Developments in Tanzania
 

For those of you who do not suscribe to Africa Geographic,the following is all extracted from Ian Michler's column
The following are planned for Serengeti
New International Airport, New Hotels and Lodges. This is an apparently to raise room density to the level of that in the Mara (4700 rooms for 1800 square kilometres) Serengeti is currently 940 rooms for 14,763 square kilometres.
There is also apparent confirmation of the rumour I had heard previously of a 50 room complex being built at Mahale.

Go now whilst there is still some room.

4700 rooms (beds?) in the Mara?! Where do these numbers come from?

From the article, I do not know if they are correct.

<b>The following are planned for Serengeti
New International Airport, New Hotels and Lodges. This is an apparently to raise room density to the level of that in the Mara (4700 rooms for 1800 square kilometres) </b>

There's a link to the PDF file describing the &quot;Ten Year Plan for Serengeti&quot; (probably got the name wrong but you get the idea) ... if I can dig up the link I'll post it (it was on Fodors within the past 2-3 months but I just copied the PDF).

Basically there's NOTHING in this official plan to support the idea that massive numbers of new rooms will be built.

As for the &quot;New International Airport&quot; I think an airport is deemed &quot;International&quot; if is has customs and you can fly directly to another country. So perhaps they will allow flights directly to Kenya now. If any of this is even true.

In other words, lovers of the Serengeti shouldn't get too worked up by this article. Look at the official plan instead.

Bill

Found the link ...
http://www.zgf.de/mitarbeiterbereich...20July2006.pdf

&quot;Serengeti General Management Plan 2006-2016&quot; ... I skimmed the whole thing when I first saw it and I don't think anything supported the claims in the article sniktawk mentions.

Bill

Given that started this I have the following to add.

Thanks to Bill H for the link.

After reading this I can only conclude that either Ian Michler is guilty of the sort of sensational journalism prevalent in the UK tabloid press or that Tenapa made up their plan. I am in favour of the former of this alternatives.

Firstly beds in the Mara at best I can get to around 2,200!

As for the Tanzania part beds are indeed being increased from 1,922 to 2,138 mostly in the low use zone.

The supposed International Airstrip turns out to be the closure of Grumeti Airstrip and the upgrading of Handajega to be all weather.

Other notable factors are
Increased accomodation for &quot;local&quot; visitors.
Introduction of more Black Rhino and Wild Dog.

All in all an interesting read.

If you cannot trust Africa Geographic then who can you trust.

whc.unesco.org/download.cfm?id_document=8841

Look for Kempinski in this document, especially the press release in the appendix. I don't know the current status of the Ngorongoro project, but if I recall right Kempinski got green light for the Serengeti project a few months ago.

That's an interesting document, Nyama. One of their proposals is to only allow vehicles seating 12 persons into the Crater.

I think this is all good news.

We all know there are too many vehicles already... and we all know how difficult it is to find availability in the high seasons... so this will help a lot.

Plus, I know that China is being targetted for marketing, so the tourists visiting East Africa could triple in the next decade.

The document Nyama links to is for the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, which is separate from Serengeti, with a totally different administration. Basically Serengeti is part of their National Parks system and the NCA is more a joint-use area with the Maasai sharing it.

Our guide told us last year that the local authorities were concerned about the water issues and overcrowding in the crater and among the proposals being considered were keeping the hotel and NCA employees in/near Karatu instead of at the lodges, and limiting the number of vehicles by not allowing personal jeeps into the crater, going to fewer larger jeeps with many people. Apparently doubling the fees in 2006 and doubling them again in 2007 was not enough to cut down on crowding, so this is their solution. (High fees -- $300 entry for 2 people --, half-day visits and employees not opening the gates at 6 AM when they are supposed to was enough to convince us to skip the crater on our next two safaris, so we are doing *our* part to help them out).

Again, this has nothing to do with the 10 year plan at Serengeti.

Bill

Bill,

At the moment, do they have a cut off in terms of the numbers of vehicles they allow into the crater on a given day?

Rgds
Hari

<b>Bill,

At the moment, do they have a cut off in terms of the numbers of vehicles they allow into the crater on a given day?</b>

No limits ... there are good earlier threads on how to avoid the crowds as much as possible; the short version is to stay on Sopa side and go in at 6 AM for a few hours of peace before the hordes arrive.

Bill