TOURISTS are flocking at the Pugu forest reserve in Kisarawe District, Coast Region after wild animals that had disappeared at the forest started to come back thanks to efforts pioneered by Tanzania Forest Services and other stakeholders to conserve the environment.
Tanzania Forest Services (TFS) Eastern
Zone Acting Manager Ms Caroline Malundo said in an interview that wild
animals such as antelopes and colobus monkeys were returning to the
forest making it more attractive to tourists.
“Destructive activities like lighting
fire along forest boundaries by farmers had caused a big damage to the
forest in back years, but these acts have been reduced into large extent
and the forest is now appearing in a good state”, she said.
Apart from contributing to nation’s
income through tourism, the forest plays a very important role of
regulating weather for Coast and Dar as Salaam regions. “Pugu Forest
Reserve acts as “lungs” to two regions and particularly Dar es Salaam
region.
It absorbs carbon dioxide and releases
oxygen and thus purifies the air and minimizes the temperature”. Ms
Malundo cautioned that with increasing changes in weather caused by
climate change, forests like Pugu need to be protected so as to mitigate
the problem.
Kisarawe District Acting Forest Manager
Ms Nanzia Charles said that there are a number of attractions inside the
forest which attract about 1,000 tourists both foreigners and locals
each year. According to her, the number of foreign tourists is bigger
than that of the locals.
There are 80 types of birds, 14 types of
animals, and peculiar types of trees like Mnaki and Mpugupugu. The
forest also offers a good viewing point to Dar es Salaam City. The
forest has two camp sites and good nature trails.
“There is peculiar type of small bats
living in the two caves which are estimated to reach two millions in
number. They have unusual habit of getting out of their caves at 6 in
the morning and leaving their caves in a really amazing way return in
the evening,” she said.
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