Tourist hunters push locals to edges of Ruaha park

09 Aug 2007
By Kenneth Simbaya

For a couple of years there have been complaints from local hunters in Iringa region on the way hunting is done in Lunda Mkambi, a Wildlife Conservation Area (WMA) and other hunting areas in Iringa district, as locals maintain that hunting in the region is flawed by rampant corruption among some wildlife officials. Kenneth Simbaya of PST Iringa sheds light on the matter.

Illegal hunting in Iringa region now seems to be common, if accusations levelled at officials of MBOMIPA association and the Iringa District Wildlife office are anything to go by.

MBOMIPA is an association aiming to promote community based conservation in villages bordering the Ruaha National Park in the district. The association groups 21 villages and covers an area of about 4,000 square kilometres, with about 40,000 residents.

An accusing finger is being pointed at the Iringa district game office and MBOMIPA officials, that the two sides have failed to control hunting in Iringa.

Hunting has turned to be a war between the haves and the have nots, with the former determined to see that the have nots dare not hunt at Lunda Mkwambi, a place rich in various preferred wildlife.

They claim that this monopoly by the well to do is aimed at keeping away other people from entering Lunda Mkwambi so that they (unscrupulous hunters) can do whatever they want to do in the field.

Some of the irregularities claimed by Hunters Association of Tanzania (HAT) chairman Gulam Haji are hunting at night using sport lights, inviting foreigners, hunting by using other people’s arms, overshooting of animals, over and above those allowed in the licence, buying a permit for one animal, and using it repeatedly.

According to Haji even the open area meant for resident hunting is being cut and given to the well to do, leaving them with no area to hunt.

``They tell us to hunt at Izazi, what animals are there at Izazi?`` queried Haji, noting that Izazi is a residential place. ``Maasai pastoralists live there, there are no animals.``

The district game officer according to Haji knows that you cannot get a buffalo at Izazi, but still goes on telling us to go and hunt at there.
This, Haji told PST has resulted in most local hunters opting to poach, chiefly for wild meat.

In its investigation PST has discovered that, most local hunters use home made guns known as ‘gobore,’ made from the tie rod of an old land rover. In some case traps are used as well as poisoning of water holes where animals go to drink water.

When reached for comments on the matter the Iringa district game officer (DGO) identified herself only as Hawa said that MBOMIPA is now an authorized area (AA), so the mandate on how to utilize animals within their area is upon the villagers themselves.

She said those who point an accusing finger on them are poachers and not hunters,
``All malpractices by unscrupulous hunters have come to an end because villagers realise more benefit and are thus more vigilant on their wildlife resources,`` she told this reporter.

The Rungwa - Ruaha Living Landscapes project manager, Dr Peter Coppolillo, told PST that the area managed by MBOMIPA has now been transformed to an AA, a move which will give both management and benefits to villagers.

He said the benefits will give incentives to poachers to stop poaching as well as the villagers to become part of their resource protection.

``Their resource is animals, so they will make sure that no one loots their resources,`` he told PST.

On his part the advisor to the MBOMIPA board, Faraj FM Abri told PST that now that MBOMIPA is an AA, that means no more poaching, no violating hunting ethics since the animals will no more be sold haphazardly as was the case in the past when MBOMIPA was not an AA.
``During that time people would by animals and not finish repaying the debts, he told this reporter.

Faraj said the move aims at participatory conservation, enabling local communities to manage and benefit from wildlife resources.

Initial efforts in MBOMIPA according to Faraj involved the harvesting of wild meat on the basis of a quota granted to communities by the wildlife division, and selling the quota within the villages under MBOMIPA. This practice according to Faraj was not profitable.

MBOMIPA community decided to change the approach and started auctioning the animals, and this somehow increased the wildlife based revenue to MBOMIPA community.

The rise according to Faraj has been between 5m/- in 1996 to above 30m/- in 2006, while some hunters who won the bid still owe MBOMIPA.

Faraj was firm that this time around revenue was up, noting that “there has been a sharp increase in revenue now after MBOMIPA being an AA. For the first time MBOMIPA has collected about 60m/-,†he stated.

The money obtained will be channelled to various areas among them administration of MBOMIPA and social services development within the MBOMIPA community.

However it has not been clear as to what percentage will be channelled to social development within the villages forming MBOMIPA.

Investigations also revealed that local hunters complain that an open area which was earmarked for them to hunt is being cut and given to tourist hunters, thus denying them a place to hunt.

``The DGO ought to find a solution to this problem because after MBOMIPA becomes an AA those who are not from MBOMIPA community, not MBOMIPA stakeholders will not be allowed to hunt in Lunda Mkwambi.

Charges that a tourist hunting company has been given a bigger hunting area than what is stipulated in statute books need to be examined. While the books state that a tourist hunting block should range between 800-1000 square kilometres, the company has been given about 4000 square kilometres.

Yet however this signifies the end of a long time wrangle between local hunters in Iringa district, MBOMIPA officials and the DGOs office.

From now the say on how to utilize the wildlife is in the villagers` hands. They may want to harvest the wild animals for wild meat or they may want to invest in tourist hunting.

* SOURCE: Guardian