Babati villages envisage gains from ecotourism

Thomas Ratsim

The introduction of Wildlife Policy of Tanzania, 1998 and the enactment Village Land Act of 1999, both enhance the initiative of local communities to directly benefit from the available natural resource base in their jurisdiction.

Tourists visits to villages provides income to the villagers.(Photo by Thomas Ratsim)

The newly African Wildlife Foundation (AWF) supported pilot project known as Burunge Wildlife Management Area (WMA) in the Babati District, comprising of Minjingu, Vilima Vitatu, Mwada, Sangaiwe and Magara Villages is an implementation of the Wildlife Policy of Tanzania. The area which lies between the Lake Manyara and Tarangire National Parks, with about 7,000 households, is of paramount importance for both parks since it is a corridor and a route for animal dispersal between the two national parks.

It is universally accepted that the conservation of natural resources including wildlife, demands the participation and support of rural communities. However, in the past, they did not enjoy any legal benefits from wildlife in their areas. Game was also not regarded as a resource. There was thus no motivation to protect the areas and the animals were regarded as adversaries to the society. An early effort to introduce Community Based Natural Resources Wildlife Management in the corridor linking the two parks has been felt essential so as to contribute to safeguarding biodiversity in the WMA.

According to the Guidelines for the Designation and Management of WMAs, the Community Based Organization (CBO) has the mandate to manage wildlife resources on the village.

Experience has shown that those countries that have involved local communities as stakeholders in decision making for their respective areas, have achieved much in the implementation of ecotourism as well as conserving environment and generating revenues for sustainable projects.

The Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism, Honourable Zakia Hamdan Meghji pointed out during the launching ceremony of Wildlife Management Areas Regulations held at the Golden Tulip in Dar es Salaam in early 2003 that , "The crux of the matter therefore, is that my Ministry has decided to create a situation, which is responsive to the needs of local communities. In so doing , the policy intends to ensure that wildlife is appropriately valued and contributes to the improvement of livelihoods in

the villages, and in the process help in reducing and ultimately eliminate poaching."

Despite the Burunge WMA's potentiality to investors for hunting, photographic safari operators, wildlife ranchers and other ancillary services, according to the Vilima Vitatu Village Executive Officer, Mr.

Godfrey Sailale, theBurunge WMA is also suitable for cultural tourism trekking. He says a visit to the village would provide insight knowledge to the culture of Tanzania as there are various ethnic groups. Due to its vast plains, the area has long been an agro-pastoral area, where many different people have settled notably the Mbugwe, Maasai, Datoga and Iraqw. Thus, the area is in fact linguistically and culturally diverse and complex as the three major African language families - Bantu, Nilotic, and Cushitic

occur together.

Nevertheless, the area is well defined by the pyramid shaped inselbergs (island hills). Hiking the hills gives a panoramic view of the Lake Manyara and Tarangire National Parks. As such the visit to the area can be combined with the tours to the Parks.

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