Tanzania: Ngorongoro - Conservation Area Is for Wildlife Not Farming

 


Ngorongoro — TANZANIA has eight out of more than 980 coveted 'World Heritage Sites' dotting the globe; these are officially endorsed by the United Nations, Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).
While there are efforts to add the Udzungwa Mountains National Park of Iringa to the list, so far the official World Heritage Sites mapped in the country include the Zanzibar Stone Town, ruins of Kilwa Kisiwani, ruins of Songo Mnara, Kondoa Old Rock paintings, Mount Kilimanjaro, Selous Game Reserve, Serengeti National Park and the Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority ( NCAA).
The NCA which is an autonomous authority, is home to the legendary crater, abundant wildlife species and due to its outstanding position as multiple use vicinity, native Maasai people, who are nomadic livestock grazers are allowed to live alongside the beasts.

The Maasai were allowed to co-exist with wildlife in the Ngorongoro because they don't eat any other meat other than that slaughtered from their menagerie, which means wild animals (the fauna) are safe with them. The other thing is, since their main survival activity is just keeping cattle, animals that only eat low-cut grass, even the flora (natural growth) will be preserved in their presence.
When the NCAA was being established in 1959 it had a population of just 10,000 Maasai residents and 50 years later in 2009 the number had risen to over 66,000 and during this year's specialised census in the division, the figure has clocked at 87,000.
Available statistics indicate that the 8,292 square kilometres NCAA in addition to nearly 90,000 human beings, also supports more than 130,000 livestock, mostly cattle with some 20,000 goats and sheep thrown in. Deputy Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism, Mr Lazaro Nyalandu had warned that the carrying capacity of the conservation area is about to tip its scale when it comes to ecological stability.
Five years ago, in 2009 UNESCO raised a 'red flag' against Ngorongoro Conservation Area, threatening to remove it from the list of the World Heritage sites, due to what was described as 'ecological deterioration' in the territory.

Increased human activities in Ngorongoro were cited as the factors threatening the world heritage site, because at that time people within the NCAA were practising serious cultivation; maize and beans farms dotted the landscape defeating the whole purpose of conservation.