We examined the effects of protection from human activities and effects of tourist hunting on densities of 21 large mammal species in Tanzania. Aerial censuses revealed that mammal biomass per km2 was highest in National Parks. Densities of nine ungulate species were significantly higher in National Parks and Game Reserves than in areas that permitted settlement; these tended to be the larger species favoured by poachers. The presence of tourist hunters had little positive or negative impact on ungulate densities, even for sought‐after trophy species; limited ground censuses confirmed these results. Our analyses suggest that prohibition of human activity, backed up by on‐site enforcement, maintains ungulate populations at relatively high densities, and challenge the idea that enforcement is only effective when spending is high.

In Tanzania, where tourist hunting is employed as a conservation tool for habitat protection, information on population sizes and hunting offtake was used to assess the impact of tourist hunting on mammal densities. In general, tourist hunting pressure was unrelated to local population sizes, but for most species, animals were removed at a level of less than 10% of the local population size, suggesting that over‐exploitation was unlikely. Eland, however, and perhaps small antelope, bushbuck, kudu and reedbuck were hunted at levels which may be unsustainable in the long term. Analyses also identified areas of Tanzania with high levels of tourist hunting pressure, showed that, in certain areas, species with small population sizes such as eland could be declining as a result of tourist hunting, and suggested that current levels of lion and leopard offtake are too high. These findings, although preliminary, allow recommendations to be put forward for changing hunting quotas for certain species in particular areas of Tanzania.