Ngorongoro crater. PHOTO | FILE
Ngorongoro. Dressed in Maasai attire, Baraka Daniel and a colleague carry a sack full of wild vegetables that they collected from the bush.
The duo, who are among thousands of residents in the Ngorongoro conservation area, look for customers for extra income to support family whose main economic activity is livestock keeping.
“Our family owns 10 heads of cattle. We earn an extra income from selling these vegetables that we collect from the bush,” reveals Standard Five pupil, Baraka, 14.
Given the fact that no farming is allowed in the conserved area, life is not that easy, plus residents lack access to clean water, electricity and health services, while schools are limited.
The residents consume the same water that wild and domestic animals use, meaning there are risks to human health.
Security of the residents is also another concern, with the latest incident of elephants killing a resident reported on Thursday.
Last year, lions were also reported to have attacked and killed three children who were looking for a lost cow in the area.
Apart from all these challenges, the government says the human population and that of livestock have been rising sharply, while the increased human activities and settlement pose a threat to wildlife.
The government is now weighing options in this dielemma--saving the Ngorongoro, which is on the list of Unesco’s World Heritage Sites or evict the people.
One of the options for now is asking residents to voluntarily relocate to other areas in the country.
Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa said on Thursday that the government has allocated 400 square kilometres in Handeni District, Tanga Region where the volunteers would relocated to.
“We are relocating you to areas where you will have access to schools, hospitals and electricity,” he said.
He said the pastoralists would be provided with title deeds over their new residential land, farming land as well as pasture land.
The Premier, who met some 350 tribal leaders from the Maasai communities, also received a list of 453 residents who have volunteered to leave the Ngorongoro.
The government allowed the Maasai to live in the protected area together with wildlife, but it recently raised alarm over increasing population, settlements, livestock and human activities that threaten the sustainability of the world-renowned area.
Why concerns
Last year, President Samia Suluhu Hassan revived debate about the Ngorongoro when she asked officials to seriously look into the matter.
“Ngorongoro is getting lost. We agreed to make it unique by allowing people and wildlife to co-exist, but the human population is now getting out of hand,” she said.
According to her, the number of people has shot from about 8,000 in 1959 to over 110,000 in 2021, while that of livestock rose from 261,889 to over a million during the same period.
“I don’t know whether we relocate people or not, but the most important thing is to ensure people do not continue migrating to the Ngorongoro.”
“Otherwise, we have to agree as a nation whether to rescue or say goodbye to Ngorongoro from the list of the world heritage sites,” said President Hassan when swearing in officials in April 2021.
However, the debate has raged over the matter, with residents expressing divided views over whether to leave Ngorongoro or not, as activists oppose relocation.
“We are aware of the relocation, our parents told us about it,” said Baraka, who did not want to talk much.
Others say they are just waiting for the government to make clear its plans and make them part of the process.
“I’m not sure with other people, but personally I will listen to what the government says,” said Mr Lengarbwell Kooti.
“It’s not clear where we are going to be relocated to. I cannot say I will accept to leave or not at this moment. Although, I hear that there are better places away from Ngorongoro,” said Mr Lazaro Lesere of Misigiyo Village.
“I think I can go, but I want to be sure of where to live with my cattle,” he added.
Others say they cannot leave from the land on which their parents and grandparents lived for decades.
“My father and mother were born here and we are the ones who have been taking care of the wild animals. I’m not ready to leave,” said another resident who introduced herself as Mary Solomon.
The online petition of the global activist organisation, Avaaz, has garnered more than three million signatures against Maasai eviction from the Ngorongoro.
“Ngorongoro is 75 percent protected area and 25 percent is for human activities. Without a sense of humanity the remaining 25 percent is scrambled for partition. Big firms are indirectly pushing us away from our ancestral land under the guise of conservation,” Onesmo Ole-Ngurumwa, human rights activist who originates from Maasai community tweeted.
“The Maasai have been the biggest victims of forced evictions for conservations in Tanzania, for which they’ve never been lawfully and properly compensated. It’s long past time that these wrongs were righted, rather than to repeat old injustices. I stand with the Ngorongoro Maasai!” posted Chadema deputy chairman Tundu Lissu.
Tensions and mistrust
Life is covered with so much tensions in Ngorongoro that some locals cannot easily talk to the media. Others run away when they see cameras.
“Are you taking pictures?” asked one resident, riding a herd of cattle, turns back and tells the accompanying children to leave from the area and go home immediately.
Some claim that the mistrust between the residents and government officials has been so huge that some Maasai cannot accept food from the officials, for fear of being poisoned.
The government concerns have been around the increasing number of people, livestock, permanent structures and even human activities which affect the wildlife. The officials say absence of alternative economic activities other than livestock keeping, has also stirred some cases of poaching to earn a living.
“If we allow this trend of human activities to continue increasing, we will disturb the wildebeest migration and destroy the status of the Ngorongoro,” said an official who asked not to be named.
“These cows with bell in their neck are keeping wild animals away and that is why we are concerned,” he said.
Premier Majaliwa is leading the government dialogue with the pastoralists as the government promised to start facilitating relocation of the Maasai.
Maasai traditional leader Isack Ole Kisongo was quoted as saying some were ready to cooperate with the government to ensure the available resources benefits the entire country.
“The relocation of Maasai from Ngorongoro is not different from other places where people were relocated for development activities such as mining, railway construction or the East African Crude Oil Pipeline,” he said.
“I’m waiting to go to Handeni. I have already seen place and it is nice for us,” said another tribal leader Matengway Ole Tauwo.
Some tour operators say the relocation of Maasai was a better option to allow effective conservation and generate income from tourism.
“The increasing livestock and people introduce some invasive species to the Ngorongoro and disturb the ecology, said Englebert Aloyce, a tour operator.
“Moving out is the best option,” said Mr Aloyce, a conservationist.
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