Tanzanian Maasai divided over expulsion from Ngorongoro reserve

For more than a century, Tanzania's Masai shepherds have lived with zebras, elephants and wildebeest in the Ngorongoro. But in the face of the growth of the population and their herds, the government plans to expel them from this nature reserve.

The number of people living in this UNESCO World Heritage Site has increased from 8,000 in 1959 to more than 100,000. Cattle have grown the fastest, from 260,000 heads in 2017 to more than one million now.

Tanzania allows indigenous communities, such as the Maasai, to live in certain national parks. But in recent times, relations between herders and wildlife are increasingly conflicting and sometimes animals come to attack humans or their livestock.

President Samia Suluhu Hassan sounded the alarm cry last year. “Ngorongoro is missing,” he said.

“We had agreed to make it unique by allowing humans and animals to live together, but the human population is now out of control,” he said, asking to study ways to curb the flow of population.

Since then, there has been a growing debate about the eventual expulsion of the Masai from this park, known for its immense volcanic crater.

Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa proposed a voluntary relocation program in Handeni district, 370 kilometers from the crater, where the government has allocated 162,000 hectares for livestock farmers.

“We take them to areas where they will have access to schools, hospitals and electricity,” as well as pastures and land to be cultivated, he said.

- Historical presence -

The Maasai community is divided over the issue.

For many, Ngorongoro is the only house they have ever known. “My father and mother were born here and we have lived here. I'm not ready to leave,” says a woman who just wants to give her name, Rose, out of fear of the authorities.

Long before the creation in the 1950s of national parks aimed at attracting tourists, the Masai cohabited with nature in the Serengeti or Ngorongoro.

But with climate change, which causes increasingly long periods of drought, farmers and their herds are fighting for water and food with wild animals.

The presence of livestock and the sound of cow bells make some animals flee and threaten tourist activity, which accounts for 18% of the country's GDP.

“If we let them do, we will disrupt the great migration of wildebeests,” says one environmental officer, invoking anonymity for security reasons.

During an AFP visit to the region in early March, only a few zebras were seen near the Masai plots.

- No masais, hunters yes -

Local activists and opposition leaders accuse the authorities of invoking environmental protection to privilege economic interests, recalling the precedents of wealthy foreigners who were granted rights to hunt animals in the Ngorongoro.

“Large societies indirectly remove us from our ancestral land in the name of protecting the environment,” Onesmo Olengurumwa, a Maasai human rights activist, said on Twitter.

In 2009, thousands of Masai families were expelled from Loliondo, 125 kilometres from the Ngorongoro Reserve, to allow an Emirati society to organize hunting trips. The government ended the agreement in 2017 following allegations of corruption.

“The Maasai have been the biggest victims of expulsions carried out in the name of environmental defense in Tanzania, for which they were never legally or properly compensated,” tweeted Tundu Lissu, vice president of the opposition party Chadema.

“It is time for these mistakes to be repaired, instead of repeating old injustices,” he said.

An online petition against the expulsion of the Masai has collected more than three million signatures.

- “Like a betrayal” -

But in the face of the growing conflict between humans and wildlife, some farmers are ready to march.

In early March, an elephant killed a man collecting firewood in Ngorongoro. In August, three children died attacked by lions near the reserve while searching for stray livestock.

“Personally, I will respect the government's proposal as it will guarantee a better life for my livestock and me,” says Lazaro, who does not want to give his last name so as not to be at odds with the Masai leaders.

More than 450 people agreed to be relocated to Handeni, Prime Minister Majaliwa said last week.

Others still doubt. “I want to continue living here but the pressure of the government makes me think about leaving,” explains one Maasai. “But to accept easily, it's like a betrayal of our tribal chiefs.”

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