Policies & Politics

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TANZANIA: Five game reserves officially transformed into national parks

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The Tanzanian government's plan to transform five game reserves into national parks was recently unanimously approved by parliament.

• Biharamuro Game reserve,
• Burigi Game reserve,
• Kimisi Game reserve,
• Ibanda Game reserve and
• Rumanyika Game reserve
  

Thus become national parks.

Tanzania has had 22 national parks in recent days. The five new game reserves were established very recently with the approval by the Tanzanian Parliament of the government’s plan to transform five game reserves into national parks.

Quote:A game reserve (also known as a wildlife preserve) is a large area of land where wild animals live safely or are hunted in a controlled way for sport. If hunting is prohibited, a game reserve may be considered a nature reserve; however, because the focus of a game reserve is specifically the animals (fauna), whereas a nature reserve also if not equally is concerned with all aspects of naturally-occurring life in the area (plants, animals, insects, etc.). 

In a game reserve, ecosystems are protected and conservation is usually key. Indigenous wildlife in its natural habitat help in providing an environment where growth in numbers at a natural rate can occur.

It was a unique moment of national unity that was played out around the creation of these parks, since all the members of the House of Representatives voted, with a beautiful unanimity, for the protection of the animals living in the game reserves of Biharamuro, Burigi, Kimisi, Ibanda and Rumanyika.

These five parks will now be managed by the Tanzania National Parks Authority (Tanapa), which administers all Tanzanian national parks. The institution’s mandate is to conserve and manage wildlife in Tanzania and to enforce applicable laws and regulations.

The challenge of transformation
The transformation of the five game reserves into national parks is a tourism challenge.

The authorities want to increase the financial manna that they bring back to the country each year: 17.5% of Tanzania’s gross domestic product (GDP) in 2017, according to Jumanne Maghembe, Minister of Natural Resources and Tourism.

This transformation is part of the Resilient Natural Resource Management for Tourism and Growth (Regrow) project.

Its main objective is to strengthen the management of protected areas and promote tourism in southern Tanzania. On the spot, we talk about the “Southern Circuit”. An ambitious policy, both for the national economy and for local development.

It received financial support from the World Bank through the International Development Association (IDA) in December 2017. The $150 million amount, added to the amount released by the government, will allow the implementation of the programme, whose decision to convert 5 game reserves into parks is only one of the most obvious components to date.
 
Tanzania has a total of four tourist areas – the northern, eastern, southern and western circuits. To date, however, only the northeast tour is well equipped with high-performance tourist facilities around key attractions: Serengeti National Park, Mount Kilimanjaro… which attract most tourists every year.

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