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Usangu Game Reserve to become part of Ruaha National Park
2006-07-11 08:42:14
By Deodatus Mfugale, PST, Dar es Salaam
In an effort to sustain the availability of water and maintain the flow of the Great Ruaha River, the Usangu Game Reserve in Mbarali District, Mbeya Region, will soon become part of the Ruaha National Park, conservationists have said.
The move also aims to protect the Ihefu (swamp), the reservoir that supplies water to the Great Ruaha and regulates its flow.
Already the Mpanga -Kipengere Game Reserve has been annexed to the Usangu Game Reserve as a measure to protect the sources of the Great Ruaha and other rivers that eventually drain into the Ihefu.
’With the Mpanga-Kipengere Game Reserve in the source, Kitulo National Park in the catchments area and Usangu Game Reserve becoming part of Ruaha National Park, it will be easy to monitor and better manage the environment in the Great Ruaha River regime and fulfill the government’s pledge to restore perennial flows of the Great Ruaha River,’ the Chief Conservationist of Usangu Game Reserve, Roman Masawe, told members of the Journalists Environmental Association of Tanzania who visited Mbarali District recently.
He explained that with the line of national parks and game reserves in place, the nation would score a double as it would be able to protect wildlife and so enhance tourism in the area as well as institute good water management practices.
’People talk about the Serengeti National Park, Ngorongoro Conservation Area and other game parks in the Northern circuit but little is said about Ruaha or Kitulo National Parks. Yet these areas have unique flora and fauna that are not available in the North,’ he said, adding that the new measures would go along way to open up and promote tourism in the Southern Highlands region.
The chain of game parks will also help to solve the problem that has dogged the Usangu Game Reserve for almost a decade now, that of invasion of livestock keepers, fishers and farmers.
Since its establishment in 1998 authorities have not been able to install beacons that mark the reserve’s boundary as these were being removed by people who have been illegally conducting various activities in it.
Mbarali District that was charged with the responsibility to maintain the Reserve could not shoulder the burden alone.
’I have only 18 members of staff here who are responsible for the 4148,000 square kilometres reserve. We are also not well equipped to effectively enforce the law and regulations governing game reserves and, given the number of trespassers that we have to deal with, we have not been able to do our duty effectively,’ he said.
However, he said that with the Reserve becoming part of Ruaha National Park, more resources would be available that would raise the power and capacity of the staff to manage the area since the burden would now shift from being solely that of the district to that of the nation.
The Usangu Game Reserve was established in July 1998 with the aim of fighting against poaching and halting the environmental destruction resulting from human activities that were going on in the area.
Livestock keepers and other people were given until December 31 of that year to voluntarily vacate the reserve short of which the government would have evicted them.
But until last year the invaders had not moved out and neither had the government evicted them.
The demarcation of the reserve had also not been completed.
However, beginning May this year, the government started an operation to evict the herders from the Ihefu and by June this year over 100 herders and 10,000 heads of cattle had been evicted from Ihefu.
The campaign is still going on to remove those who have settled in other parts of the Reserve.
With the Reserve becoming part of Ruaha National Park, it will be easy to enforce laws and regulations and halt the environmental degradation which is going on in the Usangu Valley.
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