Tanzania has everything: National Parks, Game Reserves, Conservation Areas and geoparks and now the country is working to establish its first Wildlife Park.
To achieve that, Tanzania has changed the land-use plans for the former three faming estates in the remote parts of Monduli a windswept precinct located within the Northern Arusha Region.
A recent visit to the site, revealed that the Proposed new Makuyuni Wildlife Park is being created on the 47 Square kilometers of acreage formerly hosting three large farms.
The estates, formerly belonging to a South African farmer were previously specializing in leguminous crop production in Monduli District.
After staying idle for over three decades, the ecology changed, wildlife species moved in and the area started overgrowing with natural trees, shrubs and even water springs.
Lente, Amani and Loldebes farms were previously used for agricultural purposes under the Rift Valley Seed Company, have now been placed under the Tanzania Wildlife Management Authority (TAWA).
It follows the state decision to convert the farms that have remained idle for 30 years into conservancy.
The Director of Privatization from the Register of Treasury, in the Ministry of Finance and Planning, Mohammed Nyasama, officially handed over the farms to the TAWA Commissioner of Conservation Mabula Misungwi Nyanda.
There is the Lente farm, measuring 3344 hectares, Amani estate occupying 9007 hectares and Loldebes ranch mapped within 2812 hectares were all nationalized in the early 1980s after being taken away from a large-scale farmer who hailed from South-West Africa, Hermanus Philipus Steyn.
The Commissioner of Conservation for the Tanzania Wildlife Management Authority, Mabula Misungwi Nyanda said the area, which was once a farm for leguminous crops, is in the process of being converted into the country’s first ‘Wildlife Park,’ a new tourist product to be managed by TAWA.
A wildlife park is a tourist site which offers all the natural surroundings, wildlife species, and campsites but with added recreational facilities and activities such as swimming, bush dinners, wild sports and serious hiking.