Ngurdoto Crater National Park was established in 1960, and it became a predecessor to the present Arusha National Park. After several expansions, Arusha National Park encompasses 552 km2 from 2006.
The Kilimanjaro National Park was inaugurated in 1973, with an area of 753 km2, and it was expanded to 1831 km2 in 2005 by the inclusion of the Kilimanjaro Forest Reserve.
Wildlife management areas (WMAs) are portions of village land set aside for conservation, one of the intentions is to generate revenues from tourism but so far, few tourism companies have engaged in the area, and local revenues are small. This WMA was planned as a means to decrease meat poaching and it was seen to be strategically located on the wildlife migratory route between Kenya and Tanzania.
During the 1990s, a wave of privatization impacted on the country, including West Kilimanjaro. A number of large properties have been acquired by investors who have turned them into private conservation and tourism estates. A private investor in wildlife tourism has leased three estates since 1994, combining them into one property called the Endarakwai Ranch. There is a tourist lodge on the property and the rest of the 44 km2 area is used for wildlife safaris. The West Kilimanjaro Ranch covers an area of 303 km2. It was operated by the National Ranching Company (NARCO) for livestock production until 2007, when Africa Wildlife Foundation (AWF) entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with the company to establish integrated livestock wildlife development on the ranch. The AWF was, however, unable to lease the ranch in 2011, because of a disagreement with the government. The ranch is currently on the list of NARCO ranches to be privatized. Furthermore, a wildlife corridor has been established in the area and AWF, through its Kilimanjaro Elephant Research and Conservation Project has proposed four more corridors. The wildlife corridor Kitendeni was established in 2001 to connect elephant migrations between the Kilimanjaro and Amboseli National Parks and the proposed Lemomo Concession Area on the Kenyan side of the border. Actors who supported the establishment of the corridor include TANAPA, the Wildlife Division, Monduli District Council, and AWF. The proposal of new wildlife corridors was argued on the basis of elephant migratory routes and dispersal areas revealed in studies where elephants were collared and tracked. Some of the areas identified as elephant routes overlap with local settlements. There have been widespread rumours in Engare Nairobi that the government intends to dislocate people to establish a wildlife corridor. In focus group interviews, people voiced fears of being evicted referring to a study carried out by AWF through the Kilimanjaro Elephant Research and Conservation Project to assess the costs of relocating villagers.
Other most recent projects have been developed in the region with the aim to enhance the sustainable water resources management for wildlife and the local communities (“Assessing the Impact of Changes in Surface Water on the Distribution and Space Use of Medium and Large Mammals in the West Kilimanjaro Ecosystem”) and enhance community participation in sustainable conservation of the transfrontier ecosystem (“Greater Kilimanjaro initiatives to and wildlife”, “Resilient Villages ECOBOMA”, the “Investing in Maasai Women”).
Tanzania
Land tenure and management : Private conservation and tourism estates
Corridor action area : Siha district, Western Kilimanjaro’s park area (Siha Magharibi Division) - Engare Nairobi, MAtadi and Namwai. Kilimanjaro Region is one of Tanzania’s 31 administrative regions, located on the North Eastern part of mainland Tanzania. The region is bordered to the North and East by Kenya.
Surface : 19’102 ha
Benefits for local communities and governance of local action : :
No activity intended to create potential development opportunities and benefits for local communities have been reported in the Tawiri report (2022).
Nevertheless, an investment guide book for the Kilimanjaro region, developed in 2017, mentions : [There are many] reasons for investing in Kilimanjaro region: a growing economy with rising middle class; fertile soils, and favourable climatic conditions and closeness to the equator at high altitudes, all of which are conducive for a variety of tropical and temperate crops and dairy farming; there are improvements in the quantity and quality of both hard and soft infrastructure; labour force is not only quite young and educated, but cheap; the region has cargo connections to the EU and Middle East and; adequate health facilities, both in terms of their distribution and quality, with a referral hospital of international standards. is well connected by a network of roads which link the rural population clusters and also provides easy communication with the surrounding areas. The road density of Kilimanjaro Region is fairly developed compared with that of other parts of the country.”
When conservation areas were established, the available land and natural resources for small-scale farmers and pastoralists became increasingly restricted. In the Kilombero Valley, villagers observed and interpreted the changes in their area. Studies revealed that during interviews made to the latters, and after organizing focus groups and participant observation, many people were found to be frustrated and angry about the situation, saying that investors and conservationists had been expanding wildlife protected areas in order to enable wildlife to flourish and attract tourists, and forgot the riverian inhabitants of these territories. Some interview, in 2009, found that a villager said “they want wildlife to dominate at the expense of people”. Villagers fear that land acquisitions for a wildlife corridor through Engare Nairobi would force them away from their present settlements and livelihoods.
Description of human/animal cohabitation issues on the corridor :
Period of time : https://ruffordorg.s3.amazonaws.com/media/project_reports/29665-2%20Final%20Evaluation%20Report.pdf
Funding bodies : Japan International Cooperation Agency (1977..)
Lead actors : Oikos, African Wildlife Foundation
Other actors : National Ranching Company
Type of financing (carbon credit, public/private grant, philanthropy...) : WMA revenues from different types of fees are meant to be distributed according to the Wildlife Regulations 2008 and 2012. A share of tourism revenues goes to the central and district government. The rest is returned to the Wildlife Management Area, which can keep half and distribute the rest among the member villages . Most is spent on office and conservation expenditures, the rest is distributed to the member villages. However, according to some studies, “the introduction of WMAs and the centralization of the collection of fees from safari companies have put off some companies resulting in reduced tourism activities in some areas.”
Main obstacles to action and threats (short-, medium- and long-term) :
:
There has been a lack of compensation for damages, as well as a lack of influence on decision-making for the villagers, according to the latters.
In 2009, studies (that would require deeper investigation and confirmation) found that the plan by some conservationists to establish a wildlife corridor through Engare Nairobi has been postponed. Furthermore, African Wildlife Foundation has not been able to continue leasing the West Kilimanjaro Ranch as a wildlife sanctuary.
Finally, the implementation of the “Arusha-Holili Road Improvement Project” could be a threat to the wildlife corridor if mitigation measures don’t take into consideration wildlife’s migration routes. According to the Study for Implementation of the project, “The main fauna of the area for which the project road passes consist of domestic animals such as livestock, dogs, chicken, water loving birds, and several fish species. Other aquatic creatures include toads, and monitor lizards. Non zero grazing livestock keeping is commonly practiced by the Maasai in the Kilimamoto – Rwetabura, Kisongo – Kiseriani, and Katiti – Kwasadala road sections. The project road alignment does not traverse any protected ecosystem. According to discussions held at TAWIRI, IUCN and WWF in 2015, there used to be major trans-regional migration corridor for wildlife, encompassing Tanzania and Kenya along north-south direction (i.e., cross the current Arusha-Holili Road) before the implementation of large-scale development projects such as the mining of Tanzanite, Kilimanjaro International Airport and other road projects. After the completion of those development projects, those regional migrations of wildlife tend to switch along the west-east direction, almost parallel to the current Arusha-Holili road alignment.” Also, the Study found that a road is an important wildlife corridor, particularly for dispersal and migration of the birds, amphibians, reptiles and primates but no large animals cross the Arusha-Holili project (accidents involve mainly domestic dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) frogs (amphibians), birds (Aves) and snakes (reptiles). Therefore, it foresees that “adequate protection measures are to be taken to prevent impacts, such as disruption of migration routes, habitat fragmentation, and traffic accident of wildlife and livestock within EMP development”
Bibliographical references for the action (documents, links, studies, articles) :
Kikoti, Alfred & Griffin, Curtice & Pamphil, Lee. (2011). Elephant use and conflict leads to Tanzania’s first wildlife conservation corridor. Pachyderm.
Mariki, S. (2016) Social Impacts of Protected Areas on Gender in West Kilimanjaro, Tanzania. Open Journal of Social Sciences, 4, 220-235. doi: 10.4236/jss.2016.43028.
Jones, T., T. Caro and, T.R.B. Davenport (Eds.). 2009. Wildlife Corridors in Tanzania. Unpublished report. Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute (TAWIRI), Arusha. 60pp.
Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute (TAWIRI). 2016. National Action Plan for the Conservation of Cheetahs and African Wild Dogs in Tanzania, Arusha, Tanzania. 48 pp.
Kilimanjaro region Integrated development plan, main report, vol.3, Japan International Cooperation Agency, October 1977
Monela, G.C. (1989) A Socio-Economic Analysis of Forest Plantation: A Case of Meru Forest Project, Arusha, Tanzania. MSc Thesis, Sokoine University of Agriculture, Morogoro.
The United Republic of Tanzania, the President’s office regional administration and local government Kilimanjaro Region, Kilimanjaro region Investment Guide, supported by United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Economic and Social Research Foundation (ESRF), 2017
Contact details : Sayuni B. Mariki Department of Wildlife Management, Sokoine University of Agriculture, Morogoro, Tanzania, zion2000tz@yahoo.com ; zion@suanet.ac.tz