TANAPA

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) pledged two million US dollars to support Tanzania's wildlife protection and anti-poaching efforts, according to a local newspaper. The commitment was announced in Arusha, northern Tanzania on Sunday by acting assistant administrator of USAID Bureau for Africa, Carol Peaseley.

She said the aid would create partnership among wildlife division in the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism, Tanzania National Parks (TANAPA) administration, Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority, the U.S government, local and international NGOs to improve the protection and sustain flora and fauna resources.

'Areas of assistance and collaboration include anti-poaching, support for the Convention and International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), Community Education and Outreach and Conservation Policy,' she said. Peaseley was invited to visit Tarangire National Park by minister for natural resources and tourism, Juma Ngasongwe.

Meanwhile, after a game drive, Peaseley formally handed over to the minister a Cessna 182 aircraft with registration number 5H-AWF for the wildlife division in accordance with an agreement. The aircraft will be used for wildlife research, monitoring and anti-poaching activities, she told the minister. The three-seater plane has been used for USAID-funded project for Planning and Wildlife Management (PAWM).

The Tanzanian minister commended the US commitment in assisting Tanzania in the conservation and management of wildlife resources. He said the wildlife sector has enjoyed links with the US government for a long time which include wildlife management training in US institutions.

A wildlife conservation information centre will be set up in Arusha for use by tourists, wildlife researchers and the public.

The centre, being established by the Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority, is expected to be opened before the end of the year.

Nearly 20 per cent of the Tanzania's 880,000 sq km surface area is under some form of conservation.

The conservator of the Ngorongoro area, Mr. Emmanuel Chausi, said the Arusha centre would be stocked with brochures, books, magazines, maps as well as video-cassettes and photographs depicting aspects of wildlife conservation. It will also advise visitors on wildlife safaris within the East African region.

The Ngorongoro authority, which administers the 8,300 sq km Ngorongoro Conservation Area in Arusha region, has so far spent Tsh40 million ($50,000) renovating a building in downtown Arusha which will house the centre. However, the conservator said the cost of the setting up of the centre would be much higher.

Mr. Chausi said the move had been prompted by the sharp increase in tourists visiting Tanzania's northern wildlife parks and conservation areas that include the world renowned Ngorongoro Crater recently listed as a World Heritage Site.

"There have been many inquiries about Ngorongoro and other game attractions like the Serengeti park by tourists. This facility will provide tourists with prior information before visiting the sites," Mr. Chausi said.

With its finest blend of landscapes, wildlife, the pastoral Maasai and archaeological sites, Ngorongoro is one of the leading tourist's attractions in Tanzania where tourism has seen fastest growth in recent years.

The main attraction is the 250 sq-km Ngorongoro Crator spanning a 23-km radius located some 160 km west of Arusha - that constitutes a mountain formation Geographers describe as a huge caldera or collapsed volcano.

At the depth of 600 metres from rim to bottom, the crater is a spectacular scenery with an abundance of wildlife that combine to make it a wonder of the natural world. Adjacent to it is the Olduvai Gorge the site where the famous skull of the nutcracker man (Australopithecus boisei) was excavated in 1959 as well as the 3.6 million-year-old Laetoli footprints.

Wildlife experts say the crater alone has over 20,000 large animals including some of Tanzania's last remaining black rhino. Other large grazing animals include wildebeest, zebra, giraffes, buffalo and gazelles, and it is also home to lions

Figures released by the Tanzania Division in the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism indicated that some 175,476 tourists visited NCA in 1998/99 earning the Authority some US$ 5.7 million (Tshs 3.9 billion).

That was an increase of 35.7 per cent in tourist flow compared to 155,289 tourists recorded in 1997/98 generating some $4.2 million (Tshs 2.9 billion). It is estimated that the Authority will collect some $6.85 million (Tshs 4.8 billion) during the 1999/2000 season.

The main competitor to NCA in tourist attraction in Tanzania is the 12 game parks of the Tanzania National Parks (TANAPA), that dot the country. During 1998/99 TANAPA attracted 269,902 tourists in its parks earning it $13.1 million (Tshs 9.1 billion).

Wildlife authorities have launched a massive crackdown on poachers in Tanzania's national parks, amid reports that the country had lost 35 percent of its wildlife population in the past five years.

A total of 4,333 arrests have been made in the sprawling Serengeti National Park, in Mara region, northern Tanzania, in the last four years alone.

Authorities also recovered a total of 24 guns, 100 hunting dogs, 32 axes and 673 machetes during the same period in the world-famous Serengeti.

The crackdown comes at a time when speculators say that the country's wildlife had plummeted tremendously.

A recent report in the British newspaper, The Guardian, said that animal population in Tanzania had dropped to an 'unsustainable' point.

Independent sources say that the population of rhinos in the south-eastern Seolous Game park alone had declined from 2,000 in 1970 to less than 150 three years ago.

Government officials, however, say that the number of elephants there had risen from 30,000 to 57,000 within 10 years. As a measure to curb the Poaching menace, park wardens are currently being retrained in skills that would help them fight off sophisticated poacher weaponry, the Tanzania National Parks Authority, said.

The authority's director-general, Gerald Bigurube, said that the body was also enlisting the support of villagers to betray the poachers before they struck. In the Selous Game Reserve, 45 villages are now engaged in the protection of the wild animals on their land.

Village scouts are assisting the Selous game authorities to combat Poaching in return for an income which the villages deploy in development projects.

Similar efforts are being employed by the Kilimanjaro National Park Authority where Poaching, especially of bushbuck and buffalo, is very rampant.

Confirming that Poaching is rampant in the region, the authority's chief park warden, L. ole Moirana, said game trophies found their way to markets abroad while game meat was often supplied to local butchers.

Unconfirmed reports suggest that game wardens often work in difficult and at times dangerous situations without necessary logistics like weapons and radio equipment.

Compared to the 1980s, authorities are, however, elated that elephant Poaching has at least been brought to a bare minimum.

The incidents had been so rampant in the Selous that a special campaign code- named 'Operation Uhai' (operation life) was launched to avert the slaughter of further beasts.

As the largest protected area in the world and home to over half of Tanzania's elephants, the Selous is a big attraction to tourists.