Henry Fosbrooke

As far as North Eastern Tanganyika is concerned, I myself came across a tradition In the Southern Pare Mountains that long ago white men came up from the coast, and camped at the foot of the mountains. They were "Looking for stones", doubtless prospecting for gold, and did not harm or come into conflict with the local population.

Over a century ago Rebmann (1849) the first man to make the existence of Kilimanjaro known in Europe, recorded "Some tradition of a Portuguese establishment in Jagga (Chagga) as having taken place about two centuries ago (i.e. circa 1650) is, as my guide informed me, still found with the Madjame (Machame) tribe". A map published in the same Journal (1849) shows a hill lying between the Pare Mountains and the Ruvu River bearing the legend "Hereabouts is a mountain on which the ruins of a castle and a broken piece of cannon are said to be seen" .

[Henry Fosbrooke] starts first tour in Tanganyika.

[Howe, Eric] Stock Inspector (Veterinary Department). took over Lerai farm from John Hamman. Host to Henry Fosbrooke and his wife on their first visit in 1934

East rim road to northern highlands. [in 1934] there was no road along the east rim - I only constructed it in 1940, though, ... I was looking for an alignment to take a road to the northern highlands as early as 1934,'

Later, Jane Fosbrooke records the return trip from a cattle auction in the north of the crater, to Lerai.

'.. the men arrived from their long tramp. They had walked over twenty miles along the western rim, scrambling up and down gullies. It was very rough, and they decided it would be too difficult to make a road along this side, it would be better to try the eastern side first. Henry's feet were a shocking sight, raw with blisters. We gave them liquid in every possible form - tea, water, whisky and fruit juice, and they lapped it all up, and asked for more'.

[Fosbrooke, Henry] First passed through Ngorongoro on route for Loliondo to take up posting as Assistant District Officer in charge of Loliondo sub-division of the Masai District, which, as now (1972) included Ngorongoro and the surrounding highland

Mr. H.A. Fosbrooke, Senior Sociologist, prior to his departure on leave and on a visit to the United States of America on a Fulbright travel grant, continued his study of the sociological aspects of land usage in the heavily populated highland areas of northern Tanganyika, with particular reference to the deterrents which have hitherto operated against migration to and settlement in the adjacent plains.

The iron markets in North Pare are described by Fosbrooke (1954), who timed them as "Early Iron Age" activities.

We did not stay right in Arusha, but at Lake Duluti, a few miles from the town. This lake, about a mile across, is a little gem of landscape cradled in an extinct volcano. On the rim of the crater are two houses, one belonging to our friends, the Fosbrookes, with whom we stayed, while on the opposite side was the residence of Mrs. Gladys Rydon, a large plantation owner whose hospitality attracted guests from all over the world. On our last afternoon we visited Mrs. Rydon's magnificent place. Her house extended lengthwise and led, at either end, to an elaborate series of lovely terraced gardens which I never tired of exploring. ...

[Fosbrooke, Henry] five year absence from Tanzania

[Fosbrooke, Henry] in Lusaka as Director of the Rhodes-Livingstone Institute.

Until mid 1959, access to the crater floor had been by the circuitous route along the eastern rim which I had pioneered in 1940. ... Traffic was controlled on a 'one-hour-down-and-one-hour-up' basis.

This problem was solved by utilising and improving the prehistoric tracks leading down from Malanja to the Semoto corner of the Crater. This was completed in a remarkably short time, for very little money, thanks to the efforts of the Assistant Conservator (Works), the late Gert Fourie, the Headman Isa Lonyoki and his labour gang. This was still a one way track, with gradients of up to 1 in 4, but we avoided waiting and permitted a constant flow of vehicles into and out of the Crater by making one road the descent road, and the other the exit.

I think the following should be mentioned: Roland Arnold Young and Henry Fosbrooke,

'Smoke in the Hills: political tension in the Morogoro District of Tanganyika' (Evanston: Northwestern U. Press, 1960)

This is a singularly inept title. The book is in fact about violent and other resistance to terracing and other conservation measures in Morogoro. I remember the introductory chapter talking about conservation measures in eastern Africa in general.

Permission was also sought from Henry Fosbrooke, chairman of the Ngorongoro Conservation Authority, to camp in his area. (The wild life may not know it, but they are the responsibility of a complex assortment of independent organizations.)

[Fosbrooke, Henry] For the next three years I was resident at Ngorongoro

Mr Fosbrooke showed me ... a rock from whose flat surface had been scooped a double line of shallow depressions, made for the game played all over Africa, played for many centuries and known by many different names. The Swahili word is bao, which simply means board, in which the shallow holes are often made: though they can be just as well marked in the dust under a shady tree. Into these depressions you drop beans or pebbles to a fixed number, and your object is to capture your opponent's counters. The rules are far too complicated for me, at any rate, to grasp. Men will spend hour after hour at bao, like chess players, and indeed it is a kind of African chess.

These depressions in the rock must have been made long before the coming of the Maasai who, according to the latest reckoning, did not enter the crater until about 1850. The earliest inhabitants, peoples called Iraqw and Tatog, have disappeared.

I am writing this book about Ngorongoro at my house at Duluti in Northern Tanzania. Volconoes are basic to our theme, and here, 200 feet below the narrow rim on which the house is perched, lies a small volcanic crater, half a mile across, and now full of water. This is Lake Duluti, a subsidiary vent to the massive extinct volcano Mount Meru, the peak of which towers nearly 11,00 feet above us (14,978 feet above sea level) and only ten miles distant. The fertile, well watered slopes are inhabited by the Meru people, allied to the Chagga of Kilimanjaro, and by the Arusha, an agricultural offshoot of the Masai.

Tuesday

Taken out by Chris and Eva [Stott] to the Fosbrookes at Lake Duluti. It was delightful to be up there again with its marvellous views of the crater. [it was Henry Fosbrooke's 70th birthday].

We wish to thank in particular the Conservators of NCA with whom we have worked over the years: Mr H Fosbrooke, Mr A Mgina, Mr. S.ole Saibull, and Mr J Kayera.

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early on our interest in and knowledge about Ngorongoro was greatly enhanced by . . . . George and Lory Frame,

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J.ole Kwai and Tepilit ole Saitoti have helped us in our research and also to understand the Maasai people of the area.

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Felician Baraza and Sebastian Chuwa, knowledgeable in general and experts on plant life in particular have been extraordinarily tolerant of our questions over the many years that it has taken to answer them!

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The first publication of this book (NCA guide) was facilitated by our ever-helpful friends Walter Bgoya, Per and Margaret Kullander, Aadje Geertsema, Deberah Snelson, and Neil and Liz Baker

"I visited Henry Fosbrooke again in October 1990. When I told him that I suspected the crater lions had been through previous periods of genetic decline, he led me into his large library and said, 'You should read these.' They were accounts of big-game expeditions that went into the crater in the early twenties. During two weeks in 1922 one hunting party bagged seven adult lions and badly wounded another three. The last expedition was in 1924, when five more lions were killed. Considering that there are never more than about 30 adult lions in the crater and that most of the wounded animals probably died as well, the breeding population must have been severely reduced. Our genetic assays more than 60 years later may well have revealed the results of this onslaught.

The Serengeti and Ngorongoro were declared wildlife sanctuaries in the late twenties to protect the lions from further hunting. Ngorongoro Crater became a world heritage in 1979 in recognition of its special significance as a microcosm of African savanna. The popular appeal of charismatic carnivores such as lions has often led to the conservation of habitat that sustains a host of other species. But living at the top of the food chain inevitably means that predators often end up in small, threatened populations.

The history of the crator lions may represent the future for many other large vertebrates. Increased human habitation around Africa's national parks has formed virtually impermeable boundaries, and recently many species have become isolated in small populations, making them even more vulnerable to environmental catastrophe. Add to this the effects of close inbreeding, and many small populations may well be caught in a downward spiral.

A trio of males patrol their crater territory. Ironically, they are strong enough to deter what their population most needs -- the entry of outside lions with new genes 'Perpetuating these populations will require more than just protecting them from hunters and poachers. The crater lions are conspicuous and have therefore proved surprisingly easy to monitor. The fates of most other small populations will run their course undetected.'

Craig Packer

About three million years ago, there was another, towering land feature, said to have been much taller than Mount Kilimanjaro, which currently, is Africa's highest peak.

This "Taller than Kilimanjaro" mountain later collapsed in great earth shaking movements to form a vast bowl (caldera) to form a crater that is now known as Ngorongoro Crater.

After being forged through the tumultuous birth of Rift Valley, today the once highest feature in Africa has now been transformed into the amazing great Ngorongoro Crater, 610 metres deep and 260 kilometres squared.

Engraved within the vast Ngorongoro National Reserve, which runs between the Rift Valley rim and Serengeti plains, the crater is the largest unbroken caldera in the world.

It is also the biggest landmark cum trade mark, for the 8,300 square kilometres of Ngorongoro conservation Authority, a home of millions species of wild animals, various land features and forests.

Chief Conservator, Emmanuel Chausi reveals that the park was officially started in 1959 to be a tourist destination, natural resources conservation area and grazing space for over 42,000 Maasai pastoralists.

This also where human life allegedly began, at the Oldupai Gorge believed to have been a home of the first human being about 1.75 million years ago.

Henry Fosbrooke was the first founder of the Ngorongoro Conservation Authority (NCA) and being a devoted environmentalist, he became the chief conservator in between 1961 and 1965 before being appointed to be the presidential advisor in the land commission.

Fosbrooke died in April 25th, 1996 aged 87 years old. Solomon Saibul who used to be a Member of Parliament in the Arusha town constituency, became the second NCA conservator in 1980.

Coincidentally, Saibul who held the post for two years, died in October 1997, a year after the death of Fosbrooke.

Anthony Mgina, who was the third conservator previously worked as the authority administration officer in between 1964 and 1980. Mgina also died in August 1997 aged 67 years old.

Professor Bernard Grzimek, conducted the first survey in the park. The German born professor is the one who came up with the idea of terming the area as the 8th Wonder of the world.

His son, Michael Grzimek died in a plane crash in Serengeti alongside his favorite monkey. Michael and his father, wrote the all time classic "Serengeti Shall Not Die."

Ngorongoro boasts 1.5 million wildebeests, about 50,000 gazelles, 260,000 zebras, over 100 lions, 400 hyenas and a vast number of large mammals such as elephants, buffaloes, hippopotamus and rhinoceros.

The crater is reported to currently have about 100 lions after the animal's mass deaths in 1962 caused by the massive attacks of bitting flies known as Stomoxys Calcitrans. There was a repeated epidemic in the aftermath of El-Nino weather spell of 1997/1998.

Rhinoceros are apparent the fewest animals in Ngorongoro since their reproduction, according to an officer with NCA, takes rather long time.

Also, in between1970 and 1980, poachers wrecked havoc in the park by killing hundreds of rhinos, taking their tusks for sale in Asian markets.

As from 1998 to 2001, Ngorongoro National Park handled about 235,808 foreign visitors from United States of America, Spain, France, Germany and Scandinavian countries.

Local visitors, among them school pupils and students amounted to 196,368 in the four year period.

As from July this year, park fees will rise from US$ 25 charged now to US$ 30 per each foreign visitor to the park, with an additional US$ 15 to enter the crater.

However, the Tsh.1,500 fee to visit the park and Tsh.500 for the Crater, as charged to local tourists will remain constant probably due to the fact that, local people have been showing very little interest in visit the area.

Overall, NCA earns between Tsh.3 and 4 billion each year from the tourists visiting the park. The money is usually invested in repairing park facilities and roads plus providing salaries to NCA staff.

The park authority have also formed a non governmental organization known as Ereto, which deals in supporting the local communities within the conservation area by providing them with food and other social amenities, free of charge.

Ereto, also provide veterinary assistance to the Maasai pastoralists in the area most of whom are said to be so poor that they usually can not afford them on their own.

Ngorongoro National Park was declared the world's natural heritage area in 1978.

Mr Harry Fosbrooke and the Library of the University of Dar es Salaam, main compus, (Hereinafter referred to as the University Library) agreed to the following clauses of agreement with regard to the deposit of the Henry Fosbrooke collection Maasai and other topics:

* Mr Henry Fosbrooke agreed to bequeth to the University Library, the original of all books, papers and photographs in his collection as represented by the catalogue cards prepared by the University Library. Such material were collected and deposited with the University Library when Mr. Henry Fosbrooke was deceased

* The University Library undertook to keep this material intact as the Henry Fosbrooke collection and to publicise it by publishing a catalogue of the collection.

* In addition Mr. Fosbrooke also agreed to send to the Library one photocopy of all materials that were photocopied for the Centre for African Studies, Cambridge University, the cost of which reproduction had already been funded by DANIDA

The University Library continued to provide expertise to catalogue and arrange the materials on the premises of Mr. Henry Fosbrooke where the originals remained until Mr. Henry Fosbrooke was deceased.

Mr Henry Fosbrooke had had a long career of public service in Tanzania and elsewhere in central and Southern Africa. Following a degree in Economics and Anthropology ( first class honours) and one year's colonial service course at the Cambridge, he started in Tanzania in 1931 as a District Officer (Cadet). He served in the Administration for 18 years , followed by 7 years as Government Sociologist.

Moving to Central Africa, he served as Director of the Institute of Social Research in Lusaka, as Rural Sociologist in the FAO development project in Botswana and as Co Manager of the UK sponsored Kafue Basin Survey in Zambia. Back in Tanzania he was Conservator of the Ngorongoro Conservation Unit for 3 years and a UNEP Consultant with the Tanzania Capital Authority in Dodoma. He has undertaken other consultancies and served for 8 years on the Board of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority and 3 years as a member of the National Land Use Planning commission. In the course of his career as Conservator, he has generated a lot of his research material and collected a number of environmental , conservation papers, books and other publications