“Political promises have been made about roads, mining and hydroelectric power. “The issue is complex and links closely to current national politics and the pressures the president is under from some elements within his own party, from a developing opposition, and from the national and international environment sector,” a source working in conservation in Tanzania told. In the end, the projects may be more about local politics than anything else. But at this point these rumors are unsubstantiated, and the only ones who can answer such questions are those in the top levels of Tanzanian government. There are reports that the Chinese are involved in Tanzania’s plans, pushing the Serengeti road-and willing to fund it-in order to create a massive thoroughfare for mined minerals to be brought cheaply from the interior to the coast then shipped to China to continue its breakneck growth. Dobson has conducted numerous studies in the Serengeti, including recent ones on the impact of the proposed roads. “Kikwete’s spiteful attitude towards the World Heritage site and his strange determination to drive a road through Serengeti make him look increasingly old-fashioned and vindictive,” Andrew Dobson, Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Princeton University, told. Photo by: US government.īut Kikwete’s critics contend that he is trading Tanzania’s most precious natural heritages-and some of the greatest wildlife spectacles on Earth-for an industrial slough that will enrich a few, mostly foreigners, but leave Tanzania, and its citizens, bereft. Tanzania’s 4th President, Jakaya Kikwete (center), with US President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama. Unlike other countries which are forced to import raw materials, our country has all the raw materials necessary for developing our industries,” Kikwete said recently in response to the push to mine soda ash in Lake Natron. “We have to develop to an industrialized country and to get there we should think through, plan and put strategies in place. According to President Jakaya Kikwete, Tanzania is simply trying to provide for its poorest citizens (such as communities near the Serengeti and the Eastern Arc Mountains) while pursuing western-style industrial development. But there are other concerns among conservationists, including the fast-tracking of soda ash mining in East Africa’s most important breeding ground for millions of lesser flamingo, and the recent announcement to nullify an application for UNESCO Heritage Status for a portion of Tanzania’s Eastern Arc Mountains, a threatened forest rich in species found no-where else. Why is a nation that has so much invested in its wild lands and wild animals willing to pursue projects that appear destined not only to wreak havoc on the East African nation’s world-famous wildlife and ecosystems, but to cripple its economically-important tourism industry? The most well known example is the proposed road bisecting Serengeti National Park, which scientists, conservationists, the UN, and foreign governments alike have condemned. What’s happening in Tanzania? This is a question making the rounds in conservation and environmental circles. Nearly all of these flamingoes will breed in Tanzania’s Lake Natron, now a proposed site for soda ash mining. Thousands of lesser flamingoes (Phoenicopterus minor) crowd in Lake Bogoria in Kenya.

Lake natron in tanzania