INSTITUTE OF CURRENT WORLD AFFAIRS

PUBLICATION

IMW-55Ngorongoro II: Problems and Prospects

P.O. Box 770Arusha, TanganyikaFebruary 29, 196

Mr. Richard H. NolteInstitute of Current World Affairs366 Madison Avenueew York 17, New York

Dear Mr. Nolte:

Although the major interests of conservationists in generalmay be the preservation of flora and fauna for the recreation andeducation of future generations, the major interests of the EastAfrican governments lie in the creation of stable economies withincreasing rates of economic development. Therefore an area to bepreserved must obviously be a natural resource with long-termbenefits. Essentially Ngorongoro is a tourist attraction, the majortourist attraction in Tanganyika. Tourism is presently one of themost important foreign exchange earners, and there is every indicationits importance will increase rapidly. So far the Government hassupported the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, and if its economicimportance has any bearing on its future, its status as a reservewould seem to be assured.

Unfortunately, the situation is not quite so simple. Con-servationists in the most developed countries have their opponents,and nowhere can they rest on their laurels. Tanganyika is noexception; the N.C.A. itself is a compromise between these twofactions. We have already seen (in IMW-) the unique reasonswhich led to its creation as a combined area rather than on thelines of a national park where the interests of wildlife would besupreme. It is one of the very few attempts in East Africa topreserve an area with both its animal and human inhabitants (not tomention its flora), and in judging its success one must realize it

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Some b%rds

Crowned Cranes are commonalthough this photo wasactually taken at LakeManyara (1.)

Kori Bustard (b. 1. )

White Storks migrate fromEurope and are commonin January (b. r. )

is a pioneering venture in whichthere are few, if any, precedentsto indicate the most suitablecourse of action. There are boundto be unforseen problems and set-backs. The burden of the N.C.A. ’sresponsibility is to strike anequitable balance between the needto preserve the game and itshabitat, and the commitment tolook after the interests of thepastoral inhabitants. It hasbeen accepted that in attemptingthis the principle of overridingconsideration must be the pro-tection of the habitat, and the

East African Eland (Taurotragus oryx)

vast majority of the Area’ s policies, rules, and research aredirected toward this goal.

The N.CoA. is most fortunate in that its cool climate andrelatively reliable water supply have kept the ecological deteri-oration so evident in other parts of Masailand to a minimum. Itis also one of the few exceptions to the general devastation ofAfrican wildlife, and all the evidence indicates there has been nosignificant decline in the animal population since Baumann firstviewed the Crater in 1892. Of course there are exceptions as faras certain species are concerned (i.e., rhino), but the Conservator,Henry Fosbrooke, told us, "The game situation is extremely satis-factory.

On the whole the animal population takes care of its owninterests, and the N.C.A. does not interfere except to protectthem. There have been exceptions to this, however. When hyaenamolested humans and killed a large number of domestic stock in thehighlands in 1962, forty were shot (and twenty more probably) ina successful campaign to put an end to the marauding. Continuedobservation of the effects of wildlife on the habitat may call forfurther control measures. An example is the considerable damageelephant are causing to the Lerai Forest on the floor of theCrater. If this proceeds faster than the regenerative capacityof the forest itself, it may prove necessary to cull a few membersof the herd.

Another instance in which official interference was con-sidered but not eventually resorted to concerned a severe outbreakof biting flies in the Crater between April and June 1962. Knownas stomoxys flies, they pestered human beings, cattle, and wild-lif alike. The lion were most affected by this plague, and inorder to evade the flies some climbed trees while others hid inhyaena holes. They completely changed their hunting habits andraided Masai bomas at night. It is estimated the lion populationdropped from 15 by death or migration during the plague.

The N.C.A. considered spraying the Crater floor against thispest, but before they had taken action the natural life cycle ofthe fly had led to their almost complete disappearance. During

Rhino (1.)

Henry Fosbrooke (b.l.)

The Upper MungeWaterfall (b.)

our visit there was another minor outbreakof the stomoxs plague (see photo on page ll,IMW-3), but they sprayed the infected areasand it has since subsided.

The most interesting game phenomenonin the Area is the massive migrations thatinvolve hundreds of thousands of animalsas well as numerous lions and scavengerswhich follow these migratory herds. Atcertain seasons of the year, the bulk ofthe Serengeti populations of wildebeest,

East African Hare (Lepus capensis)

mebra, and the gazelles are in the Conservation Area. Incidentally,they are a reservoir of rinderpest and malignant catarrh althoughthrough injections only the latter is a health hazard to Masaicattle. The reasons for these migrations are obscure, but thereappears to be an instinct to return to the area for calving, andthe animals’ obvious preference for short and green grass hassomething to do with it.

In the Crater itself there are estimated to be 7-10,0OOwildebeest, 3-,OOO zebra, and lO,OO0 gazelles. To what degree,if any, this more permanent population takes part in the migra-tions has not yet been ascertained, but there seem to be nowholesale migrations in or out of the Crater. There are usuallyanywhere up to 60 lion, one of the major attractions, and thenumber of hyaena, jackal, and bat-eared foxes are directly relatedto the number of plains game within the Crater. Most are regularlyseen during the day. The larger game animals, such as elephant,rhino, and buffalo, are also regularly seen on the Crater floor,although they prefer to keep to the main forest belt above.

People who have visited other game reserves usually notehow much tamer the animals at Ngorongoro are. One can drive upalongside rhino, and zebra have been known to graze within theherds of Masai cattle. This is largely because the game are notharried by poachers. In marked contrast with most of the othergame reserves and national parks in East Africa, poaching ispractically non-existent, and there is no protein poaching at all.In recent years only a few animals have been killed and these forseveral reasons. In 1961 two young Masai boys, one ten and theother twelve, speared and killed an elephant at a water hole.Shortly afterwards another youngster speared a sleeping zebra.Both were done for the hell of it, or as we were told, "Boys willbe boys!" There are also a few cases of spearing in self-defense,although the Masai are at times a bit foolhardy and rather thanwalk around a sleeping buffalo are just as likely to walk rightpast him and then be forced to spear him in self-defense should heawaken. There was also a temporary increase in poaching around1959/60, but it was probably caused by the general feeling thatsince Ngoongoro had been withdrawn from the National Parks therewould no longer be the same restraint exercised against t.

But by far the most serious cases of poaching in the pasthave involved rhinos. During the last four years a number have

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Lion

been killed for theirhorns. Since the Tan-ganyika Governmentoffered a reward oflO00 shillings ($ l@O)for information leadingto the arrest of thoseinvolved in this nefariousbusiness, the trade hasvirtually died out inthe Area. One enterprisingdealer who found himselfwith 8 hot rhino hornson his hands he couldn’tget rid of, took a chance;he turned them in andclaimed the reward, buthe was soon unmasked andsent to jail.

There has been some talk about game cropping to help alleviatethe general protein deficiency in East Africa, but at Ngorongoro ithas not gone very far for several reasons: worry about how conserva-tionists n,ay react; insufficient research; and finally, how to over-come the wild animal’s wildness and marked disinclination to allowhimself to be slaughtered, or as a long-forgotten poet once wrote:

East is East and West is West,Though this may not seem relevant,You all know how to milk a cow,But you can’t muck about with an elephant.

Nevertheless, control over the activities of Ngorongoro’shuman inhabitants is the most important aspect of its managementas a combined area. There is no doubt that ecological deteriora-tion has taken place, and that it is primarily the work of man, hislivestock, and his agriculture. In order to halt this overall trend,a thorough system of rules and regulations has been evolved with theobjective of restoring Ngorongoro as much as possible to the stateit was in before the advent of non-Masai, African and European. Forthe Masai who form the vast majority of its residents and who are notagriculturalists, these rules relate mainly to restrictions on numbersof stock and people, but other regulations refer to grazing, burning,and water.

The aim is to develop a system which not only satisfies thetraditional aspirations of the Masai but also conserves the grazingand, if possible, improves it. Therefore the number of stock, bothdomestic and wild, must be carefully regulated. In fact, the numberof domestic stock in the Area has tended to decline in recent years.Disease, especially East Coast Fever which is more virulent duringthe good grazing years, has played a large part in this trend, anddomestic stock form less than a seventh of the total of animals

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within the Crater. This proportion also has tended to fall overthe past few years, due no doubt to the consistent policy of dis-couraging new immigrants in the Crater.

The maintenance of sufficient forest reserves and watersupplies are also closely related. The nearby settlements ofEaratu, Oldeani, and Mto wa Mbu are almost entirely dependent uponthe rain that falls at Ngorongoro, and to conserve this importantwatershed an area of 3 square miles has been set aside as theNorthern Highlands Forest Reserve. This is a protection forestonly, and so neither cutting nor grazing is allowed. Fire is aneve-present danger, and although only one-third of one percent ofthe Forest Reserve was affected last year, the incidence of uncon-trolled fire elsewhere was high. This is due to the practices ofthe local Masai as well as those of honey hunters who smoke out thehigh-powered African bees and then forget about the fire. Visitingtourists have also been known to start fires. The N.C.A. itselfuses fire as a tool of management but always under strict control.

Relations with the Masai have not always been good becauseof their deep suspicion that all rules made for the conservationof the Area are really steps in the direction of removing themfrom the Crater. They have improved, however, since the headman whoused to lead the opposition to the .C.A. has now become an ardentconservationist and joined the staff as "liaison officer". Now anumber of experimental projects, heretofore held up by suspicionand lack of co-operation, are moving ahead.

For example, a demonstration dairy herd previously thoughtto be the first step in an attempt to confiscate all Masai cattlehas now been established on a co-operative basis. The milk is soldlocally and has made a handsom profit. It is also hoped that bybreeding up the localstock and controllingdisease through dipping,it will be possible toconvince the local Masaiof the possibilities ofdairying in the areas ofhigh potential aroundthe Crate.

Another projectcurrently under dis-cussion is a compen-sation scheme. It isa revolving fund intowhich the Masai payon a communal basiswhenever there hasbeen wanton des-

Hyaena

truction to wildlife and the culprit is not produced. On the otherhand, when damage to life or property is caused by wildlife, theMasai receive compensation from the fund. The idea is acceptablein principle, but the scale of compensation has yet to be agreedupon. Although thee is already a rigid customary scale for the livesof men, women, and children as well as for minor injuries, what valueshould be placed on a rhino or a lion? It would be offensive to valuethem at a higher rate than a human, but ineffective if they were valuedmuch lower.

Inside the Crater the resident Masai co-operate in several ways.These people are intensely proud of their r+/-ht to live there, andthey readily inform on outsiders (even Masai) who try to move in. Thenumber of boreas (settlements) are kept constant, and they are utilizedas a tool of management. Recently one boma moved into a long grassarea which wildlife usually avoid (probably because lion and otherpredators can easily hide themselves). It is hoped that grazing willreduce the grass sufficiently that game will move in. Another areaof co-operation lies in the use of bamboo in building the boreas. Woodon the Crater floor is in short supply and valuable for the habitatand watershed, but there are massive bamboo forests on Oldeani Mountainwhere the Masai can cut all they need and have it transported for themfreely by the N.C.A.

The illegal intrusion of cultivators has been one of the mostdifficult problems faced by the N.C.A. The vast majority of squattersare alien Africans, mostly from the Arusha and Mbulu tribes, and onlyrecently have a few Masai begun to cultivate on a small scale. Therewere large numbers of squatters in Ngorongoro and Embagai Craters until

195 when the National Park authorities moved them out to be resettledelsewhere. Those who had farmed in Embagai, however, refused to accepttheir removal, and they returned to that crater at their earliest

opportunity. All effortsto dislodge them faileduntil a few months agowhen they agreed to move.There are also severalother areas within theN.C.A. where agriculturehas been practiced forsome time although theactual number of indivi-duals involved has beensmall.

The appropriatepolicy has been thrashedout for years, but clear-ly the settlers in Embagaihave been the real problem.The general opinion isthat the existence ofagricultural settlementswithin the ConservationArea presents both a

Bat-eared foxes

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Wild dog

real threat to the habitatand a danger to the con-servation of the Area asa whole. Recently theGovernment has issued astatement that Ngorongoroshould be used as "anarea in which the Masaican practice theirpastoral mode of life,and in which game view-ing and tourism shouldbe developed to the full".Agricultural developmentis not considered com-patible with these twoaims, and it is intended tokeep it to an absoluteminimum and under strictcontrol. Henceforthall cultivation is to be restricted to the Endulen Controlled Area(where limited hunting is also permitted), which foms about 1% ofthe total, and where there can be close supervision by agriculturalofficers and the enforcement of elementary rules of soil conservation.

Getting the squatters to move to Endulen, however, was moreeasily said than done. Many, including the 50-60 people now livingin Embagai, adopted what was officially described as "a truculentattitude" and simply refused to move. Although the N.C.A. hadauthority to remove them by force, it was hesitant to do so for fearof local political repercussions. Even if they had wanted to theheavy rains this year made Embagai difficult to reach and at the sametime led to flourishing crops which the owners wez’e naturally reluctantto abandon. A showdown was imminent at the time they capitulated andagreed to move.

In general ,gorongoro’s prospects would appear to be good.Basically the experiment is working and working well; a number ofthe problems which beset the authority at the beginning are gradu-ally working themselves out; and the Masai are coming to realize thevalue of wildlife. And yet one must hesitate because there are weak-nesses. The main one is the N.C.A.’s almost complete dependence onthe Government; albeit a government which has clearly shown itselfinterested in maintaining Ngorongoro as a tourist attraction. Never-theless politics do not exist in a vacuum, and a change in governmentor in attitude could conceivably result in its losing the priorityit now enjoys.

Fosbrooke is well aware of this problem, and it is his hopethat its UN-recognized status as a "National Park or Equivalent

Reserve" will encourage international interest in its conserva-tion which will not only provide cash for its development but alsoincrease the power of outside groups interested in its conservation.(Foreign representatives are already included in the N.C.A. AdvisoryBoard.) Too much, however, depends on the attitude of Government forany N.C.A. official to feel secure.

Another potential problem is the position of the Masai. Al-though this tribe is remarkable in that it does not look upon westerncivilization as the dawn of a new era, the day can not be far awaywhen their attitude will change. Those living in the Area have theright to continue their primitive pastoral mode of existence only,and there is little scope for African development save in the EndulenArea. The Masai look upon Ngorongoro and its wildlife as tribalrather than national property. This could obviously lead to chargesthat the N.C.A. was trying to discourage Masai evelopment at theirown expense, and that it wants to keep them primitive and subservient.

The game areas with human inhabitants have presented thevarious East African governments with a difficult problem. Pastoralistsor hunters generally inhabit such areas, and governmental policy hasusually resulted in either the game or the people being turned out.The unique experiment at Ngorongoro is pointing the way to anothersolution, one which more nearly approximates the natural state.

It may well succeed.

Very sincerely yours,

Ian Michael Wright

Opposite Zebra.

P.age 12" Lion (Photo actually taken at Lake Manyara).

The line drawings on pages three and five are reproduced bycourtesy of Miss Ruth Yudelowitz.

Received New York March 24, 1964

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