Supporting Tanzania's National Parks

In the vast plains of northern Tanzania, where wildlife and Maasai people live side by side, AWF and our partners have created a success story that is a model for new landscape initiatives throughout the African Heartlands. Here, AWF has built a solid foundation of support for national parks that secures the future of the ecosystem for wildlife and local communities.

Despite strong parks programs in eastern and southern Africa, protected areas face many challenges. Many are under-funded, making it difficult for authorities to implement conservation measures effectively. Poachers still infiltrate parks. Domesticated livestock wander into protected lands, competing with wildlife for water and food.

AWF works closely with protected area authorities to improve the management capacity, visitor experience, and economic potential of these areas. AWF has implemented a comprehensive support plan for both Lake Manyara and Tarangire National Parks. AWF got things rolling in 1998 by providing vehicles to improve overall capacity for park management and anti-poaching patrols. In 2000, AWF improved the condition of the roads by providing a bulldozer, road grader, compactor and backhoe-wheel loader.

When AWF first got involved, Lake Manyara National Park did not even have telephones. Today, both parks have phones, hand-held radios and vehicle-mounted VHF radios as well as mention laptop computers, printers and Internet communication. When park staff head home after a busy day, many of them go to new housing with a reliable water supply—something that simply did not exist five years ago. AWF has also helped the parks reach out to the world by creating guidebooks, marketing materials and two world-class Visitor Centers.

But infrastructure was just the beginning. AWF has conducted training courses for staff in road maintenance, anti-poaching operations and fire management. Both parks are now professionally administered through comprehensive General Management Plans. As a result, combined park revenues increased from $2.7 million in 1998 to $ 3.2 million in 2005—an increase of 19 percent.

Today, the two parks are not only the ecological anchors of the Maasai Steppe landscape but also mainstays of Tanzania’s tourist economy.