Paper short abstract

MwituWetu (Swahili - Our Wild Places) provides tourists to east Africa with crowd-sourced audio-visual information about where to find lesser known wildlife and how a live or a virtual visit can help improve local livelihoods and communities.

Paper long abstract

Connecting wildlife tourism to improving local livelihoods is a cornerstone of development in many east African countries. However, outside the national parks, reserves and conservancies, there are few opportunities for local communities to benefit from this source of income. Based on the idea of TripAdvisor, MwituWetu provides crowd-sourced advice to travellers on where they can experience a new type of wildlife safari, seeing and listening to birds and amphibians live in the field and in the comfort of their homes. MwituWetu also guides visitors towards local expertise and community activities that they can use to plan a visit or contribute towards - something that is rarely available in traditional tourist packages. MwituWetu is supported by leading ornithologists and herpetologists to give users an assurance of quality.