I believe that will not hurt the Maasai but the whole of East Africa. One thing is for sure, Kikwete does not care about his fellow man. Why should he accent to hunting? Will there be tourism after 1 year? Does he think of how the economy will be badly affected? For sure he does not have a clue of how this can be a dead end for many. I think we should get as many signs as possible, Tanzania people do something!

TekkoTours, more people need to be made aware of how big this actually is.
If it is sold off it will be the starting point of many more areas I'm sure.
They have about 754,000 signatures and looking for more than a million, but it would be nice if the world press got hold of the story.
I imagine "Safari" tourism as whole would be affected.

Thanks Sally, signed up.

Below response from the Ministries of Natural Resources and Tourism, re the above petition:

The Government wishes to refute the above claims as follows:

One, there hasn’t been such a move within the United Republic of Tanzania and specifically at Serengeti, which is a district within Mara Region.

Secondly, from the current population the number of Maasai in the Serengeti could not reach 48,000.

Thirdly, in Serengeti there is no any such Hunting Block allocated to Middle Eastern Kings and Princes to hunt lions and leopards.

Fourthly, from the good governance perspective in Tanzania, it is not the responsibility of the President to approve any area for the purpose of being a hunting block; the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism is the one responsible.

Apart from the above clarification, we wish to inform those who have signed and planned to sign the petition that they are doing so without knowledge of what are doing. It is better for them to find the authenticity of the information provided before taking any step to sign this unfounded and baseless petition.

Thanks for the info Sandi. I'm now totally confused as I was sent the info from a friend in Tanzania pleading with us to sign the petition, but
time will tell!

Is the Loliondo concession up for renewal, by any chance? That is the part of the Serengeti ecosystem which is leased by a middle east magnate and where princes and kings come to shoot lions and leopards. I thought the Loliondo lease was a long one and granted fairly recently. Perhaps your friend could explain the petition, Sallysaab? I would be very interested in knowing the answer to this, if possible.

The wording of the Avaaz petition is very vague. Here’s a background: http://termitemoundview.blogspot.se/2011/07/corridor.html

sangeeta I'll try and find out for you.
Here's an article I just found http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/aug/15/tanzania-evict-maasai-uae-royals?newsfeed=true
If you use "Google Tanzania" you might be able to find more accurate info.
I hope they are not just stirring things up.

It’s the same hunting company that has been in Loliondo for two decades. In 2009 there were brutal evictions from the core hunting area next to Serengeti NP. Then a land use plan proposing to take a huge “wildlife corridor” away from the Maasai and create a new kind of protected area where, like in a game reserve, hunting would be permitted was presented and rejected, but is still a threat.
http://termitemoundview.blogspot.se/2011/07/corridor.html

How come Maasai media outlets are not carrying this story?

FrankS, what Maasai media outlets are there? There were quite a few articles in Tanzanian media about the 2009 evictions – though many presenting the government view - and also some articles about the land use plan. I haven’t seen anything about the Avaaz petition, except for reproducing the press release from the ministry of natural resources and tourism that was basically having a laugh instead of addressing the issues. The poor wording of the petition left open for this response from the ministry.

Thanks, Sally and Nyamera. Those links were helpful. And yes, poor wording on the petition has not helped with anything.

http://www.maasai-association.org/welcome.html

http://maasaiculturalcenter.org/

http://oloorkarian.com/

http://ngorongorocrater.org/news.html

The latest news
"We regret the loss of six cows, seven goats, seven sheep, one donkey and six lions in the outskirts of Nairobi National Park."

"MSEKWA CALLS FOR YOUTH INVOLVEMENT IN RESOURCES PROTECTION"


"The special training of rangers as well as other tourism personnel from the Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority was being undertaken by Commander Venance Bruno Tossi "

1,2 and 3- Not often updated KENYAN webites.
4. – website of the enemy (government) and about another part of Ngorongoro District.

Though, FrankS, you are right that coordination and information sharing between East African Maa organisations is abysmal, if that’s what you mean.

I think that pastoralist organisations in Tanzania, on occasion of the Avaaz petition, will have to get off their butts and again explain the threat that unfortunately was not properly explained by Avaaz.