Dave Taylor's African Safari: The Missing Factor: Human Beings - Human Impact: 1959 to the Present

The Missing Factor: Human Beings
Human Impact: 1959 to the Present
Page 10

The Serengeti Research Institute (SRI) was founded in 1962. At that time, it was headquartered in the park at Seronera and has continued to do research on wildlife since then. In the beginning, it was well funded by European and North American sponsors and it has hosted a number of scientists over the years. None of the scientists were Tanzanian, however.

Lions have been one focus of ongoing studies since the mid-1960s when Dr. George Schaller began his study. It was taken over by others including Brian Bertram, Jeannette Hanby and David Bygott and Dr. Craig Packer and his wife Anne Pusey.

After independence in 1961, Tanganyika became Tanzania (Kenya became independent in 1964). The duly elected government adopted a one party system and radical socialism. Kenya opted for a more democratic system.

Tourism was strong at first and game lodges were being built to house visitors in both Kenya and Tanzania. The Serengeti was a major attraction. Kenya’s Masai Mara was less visited. In those days, the wildebeest herd was still relatively small, only a third its present size, and did not migrate very far north. In the 1960s, the safari capital of East Africa was Nairobi. Border crossings were relatively easy and a safari could travel with ease to the Serengeti.

That would change in the 1970s when Tanzania’s socialist experiment began to flounder. The cash hungry country looked to tourist dollars, among other sources, to aid the financial crunch. Kenyan drivers and companies were making the money. The solution was clear. Close the border and set up a Tanzanian infrastructure to service the industry. This happened in 1977. It would not re-open until 1985 and even then only on a limited basis. The border crossing directly from the Serengeti to the Mara remains closed as of this writing.

It was too little, too late. By 1978, the government’s funding for the Serengeti Research Institute had run out and the SRI was a mere shadow of its former self. Poaching was rampant and tourists were scared off. Robberies even occurred within the park’s boundaries. A successful attempt by the Tanzanian army to unseat Uganda’s dictator Idi Amin in 1979, further deflated Tanzania’s coffers. In that year, only two scientists worked at the SRI; Craig Packer and Anne Pusey.

The Winds of Change

Meanwhile, the wildebeest herd had reached 1.3 million animals and its annual migration now extended to the Mara. Tourism in Kenya soared and the Mara became the "best game viewing spot in all of Africa". Kenya was perceived to be safer and more tourist and wildlife-friendly. Jomo Kenyatta had declared the country a no-hunting zone in 1977 in an attempt to preserve the country’s wildlife.

Ironically, more wildlife was killed after hunting was outlawed than before. Without the ownership that the hunting concessions had in the wildlife, there was no one to monitor it. Poaching was rampant and the country’s elephants and rhinos were being exterminated at an alarming rate.

In 1988, Kenya suffered a black eye. Elephant poaching became a public scandal and President Daniel arap Moi took an unprecedented action. He asked National Museum president and renowned paleontologist Richard Leakey (son of Louis and Mary) to head up Kenya’s Wildlife Unit. Leakey accepted and, backed by Moi, began a campaign to stop the poaching. He was assisted in this by worldwide pressure to ban the trade in elephant tusks and rhino horn.

President Moi burnt several tonnes (tons) of confiscated ivory to signal to the world that they were serious about saving elephants. Pictures of this made the front pages of magazines and newspapers around the world.

That act drew more tourists to Kenya and to the Mara, the jewel of Kenya’s parks. It offered all the Serengeti had but in a smaller, safer, more accessible area. Elephants were common there, having been driven north out of Tanzania by poachers. Business boomed and new lodges sprang up. In Tanzania, the poor economy could not afford to maintain roads and tourism continued to decline.

Rebirth of a (Nearly) Lost World

By 1990, elephant poaching was almost a thing of the past. Rhino poaching was harder to stop and Leakey set up reserves to protect the animals. (The largest market for rhino horn was the small country of Yemen and world public opinion did little to sway the values of that country. Carved and decorative elephant ivory, in contrast, was sold in North America, Europe and most of the rest of the world. People simply stopped buying it and boycotted stores that sold it.)

Kenya also made an effort to redirect tourism dollars into the local economy.

In 1992, weakened and tired of thirty years of socialist rule, Tanzania voted to become a multi-party state. In the elections of 1995, it implemented the change.

Tourism was a market they wished to exploit. New hotels were built that rivaled or exceeded the best in Kenya’s parks. More armed guards were hired to protect wildlife. The border with Kenya was reopened but only at one spot. Safarists coming into Tanzania were required to have visas, Tanzanian drivers and outfitters.

The government also implemented changes to give locals a stake in wildlife management. Positive incentives to change local attitudes and behaviors towards wildlife included:

revenue sharing and development assistance
wildlife and natural resource utilization
extension services
local control.

These policies are designed to provide local tribes people with financial benefits from wildlife management. They also give the population a say in its management.

Poaching, however, is still a threat. Thousands of animals die each year in poachers’ snares and traps. Many of these animals go to feed the resident tribes but some of the stolen animals are sold to foreign markets. It is hoped that people will soon see that there is more value in a live lion than a dead one. Many animals that are a key to the success of the Serengeti lion population are poached in the woodlands. It is those lion prides that do well during the droughts because their prey, buffalo and gazelle, do not migrate.

In the 1960s, people said that Africa’s and the Serengeti’s wildlife would be a thing of the past within a decade. That it is not, is a tribute to the nations of the world who see it as a world heritage. It is also a tribute to Kenya and Tanzania, nations who, despite some blunders, poor finances and corrupt officials, still managed to preserve this remarkable ecosystem. Indeed, only two species are of major concern here; the black rhino and the African wild dog. Both still exist in the region, but in precarious numbers.

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