What attracts people to National Parks in East Africa, is usually the virgin land, natural environment and unspoiled wildlife.
But isn’t something missing? Like the hotels and lodges using noisy generators to power their hospitality operations?
In Northern Tanzania, lodge and Safari operators have already noticed that and are moving to act ecologically.
As the result, environmentally friendly type of tourism and hospitality in the Tarangire Manyara Ecosystem is boosting wildlife population by nearly 90 percent and counting.
Tapping energy from the sun, to run hotels and tourist lodges within the Burunge Wildlife Management Area in Northern Tanzania is said to be one of the reasons behind sudden increase of all species of wildlife in the precinct.
“But even the visitors prefer the natural surroundings and the tranquility it provides, therefore we make sure everything remains in its original and pristine condition,” says Erick Nynam the Operations Manager at EBN Hunting Safaris Limited.
Conservators say wild animals find peace within the WMA which is encompassed within the Kwakuchinja wildlife passage, linking Tarangire and Lake Manyara National Parks.
Benson Mwaise is the Executive Secretary of Burunge Wildlife Management Area, who admits that, from their recently conducted periodical animal counting exercises, populations of the Lion, Elephant and Wildebeests have shot up.
Both the Chemchem Association and EBN Safaris that are behind ecotourism initiative in Burunge, ensure that all its lodges run on clean energy including solar power whose panels can be seen at the properties.
“Visitors like tranquility atmosphere, the animals don’t like noise and when we apply clean energy initiatives, both parties win,” explains Charles Sylvester Nyangi the coordinator at EBN Safari.
Other than using the sun to power their operations, something else is responsible for making animals comfortable in the precinct.
“The other factor is that, animal tracking and hunting in the EBN Hunting Safaris block have been replaced with photography tourism,” said Samuel Daudi Bayo the Assistant District Wildlife Officer.
According to Bayo, with no gunshots echoing within the landscape, wildlife species are reproducing peacefully without stress.
“The Burunge Wildlife Management Area is a typical example of responsible tourism being operated by local people right from grassroots levels, involving investors for mutual benefit,” explains the Babati District Commissioner, Lazaro Jacob Twange.
The Government official explains that nature-based tourism is the concept which now drives many foreign visitors to Babati where the number of tourists has doubled compared to previous years.
Located in the Tarangire ecosystem, within the Babati District of Manyara, the Burunge Wildlife Management Area covers 203 square Kilometers, with the adjacent Lake Burunge itself included.
The WMA borders Tarangire National Park to the east, Lake Manyara National Park to the west and Manyara Ranch to the north in the semi-arid area with average rainfall of 750 millimeters per annum.
The two rainy seasons take place between February to May and November to January, respectively, while the dry season is from June to October.
During wet seasons, majority of the wildlife species migrate from both the Tarangire and Lake Manyara National Parks moving into the Burunge WMA.
Wildlife Management Area comprises of ten villages encompassing 0.4 Square Kilometers of community land.
It is these villages pooled in the land which formed the Burunge Wildlife Management Area.
The about 300,000 residents, with over 90 percent of them practicing Livestock Grazing through Pastoralism and Agriculture. Other activities include fishing and hunting.
At the moment there is a rise in tourism related enterprises in the precinct.