So far, various studies attempted to study potentials for CBET development; and value ofrnecotourisll1 for wildlife conservation and economic development has been done in Ethiopia, andrnlittle is done on exploring practices, challenges and opportunities of CBET development. Thus,rnthis thesis was envisaged with objective of critically identifYing the key practices, challenges andrnopportunities ofCBET development in Meket woreda, North Wollo and recommends on how bestrnit can be enhanced and replicated in other areas. In order to achieve the objective of the slUdy,rnboth primary and secondmy data were generated by employing qualitative (us ing case study,rnfocus group discussion, in depth interview and on spot observation) and quantitative (mainlyrnusing household survey and visitor survey questionnaires) methodlÂ·. Purposive and simplernrandom sampling techniques were used to select 3 CBET sites and 90 sample householdsrnrespectively. The quantitative data was analyzed using frequency, percentage and mean whenrnappropriate while qualitative data was used to triangulate and substantiate the study. Thernresearch revealed that CBET has brought a variety of favorable economic, socio-cultural andrnenvironmental impacts. On the other hand, the study also identified several potentially adverserneffects, which suggest the need for improvement and strong effort. The research spots severalrnmeaningful CBET practices which can become a model for similar initiatives elsewhere withrndifferent blue prints. The study discloses that several challenges have been experienced atrnproject implementation and running of CBET business in the study area. Low level of knowledge,rninterest and perception of local comlllunity towards CBET; the resource ownership questionsrnlike land; capacity problems of the MCs and local level government office staff; lack of legalrnregistration of CTEs; conflicting policies and legislations; communities ' expectation forrnimmediate financial benefits; quality and standard of products and services; lack of cooperationrnamong stakeholders; emerging challenges on marketing and booking; etc, were identified asrnchallenges of CBET in the study area. However, several opportunities like strategic location ofrnthe sites, change of local attitude toward CBET, hospitality of local community, the potentialrntourism resources of the area, succes.lful efforts on marketing and promotion, etc are identifiedrnas success factors for CBET Results and recommendations of the study explore ways to improvernand enhance the capacity of CBET to generate benefits at the study sites. Further. specificrnactivities to be assumed to solve the existing challenges and maximize the strategic advantagesrnare illustrated