape each small scale destination. Crucial in Africa is the fact that the large majority of tourism is game oriented and the interaction between locals and visitors is very much 'tainted' by this fact. Central is the notion of the tourist bubble - the infrastructure that is generated locally (and internationally) for hosting tourists, as it is this institutional interface that tends to impact on the local society and culture, not the tourists themselves directly. The examples come from all over Africa, from the Sahara to the Eastern Cape, and from Kenyato Ghana. All contributions are based upon original fieldwork.

Walter van Beek is professor of anthropology at Tilburg University and Senior Researcher at the African Studies Centre, Leiden; Annette Schmidt is curatorof the African department at the National Museum of Ethnology in Leiden, and is an archaeologist with a long experience in cultural management projects.

Foreword - Valene Smith
African dynamics of cultural tourism - Walter E A Van Beek
African dynamics of cultural tourism - PART I Culture, Identity & Tourism - Annette M. Schmidt
To dance or not to dance: Dogon masks as a tourist arena - Walter E A Van Beek
Semiotics & the political economy of tourism in the Sahara - Georg Klute
'How much for Kunta Kinte?!' Sites of memory & diasporan encounters in West Africa - Kim C. Warren
'How much for Kunta Kinte?!' Sites of memory & diasporan encounters in West Africa - Elizabeth MacGonagle
Imitating heritage tourism: a virtual tour of Sekhukhuneland, South Africa - PART II At the Fringe of the Parks - Ineke van Kessel
Hosts & guests: stereotypes & myths of international tourism in the Okavango Delta, Botswana - Joseph Mbaiwa
Kom 'n bietjie kuier: Kalahari dreaming with the Khomani San - Kate Finlay and Shanade Barnabas
Treesleeper camp: a case study of community tourism in Tsintsabis, Namibia - Stasja Koot
'The lion has become a cow': the Maasai hunting paradox - Vanessa Wijngaarden
The organization of hypocrisy? Juxtaposing tourists & farm dwellers in game farming in South Africa - Shirley Brooks
The organization of hypocrisy? Juxtaposing tourists & farm dwellers in game farming in South Africa - Marja Spierenburg
The organization of hypocrisy? Juxtaposing tourists & farm dwellers in game farming in South Africa - PART III Intensive Contact - Harry Wels
Backpacking in Africa - Ton van Egmond
'I'm not a tourist. I'm a volunteer': tourism, development & international volunteerism in Ghana - Eiliadh Swan
Becoming 'real African kings & queens': chieftaincy, culture & tourism in Ghana - Marijke Steegstra
Sex trade & tourism in Kenya: close encounters between the hosts & the hosted - Wanjohi Kibicho
Host-guest encounters in a Gambian 'love' bubble - Lucy McCombes
Afterword. Trouble in the bubble: comparing African tourism with the Andes trail - Annelou Ypeij