Rural tourism comprises a special interest in nature holidays and ecotourism, walking, climbing and riding holidays, adventure, sport and health tourism, hunting, educational travel and heritage tourism. Tourism planning shows that participation needs to be planned, and the involvement of the locals in participation promotes sustainability in rural tourism developments. The main purpose of this research was to analyse community participation and involvement in rural tourism development planning. A quantitative approach was adopted as the research method for this study. A non-probability sampling approach was used to collect data. Based on the results obtained, the surveyed community members of Ka-Mhinga and Ka-Matiani shared similar perceptions regarding communities’ participation in decision-making and control of the rural tourism development operations. The participants from the two villages who perceived being excluded from the planning and managerial decisions agreed significantly more strongly with the exclusion factor in the planning and managerial decisions taken regarding the protected area. The study concluded that the local communities of Ka-Mhinga and Ka-Matiani should be part of the park control processes, decision-making, planning, and management. The study recommends that local communities should form part of the rural tourism planning team and community involvement in tourism management has to promote sustainability.