Slightly off topic but at the same time relevant. With reference to the Dubai royal family, I have no comment on that. We have family friends that work for African Parks and have managed the Ngorongoro Crater, many parks in Kenya and are now fighting the battle against the slaughter of elephants in Chad. My point behind this, is they are extremely well connected on BOTH sides, often having to find a balance between tribes and the development of lodges, hunting areas, concessions etc... They recently sent us an email which is a reply from someone, a director of a lodge in Kenya I believe, that has been receiving alot of bad press with regards to the removal of Masai from certain areas. Its a bit long but makes for interesting reading. Please see below his response: (This is by no means my personal views or beliefs)
"Hi Everyone,
I am sure that everyone knows by know about what happened at Ndarakwai last friday. What hurts me the most is the negative comments i keep hearing and reading. This is one that annoys me a lot and i want to share his comments and my response with everyone. It would be great it people could read it all they way through to get the full story.
---- "You were not supposed to give these lands to foreigners and denying rights to Masai People. It has been their land for years. What Tanzania failed to do is to grant these prime lands to outsiders for investment without discussing with the locals. No one in Europe or USA give their prime investment lands to someone not native or citizens. They know damn well how much a stake that is. The Masai could have given the rights to build and operate those safaris for their benefit. I dont blame these Masai People I blame the government officials to fail to recognize the injusticeness to the Masai people. They should also stop using Masai for advitisement for free.
They came in the name of invironment, paid nothing and making a hell of money which does not benefit the Masai or Tanzanians. Our leaders have been manipulated knowingly they cant think out of the box. Tanzania and many other African Countries have become resources for money for developed countries. These contracts and land leasing must be reviewed. Colonies coming back where they left and exploiting people using Government lazzy thinkers and lazzy planners."----
Hi Bodi,
I am actually a director of the lodge that got burnt down in West Kili. There are a few things you need to know first, before being able to comment on such a sensitive topic. I will go through your post…
"It has been their land for years"
This is untrue, there are over 120 different tribes in Tanzania, (you seem to only know about one, the Maasai) and this was never maasai land, I really don't know how you can make that comment….
"What Tanzania failed to do is to grant these prime lands to outsiders for investment without discussing with the locals"
Again, i don't see how you can say this because before even thinking about getting the land in 1995 we did exactly that - go to every single village and community around us and explained to them our intentions. Also… this is not "prime land". West Kilimanjaro has a rain shadow effect from its position around Mount Kilimanjaro. Out of any other area around the mountain, it gets the least amount of rainfall. This is an area that was unfit for agriculture or cattle, which made us think that the land could be conserved to sustainably maintain wildlife populations.
"They came in the name of invironment, paid nothing and making a hell of money"
This is a biggie.. please read all…. Our intention at Ndarakwai was to create "self sustaining conservation". This, is in its most basic terms, is conservation that does not rely on donations. If you were to walk on Ndarakwai in 1995, you would not see one single animal. In 18 years of conservation we have completely restored the habitat and brought back over 65 mammal species and over 300 bird species. We built the lodge as a way for us to maintain this conservation (I believe this is crucial because the lodge can then finance the conservation, while promoting Tanzania and helping communities). With everyone working in the lodge coming from all of the direct communities around us, we were able to start helping a wider group of people. As things grew, we realised that we were able to continue our community work. In 2006 we started supporting the O-Vet Primary school. We started supplying meals every day for 150 children. By 2014, the school has over 400 children (which are all being fed from the proceeds of the lodge we built, a lot of which are Maasai children) and the school has gone from unranked in the district to #1, and to #4 in the entire Kilimanjaro region. We have also re built parts of the school, and built a complete kitchen. We have also started building a dormitory for Tinga Tinga secondary school so children didn't have to walk kilometres a day to get to and from school. (A project that is now stopped due to the lodge being burnt down). These are a number of things that we do, among a whole list. Others include creating local business like fish farming and supplying bee hives for honey harvesting. When one project is on its feet and running well, we start another.
"Which does not benefit the Maasai or Tanzanians"
We employ people from over 15 different tribes at Ndarakwai, and we have many employees who have been with us for over 15 years. Your comment is strange because we protect the Tanzanian land…. protect the Tanzanian wildlife, employ the Tanzanian people (including maasai), pay taxes to the government, work on community projects, so i don't know how you can say it doesn't benefit Maasai or Tanzanians…
Now…. finally back to the "Maasai mob who torched our camp". There are rumours going around that they burnt it down because we were adding to our conservation area. This is simply not true. Not only is the border of our land also the border of our district, but it is also the border between Kilimanjaro and Arusha Region. We have never ever tried to expand our property. The truth of the mater is this……
Maasai entered our conservation area in force so they are able to graze their cattle. Why? because we have done such a good job in land conservation that the grass has completely returned and they want it all.
On the other side of things, why are their no other areas for the Maasai to graze other then our property??? It is because all of the land around us, for over 50 kms in every direction of us has been completely overgrazed. Our property is 11,000, but the land around us is over 300,000 acres. If all of the grass is gone in the 300,000 acres around us, how long will it take to completely finish the grass we spent so long trying to conserve for wildlife populations? And after they do finish our grass… where will they go? another property? a village? where does it end? To add on, why are they completely over grazing hundreds of thousands of acres? why are they not growing trees, what are they doing to help the environment or Tanzania???
I employ over 75 people which directly benefits the community around us. We buy all our local produce from farmers around us, eggs, pork, milk as well. We support over 400 children in a school (for over 8 years), and more and more businesses have opened in Siha District because of us. You say i come in and make a lot of money…. i invite you to come to my house and see what "luxury" i live in, i really do. I am so sick of the truth not getting out, and people forgetting that there are over 120 other tribes who need help in this country, not just Maasai. I was born and raised in Tanzania, I do apologise for being born white, otherwise I might actually have been taken seriously in this country of mine.
I am sorry if this post is controversial, but i can't stand that Maasai keep turning their land into deserts and feel it is ok to ruin something that someone else has worked so hard to build. I do not know why the world holds them on such high pedestals, while criticising people who are actively working on helping this country."