Tanzania National Parks (Tanapa)

The Tanzania National Parks (Tanapa) will start conducting aerial patrolling using helicopters in an effort scale-down poaching, which seems to be a serious challenge in the conservation of the wildlife sector.

Tanapa tourism officer Johnson Manase revealed this in Moshi recently when speaking to journalists from different media outlets.

In the proposed plan, Tanapa will closely work with the Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority (NCAA).

He stated that Tanapa and NCAA have agreed to pool their resources in the intensification of the war against wildlife poachers in the Serengeti eco-system.

One of the methods to be applied, in addition to the reinforced wildlife rangers and police patrols in the park, Manase said is the use choppers for faster rescue operations as well as aerial perambulation.

Poaching and other related crimes pose a serious threat to the country’s tourist sector, which contribute a huge share to the GDP, he said. NCAA Public Relations Manager Adam Akyoo said the initiative was taken because the area under NCAA and Serengeti are not only neighbours but share common eco-system and wildlife.

“Ngorongoro Conservation Area, the Serengeti National Park and Kenya’s Maasai Mara all form the ‘Serengeti Eco-system,” he said, adding’’ that is why during migrations millions of animals move back-and-forth between the three destinations.”

Akyoo noted that any attack on Serengeti also affects Ngorongoro and vice-versa, therefore a joint patrol between the two bodies was necessary.

Ngorongoro, whose main selling point is the wildlife field, giant volcanic crater, and the Serengeti, an endless plain filled with practically all species that came off Noah’s ark after the legendary floods, account for 850,000 tourists out of the 1 million visitors who tour Tanzania annually.

With such high number of visitors, both the Ngorongoro Conservation Area and the Serengeti National Park (Senapa) are essentially Tanzania’s most popular and equally sensitive destinations that call for high-level protection.