Tanzania's Maasai battle game hunters for grazing land
In a
remote corner of northern Tanzania, Boeing 747 planes land on a private
airstrip, trucks with United Arab Emirates (UAE) number plates drive
across the plains, and anyone with a cell phone receives an unlikely
text message:
"Dear guest, welcome to UAE."For centuries, the sprawling savannah in the Arusha region of the East African nation was home to the Maasai people, but these days it can feel more like Dubai, one of the states that make up the UAE.
That is because this chunk of land in Arusha's Loliondo area near the Serengeti National Park has been leased to an Emirati hunting company called the Ortello Business Corporation (OBC).
“Start Quote
Morkelekei Gume Female Maasai herderMy son is in secondary school because of the grass from here”
Since 1992, OBC has flown in
wealthy clients to shoot lions and leopards, angering nomadic Maasai
cattle herders who are blocked from pastures in the hunting grounds.
Now, Tanzania's government wants to give more land to the
hunters by establishing a 1,500 sq km (579 sq mile) wildlife corridor
exclusively for OBC.The plan would displace about 30,000 people and affect tens of thousands more who graze cattle there in the dry season.
Hakuna maoni:
Chapisha Maoni