|
Keep off Oldonyo Lengai, NCAA warns
2006-04-15 09:02:47
By Adam Ihucha, Arusha
Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority (NCAA) has issued travel advisory, warning local tour operators not to take tourists near Oldonyo Lengai Mountain, following two major volcanic eruptions last month.
In a telephone interview with The Guardian, NCAA Public Relations and Information Officer Vincent Mbirika said the alert was necessary because more volcanic eruption was imminent.
’Tour operators have been warned not to pass near the mountain since doing so would put the lives of our visitors at risk,’ Mbirika said.
’We have been forced to take precautionary measures, because we are not sure when another eruption will occur and to what proportions,’ he added.
The alert stems from a joint meeting between the NCAA and high ranking officials of the department of security, Mbirika said.
’ We care about the safety of people more than anything else. We need money from tourists but their safety should not be compromised,’ Mbirika stressed.
The advisory also warned the local people living around the mountain to vacate for their own safety.
However, sources say tourists continue to flock near Oldonyo Lengai, with the aim of witnessing the volcanic eruption.
’Tourists continue flocking Oldonyo Lengai, despite a recent travel warning, ’ the source told The Guardian.
Many tourists are believed to be curious and their thirst would be quenched only if they saw a volcanic eruption, which is a very rare phenomenon.
Late last month, volcano erupted on Mt Oldonyo Lengai and forced more than 3,000 inhabitants to flee from the area.
The eruption rocked the villages of Nayobi, Magadini, Engaruka, Malambo, Ngaresero, Gelai-bomba and Kitumbeine.
There was an exodus after the volcanic mountain rumbled into red-hot landslide, spewing scalding fumes and lava all over the neighbourhood.
The mountain which is shaped like a perfect cone with no trees is located outside the NCAA area and about 160 kilometres, west of Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest peak.
’There were no injuries or deaths,’ Emmanuel Chausi, an official with NCAA was quoted as saying. He added that both eruptions took place at night.
Oldonyo Lengai is the only remaining active volcanic mountain in Tanzania and its last significant eruption was in 1983, though the inside of the crater is active year-round.
The local residents believe their deity resides on top of the mountain.
A major explosive eruption took place from January to about June 1917. Ash was deposited as much as 25 - 30 miles away, and killed the formerly luxuriant vegetation on the lower slopes of the mountain.
The flat lava platform was replaced by a deep summit crater. Another eruption may have occurred for several months in 1926.
Another unforgotten eruption was in 1940 , when at times a column of smoke, lit at night by glowing internal fires, rose as high again as the mountain to nearly 20,000 feet and spread a film of ash far and wide over the highlands and north of Serengeti.
In 1940 eruption of the ash was so heavy on the Salei plains, and the mountains to the west, that the grazing became inedible and the Masai of that part had to migrate.
The fallout, which is carried westward by the prevailing wind, extended as far west as Banagai, and affected wildlife as well as domestic stock.
Ol Donyo Lengai is a unique and extremely fascinating volcano because it is the only volcano in the world that erupts natrocarbonatite lava, highly fluid lava that usually contains almost no silicon.
The mountain is less than 0.37 million (370,000) years old, and is the youngest volcano in the Rift Valley.
|
