🌿 What does responsible travel truly look like — beyond safari marketing and eco-friendly buzzwords?
In this insightful episode of Tangelic Talks, co-hosts Victoria Cornelio and Andres Tamez speak with Jennifer Kalemera, an ecotourism and sustainability expert shaping Tanzania’s tourism sector.
With over seven years of experience across tourism policy, hospitality, carbon offsetting, and conservation, Jennifer shares how Tanzania can move from extractive tourism to community-rooted, ethical, and regenerative travel. From the Serengeti to Zanzibar, she reveals what it takes to build tourism that protects landscapes, respects culture, and uplifts local livelihoods.
This episode reframes ecotourism as a philosophy of care, respect, and shared value, not just “green travel.”
🌍 Key Topics Covered
• What ecotourism really means — beyond marketing
• Jennifer’s journey from engineering to responsible tourism
• Hospitality as care, generosity & meaningful connection
• How tourism becomes extractive — and how to fix it
• Community inclusion, skills, cultural preservation & shared benefits
• Why sustainability requires metrics, systems & accountability
• Understanding carbon offsetting & REDD+ in East Africa
• Protecting forests, carbon sinks & local governance
• The role of ancestral knowledge & land stewardship
• How to travel more ethically in Tanzania
• Why policy & enforcement matter for sustainable tourism
• Innovations shaping the future of ecotourism
• Advice for young professionals in tourism & conservation
About the Guest: Jennifer Kalemera is an ecotourism specialist and founder of Patina Impact, where she helps tourism businesses embed sustainability through impact frameworks, community engagement, and responsible land management. Her experience spans hospitality, conservation, carbon offsetting, and tourism policy across Tanzania.
Join the Conversation: What does responsible travel mean to you? How can tourism support local communities more effectively?
Share your reflections in the comments 👇
Explore More from Tangelic
🌐 Website — TangelicLife.org
📸 Instagram — @tangeliclife
🐦 Twitter/X — @Tangelic_
💼 LinkedIn — Tangelic
👍 Facebook — Tangelic.org
Support Our Mission: If you believe in clean energy access, just climate solutions, and community-centered storytelling, support our work at: 👉 TangelicLife.org
✅ Don’t forget to like, comment, share, and subscribe! Your support helps us amplify conversations on energy, equity, and empowerment. 🌍✨
🔖 #TangelicTalks #Ecotourism #ResponsibleTourism #JenniferKalemera #Tanzania #CommunityTourism #SustainableTravel #Biodiversity #CarbonOffsetting #REDD #Conservation #ClimateJustice #WildlifeConservation #TravelEthically #EnergyEquity #TourismInAfrica #Tangelic
In this insightful episode of Tangelic Talks, co-hosts Victoria Cornelio and Andres Tamez speak with Jennifer Kalemera, an ecotourism and sustainability expert shaping Tanzania’s tourism sector.
With over seven years of experience across tourism policy, hospitality, carbon offsetting, and conservation, Jennifer shares how Tanzania can move from extractive tourism to community-rooted, ethical, and regenerative travel. From the Serengeti to Zanzibar, she reveals what it takes to build tourism that protects landscapes, respects culture, and uplifts local livelihoods.
This episode reframes ecotourism as a philosophy of care, respect, and shared value, not just “green travel.”
🌍 Key Topics Covered
• What ecotourism really means — beyond marketing
• Jennifer’s journey from engineering to responsible tourism
• Hospitality as care, generosity & meaningful connection
• How tourism becomes extractive — and how to fix it
• Community inclusion, skills, cultural preservation & shared benefits
• Why sustainability requires metrics, systems & accountability
• Understanding carbon offsetting & REDD+ in East Africa
• Protecting forests, carbon sinks & local governance
• The role of ancestral knowledge & land stewardship
• How to travel more ethically in Tanzania
• Why policy & enforcement matter for sustainable tourism
• Innovations shaping the future of ecotourism
• Advice for young professionals in tourism & conservation
About the Guest: Jennifer Kalemera is an ecotourism specialist and founder of Patina Impact, where she helps tourism businesses embed sustainability through impact frameworks, community engagement, and responsible land management. Her experience spans hospitality, conservation, carbon offsetting, and tourism policy across Tanzania.
Join the Conversation: What does responsible travel mean to you? How can tourism support local communities more effectively?
Share your reflections in the comments 👇
Explore More from Tangelic
🌐 Website — TangelicLife.org
📸 Instagram — @tangeliclife
🐦 Twitter/X — @Tangelic_
💼 LinkedIn — Tangelic
👍 Facebook — Tangelic.org
Support Our Mission: If you believe in clean energy access, just climate solutions, and community-centered storytelling, support our work at: 👉 TangelicLife.org
✅ Don’t forget to like, comment, share, and subscribe! Your support helps us amplify conversations on energy, equity, and empowerment. 🌍✨
🔖 #TangelicTalks #Ecotourism #ResponsibleTourism #JenniferKalemera #Tanzania #CommunityTourism #SustainableTravel #Biodiversity #CarbonOffsetting #REDD #Conservation #ClimateJustice #WildlifeConservation #TravelEthically #EnergyEquity #TourismInAfrica #Tangelic
Category
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LearningTranscript
00:00because i i come from a tourist tourist town and as the as a as a community member like you
00:06don't really know that the tourism is going on you just know that it's a big part of the economic
00:10activity and uh like even i didn't notice and i and i studied tourism for a little bit and i
00:15i've sort of like i've been around adjacent to that and so that it's it's it's kind of
00:22interesting to see that you can involve the community but when you talk about
00:26responsible tourism there's an expansion of care there you look at the community in which you're
00:32operating in are you creating are you synergizing local economy are you creating um jobs for people
00:42you know around there are you also participating in like community um projects i'll talk about like
00:50you know clean cooking technologies and all of that but in reality it doesn't really work in the
00:56remote nature of these areas and even if you would introduce that they would have to be
01:04an economic vehicle that is able to keep it sustainable so the best way is really like
01:10changing habits
01:24welcome to tangelic talks your go-to podcast from tangelic where we dive into the vibrant world of
01:30clean energy development sustainability and climate change in africa we bring you inspiring stories
01:36insightful discussions and groundbreaking innovations from the continent making waves in the global
01:41community tune in and join the conversation toward a brighter greener future let's get started
01:50hey everyone welcome to tangelic talks a podcast at the intersection of energy equity and empowerment
01:56with your co-hosts andres temez and victoria cornelia thank you andres in today's episode we're diving in
02:03the world of ecotourism with someone who has dedicated her career to transforming how tourism
02:08works for people nature and local economies jennifer brings uh over seven years of hands-on experience
02:14across damsonia's tourism and conservation sectors shaping responsible tourism policies supporting local
02:20producers strengthening carbon offset programs and helping businesses turn sustainability from a buzzword
02:27which we hate in this space into a real profitable practice welcome jennifer thank you
02:33so much i'm so happy to be here okay ecotourism i think we should start at the root of it what is it how
02:41would you define ecotourism yeah that's a good one to to start from i would say ecotourism um operates
02:51from a philosophy of caring and respecting the natural environment around it and also the cultures around it
02:59so that would include the communities as well in which these properties operate in okay and when you
03:07started your career did you know that already how did you go into ecotourism how does one do that it
03:12will be a bit of an anecdote but my training is actually in my professional training is computer engineering so i'm an engineer
03:22and i took on uh my first role with the hotels association of tanzania which does the advocacy and
03:30lobbying for the hospitality industry in particular but the tourism industry at large and influences um
03:39good business environment for for the operators and it was meant to be you know uh just to get there to
03:46get out there in the corporate world and just learn you know a bit here and there but i ended up really
03:52falling in love in the tourism industry that's good yeah so that's kind of how i got into it and that's
04:01how i was able to to view the tourism industry within its pillars like from policy making from you know
04:09conservation from project management responsible tourism it was a great umbrella to be able to learn
04:16like all these leaders into the tourism industry especially because it intersects with so many other
04:22industries based on the nature of its operation definitely and it's been seven years right so what is
04:30what do you think is something you've learned that when you started you had no idea and now it's one of
04:35those core lessons that you kind of carry with you i'll take a minute to yes please honestly it's a
04:44bit philosophical what i'd say but you know hospitality in its essence is really about caring about living
04:53without thinking of getting back immediately and also about enriching other people's experiences so it's
05:00very selfless and so giving and being honed into that industry through my career building really
05:10helped me to adapt that philosophy for myself which also informs my career trajectory at the moment
05:17that's so interesting i think that's the first time i've heard anyone sort of talk about hospitality
05:22in that way you're right yeah you're there to sort of make people happy yes that's really cool and
05:30where does the eco side come in then when we talk about tourism what separates normal tourism from
05:36eco tourism um in some ways i prefer to use responsible tourism rather than just eco because
05:46directly into you know ecology that's the short form but responsible so i'd say what separates normal
05:53tourism and responsible tourism is the level of care or the quotient of care um normal tourism would be
06:03just guest facing and that's it um have guests arrived on time do they have a beautiful view as we
06:09we showed you know on our website do they have a nice cocktail and they sit sit down or do we have you
06:16know more of um service facing the guests but when we talk about responsible tourism there's an expansion of
06:25care there you look at the community in which you're operating in are you creating are you synergizing local
06:33economy are you creating um jobs for people you know around there are you also participating in like
06:42community um projects or you know just any kind of efforts that supersedes the um your existence from
06:53just uh profit looking but rather yeah and expanding that net yeah from there that's from the people
07:04around you and then there's also like also how you run your business like who do you source from do you
07:10try as best as you can to minimize the waste how do you make use of your resources and basically
07:20looking at your business um from minimizing negative impacts and amplifying positive impacts do you find
07:29that that makes tourism better because everybody's happier that the tourists get to interact with the
07:35locals and the locals are happier to interact because they're being because you are you are making
07:40sure that everything is happening responsibly so like everybody you're basically like instead of just
07:45looking for profit we're doing a net good for everyone involved including from the tourists
07:49to ourselves to the community right absolutely yeah couldn't have said it better and then in tanzania
07:56at the moment how would you describe the current state of ecotourism what's working what isn't
08:02are there any any big challenges that you think need to be addressed at the moment most people try to do
08:09in-house efforts in more of an ad hoc way and there's not that systematic way of actually what are the
08:16metrics that we're looking and you have data that can compare um pre and post um sustainability frameworks
08:25adaption and that is also where i come in as founder patina impacts to like basically handhold and say you
08:35know um this will be the place to start from and using a metric i'm signing up for the b corp
08:44b corp uh framework which is developed by the bill foundation using that so just having a systematic way
08:51to really diagnose your business and see um what practices need to be done more of and what practices
09:01need to be released uh to get the the best optimal results yeah and a lot of times people sort of
09:12don't trust certifications um like a printing logo so how do you know which certifications actually hold
09:20weight in your space how do you choose which ones you're actually going to platform or try to attain it's
09:26really hard to do it on an individual level because everyone would have you know their own ideas and
09:34the emotion behind it because that's the truth that they believe in which is why i'm adapting the the
09:40b lab framework the b corp um which looks at a business in a holistic manner um and therefore it can be
09:48to um i i don't want to use the word certified but really like certify any kind of business that's not just
09:55in hospitality using the impact pillars of governance or customers of consumers of workers
10:05um yeah which makes makes it a more nuanced way of looking at your business operations
10:14and it kind of ties back into what you were saying that ecotourism is this going above and beyond and not
10:19just front-facing for the guests but also for the people that you're working in and things like that
10:24andres and i both both come from countries where tourism is quite a big pillar and we've seen
10:29firsthand how some tourist projects kind of affect people and yeah kind of deplete the area a little
10:39bit and i kind of wanted to touch on you've advocated for tourism that creates real local impact
10:47what does that look like in practice you know andres and i are both familiar with how it looks
10:52bad but what does a good example look like especially for communities that live near
10:58conservation areas or areas that are stressed by climate change yeah um so i've had the pleasure to
11:05to visit a few tourism facilities as a guest and it's quite apparent um when the when the tourism
11:16facility also um includes the community for example massage as the other 90s of areas in serengeti which
11:26i'm sure you know the serengeti national park and most times that you're there you'd find maybe your
11:32waiter or someone who's helping you is from from the village so they took them on then in training usually
11:42previously there was a language barrier because maybe they would speak only their native language
11:46not even kiswahili which is a national language here but they've gone above to even learn um english
11:53language which is more most guests coming in would be familiar with that and even pick up other languages
11:59as well and yeah just learning hospitality practices learning how to take care of guests um computer skills
12:09and yeah just experiencing that is always a testimony on how investing in people and communities can bring
12:19direct returns to the business for commercial benefits as well yeah because you're upscaling the
12:26workforce you're not just sort of employing people but kind of maximizing those things definitely and
12:32does that include yeah yeah it also creates a a good image for the community that is just adjacent
12:42because yeah it's all we just see a couple of land rovers coming here and you know they come here
12:48and spend three or four days on safari and they go there's really that trickle of like the economic
12:55benefits um in some areas they also arrange for tourists to go and visit maybe like schools or local
13:03projects that are going on so that way there's a synergy between tourism operations and real livelihood
13:11benefits to to to the community around yeah it's a win-win that isn't just a poster but it's actually
13:20doing something for the people yeah hard to find these days hard to find in places where there isn't
13:27this responsible the the more responsible tourism is it what are like the big symptoms like is it more
13:34conflict between tourists and and and the people that live there is it is it a worse treatment of the
13:40facilities and like the the the local area like tourists like the classic leaving trash not
13:46respecting um like just the the locale right what what what what are the like um if you go to one
13:54because you said you've gone to one and to the other right you've had the privilege of going to
13:58both what is the what are the observable difference between the two yeah um well the observable
14:04difference is um i would say like the community sees themselves also as part of experience so even
14:13when you're not just let's say in safari cars there you know it could be a simple gesture but like wave
14:20and say you know hello jumbo to to the guests and just have this sense of they're also part of it and
14:28you know like part of making the experience memorable it's not just uh staff that come from
14:35the tourism facilities job to do that it's more about enriching the experience having more giving
14:41people more to see and uh making sure that you do it in a way that benefits everybody yes that's that's
14:49that's really cool it also sounds like you are integrating this tourist tourism experience
14:57into the community rather than sort of cutting off the community so you can create a resort for
15:03example and displacing people so you can build this infrastructure it's like these people live
15:08here so we're going to work around it rather than you know displaced which is kind of what we see
15:14sometimes i i was i was thinking of that because i i come from a tourist tourist town and as the as
15:21as a community member like you don't really know that the tourism is going on you just know that
15:26it's a big part of the economic activity and uh like even i didn't notice and i and i studied tourism
15:31for a little bit and i i've sort of like i've been around adjacent to that and so that it's it's it's
15:38kind of interesting to see that you can involve the community that's so nice and in that vein then
15:48we know what good looks like so how do we avoid becoming extractive so where culture and nature are
15:56commodified because if we are to accept that the people and the area enrich you know the touristic
16:04experience how do we make sure that we're not commodifying that or to an extent trying to sell it
16:11almost as if that's the point but instead having a genuine community center is that possible well i
16:19think that's a very difficult one to just pinpoint you know but i think as a business community when you
16:29change how you do business and how you view your product then that shows down into your um business
16:36practices as well but that goes also handy with like the regulations or the policies that are formed
16:43which are able to protect um natural environments for example protected areas
16:50and yeah so for me it's hard to pin it down into one thing i think it's a
16:56array of factors but i do think that's from the business community perspective on what their role
17:04is aside from economic fashion fair yeah so that value creation as well and being in the policy space
17:14what role does policy play in all this then um i mean i think policy is the underpinning of everything
17:22we know that businesses first do want to be compliant in the you know rules and regulations area and so at
17:29the moment we do not have any to my knowledge at least we do not have any like national sustainability
17:38laws or regulations that guide how you can actually do business um yeah early this year the financial
17:45sector had um the part the the the regulation that regulates all financial sectors in tanzania
17:56um now requires that they do sustainability reporting right when they do their annual
18:05annual um standard reporting which is a step but that's just being in the the financial sector
18:13in zanzibar as well which is i'm based in tanzania mainland and zanzibar is the island which most people
18:21are really familiar with they also started a new mandate for for west management which you know so
18:29i think things like yeah things like that like trickle into like business operators mind and now
18:35they'll pay more attention and you know maybe be curious or have certain questions which makes it easy
18:42for operators like us who are trying to help businesses act more responsibly come into the picture
18:48because they're already thinking of it maybe they're not sure where to start or maybe they have some
18:54doubts that um engaging in sustainability means making a trade-off and profit but it's a great um
19:02composite conversation starter when they're already asked to be compliant as as businesses yeah definitely so
19:12that makes me think that the businesses that are doing it now are doing what you said of going above and
19:17beyond because it isn't being asked of them yet by policy yes exactly yeah right okay what do you
19:25think is the number one regulation or policy that should be introduced in the next few years to kind
19:32of start that conversation is there one in mind oh that's a good one can we pass on that question for
19:38now yeah definitely okay well i wanted to touch then on the carbon offsetting part of your profile
19:48because can you okay can you explain to us what carbon offsetting is because i think it's one of
19:52those things that unless you are part of this space you're not necessarily familiar with i would say the
19:58company which is a carbon offset project developer where there's um huge huge um sizes of land in
20:08different parts of tanzania and they partner up with the communities surrounding them and yeah using the red
20:17framework which is developed by the un they're able to be compensated for the avoided emissions of
20:24carbon dioxide well basically they take care of the forest land in the forest near them and through
20:33that work as their custodian they're able to get economic benefits and social benefits that is shared
20:40as a community right okay so when we tie that into tourism what role does it play in climate mitigation for
20:49example how is this a good tool to push forward ecotourism yeah well it is a good tool because it's yeah
20:57no it's it makes it makes sure there's longevity of the tourism products that you're selling because if
21:06you don't start to to think about conservation and carbon offsetting now um and protecting um the ecological
21:14value of the land in which you operate means in the maybe next 10 20 years there will be nothing to
21:21sell at all it sounds to me that carbon offsetting in um specifically where you are set is like a little
21:29bit different from like um somewhere where i am right for you you mentioned something about being
21:35custodians of like forests and stuff like that so it's more about conserving the things that that absorb
21:41the carbon instead of stop stopping uh production right exactly basically yes basically preserving
21:49the carbon sinks that's very interesting i think i think that that uh difference comes from uh the fact
21:55that you know where i come from is so corporate and so like we we just produce so much of it so that's
22:00that's the main focus yeah to stop to reduce um but i i always forget that there is uh there's a level
22:08of carbon credits that come from actually preserving um and so the those benefits go to the communities
22:15what kind of benefits do they get i'm very curious so this the benefits that they get so basically how
22:20it works is um there's like land there's a way that land is divided in tanzania specifically there's general
22:28land and all this and then there is uh land that is assigned to the village which is um basically the
22:35village council are the ones that make decisions on how it's allocate allocated and what is used for
22:42what and so usually this revenue is transferred directly to to the village council who then decide
22:52while sitting with the community members of course whether to go to like maybe building schools or
22:58or creating a water project or you know um yeah just whatever the community needs at that moment
23:08and how they're able to prioritize based on the level of income they received very cool so the local
23:13community gets to decide what to do with these funds that's yes that's interesting i like that and then
23:20what does responsible land and wildlife stewardship look like because that's kind of what you're saying that
23:26you take care of nature as a way of carbon upsetting but also you know nature is important and it's also
23:33one of the attractiveness of this tourism that is being offered so what does that look like yeah so
23:40one of the main reasons of land degradation in tanzania specifically is just uh cutting cutting trees for
23:52like firewood and you know this is more mostly in the more more remote areas but also land use bad land
24:01users for farming where someone uses a piece of land here and then maybe after one year they just
24:06desert it and go to the next so yeah those are the two main factors like uh that degrade the the land
24:17quality and its ecological value so those are kind of like the the starting points i don't know from
24:24from an everyday consumer yeah so addressing those things yes i i would imagine giving alternatives
24:32right to cutting trees is a is a big one right and they're basically every other sort of energy
24:38production is better than cutting trees and using that directly as fuel um so what what what is the what
24:45is the provided solution by the by the by the authorities by the by the government or by the
24:50institutions that take care of this like if a community it relies on wood how do how does how do
24:55how do we how do we solve this so there's different ways of harvesting rather than let's say cutting from
25:01the stem you can just cut from the branches at least that's already like a simple fix but also there is
25:07a within the land allocation there's areas that are protected and where it's supposed to stay as a forest reserve and the
25:15areas that are available for public use so just utilizing the areas that are not you know set under
25:23the protected status that's number two um i would talk about like you know clean cooking technologies and
25:31all of that but in reality it doesn't really work in the remote nature of these areas and even if you
25:38would introduce that they would have to be an economic vehicle that is able to keep it sustainable so the
25:47best way is really like changing habits of how you know interact with right yeah the land it's so remote
25:58you can't really introduce infrastructure so you just have to educate basically just educate
26:03that's very interesting yeah i just mentioned that also there's a lot of like native and ancestral
26:11knowledge that is so different from one community another and yeah most times it really just dials back
26:20to respecting the ancestral knowledge that was passed through generation to generation and that's actually
26:27what works for that specific community so that's also a huge one rather than coming up with frameworks which
26:35maybe would work well let's say where next andreas is from but probably wouldn't work well in a remote
26:43region in southern tanzania so that's that's also a huge one and i can imagine that responsible business
26:50also takes that into account so it's not coming in and saying we have the solutions
26:56but sort of backing the solutions at the community saying the this is what works for us right exactly
27:03i love that that's really cool so for travelers visiting tanzania what does being a responsible
27:09ethical tourist actually looks like if i was booking my flight tomorrow how do i make sure i'm adhering
27:16adhering however you say that word to ecotourism in tanzania yeah that's a good question i think just trying
27:24trying to try to leave the place better than you found it but also having a natural curiosity from
27:33not just for example safari because tanzania is known for like safaris but also the surrounding community
27:40you know how do they live like and yeah so i think yeah it just comes from coming here and having that
27:50full experience that is not just based on what your itinerary uh designed by your travel travel agent yeah
28:03i'm sure yeah we can talk about like littering and all of that but most people now are quite conscious
28:10already about that so i think you know going back home and just having that reminder of maybe how the
28:20community lived or your previously perceived notions of that area and how you are actually challenged by
28:29you know seeing the realities on the ground and then coming back and sharing with your peers and
28:34families about that is already like quite quite a big step um yeah yeah and i think every day like
28:44another really big one is thinking of the earth as one so whether you visited maybe gorongoro or maybe
28:53serengeti and you know you're quite conscious of not littering or maybe not using plastic or adhering to all the
29:03wildlife rules you just carry that soul and essence back with you at home and try to see how you can
29:10incorporate that in your daily daily life yeah and i think that applies to anywhere i really appreciate
29:17that and we're going to stay on for a bit longer you can check out the blog at angeliclife.org where we're
29:24going to talk to jennifer a bit more about demystifying sustainability and ecotourism thank you so much
29:30jennifer for being here and we'll catch you guys on the next one bye thank you
29:44let's talk power let's talk change from rural lights to brighter days equity rising voices strong we're
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