I have for
too long, with too many distractions, been writing a new blog post with some
updates about the brutally and illegally in 2022 demarcated “Pololeti Game
Reserve” that’s taken away almost all dry season grazing land in Loliondo,
again about how the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism wants to replicate
this crime all over northern Tanzania, and about how the Maasai of Ngorongoro
Conservation Area suffer all kinds of restrictions, withholding of permits and
funds, and harassment to make them relocate “voluntarily” far away to other
people’s land. To avoid another far too long blog post, I’ll break it up and first
post some news about the ruthlessly hypocrite and pompously lying land grabbers
that made me start this blog many years ago – Thomson Safaris.
On 16th April, with mixed feelings I received the news that the Oakland
Institute had published a new report, Capitalizing on Chaos: Thomson SafarisTightens its Stranglehold Over Indigenous Lands in Tanzania, about the American
company, owned by land grabbers and ruthless hypocrites Rick Thomson and Judi
Wineland for 40 years. Then on 30th April 2024 a press release all
over the internet announced that Wineland-Thomson, Inc had been acquired by Lindblad Expeditions Holdings, Inc., a travel company that focuses on
ship-based voyages, through its subsidiary Natural Habitat Adventures. I have
no idea what the implications of this will be, but sadly it seems like Thomson’s
“team” remains intact. The constant reference to Thomson’s excellent “brand
name” is a resounding failure for the strategy of silence, lying low, and
throwing allies under the bus, while setting all hope on uncertain court cases,
and now even delaying a new case. Unless Lindblad Expeditions are as criminal
and ready to work with a police state as Thomson and Wineland have been for so
many years, they must stop business and immediately vacate the Maasai grazing
land in Sukenya and Mondorosi villages, Loliondo division, Ngorongoro District,
by Thomson named "Enashiva Nature Refuge", also called "Eastern
Serengeti Nature Refuge". I have of course written to Lindblad Expeditions
(without any reply other than some promotional emails for tourists).
Not
Ngorongoro district, but must be mentioned, yet another atrocity in the
Tanzanian government’s war against the Maasai, on 7th May, the
Kilimanjaro RC, Nurdin Babu, invaded 8 registered villages and demolished
houses on land claimed by Kilimanjaro International Airport. A preliminary
injunction for a notice of a coming court case had been denied and the violence
that had been a threat since 1985 exploded, like so much is exploding under this worse than ever lawless, anti-Maasai, and pro-tourism government. Over a thousand people have been
left homeless, children, mothers and the elderly in terribly wet and mosquito
infested conditions. Livestock are being driven away to prevent capture and
auctioning.
This brief blog
post is delayed due to the delay of the court case, the preparation of which
apparently is complete, but held up by an unresponsive CSO that’s supposed to
do “vetting”. I have also had problems getting anyone to read the draft of this
post to see if it’s suitable, fair and clear, but then at least someone did so.
When Tanzania
is free and all stolen land has been handed back, I may write the truth about
NGOs, or maybe not.
Some issues
may in this blog post be insufficiently described to keep brevity. Read my
summary, other blog posts, or ask me for a better understanding. Other issues
must for the foreseeable future be kept vague.
In this blog post:
Thomson
Safaris and my comments on the new Oakland report
Campaign
victory for Oakland when World Bank suspends REGROW funding
Lastly,
Thomson
Safaris and my comments on the new Oakland report
Between 2010 and 2016 I blogged about these ruthlessly hypocrite land grabbers. Later I’ve posted updates with much less detail after local activists, mostly out of fear, decided to put a lid on all information, others basically stopped going to the area stolen by Thomson, I was no longer allowed to enter Tanzania and my fingerprints had been registered in the Tanzanian Immigration computer network. Still, my summary from 2018 is by far the best explanation of what had happened, but inexplicably Oakland in the new report does not include a single link to it, or any other of my blog posts, while referring to not that carefully written articles (from 2009 and 2014) but that add to the understanding of what’s going on by describing how the reporters were personally harassed. Though even in that less important regard my case would be stronger (abducted for three nights and repeatedly slandered in national press and social media, while five years before that, before I was even a blogger, I asked the wrong person about Thomson and the district security committee confiscated my passport and had me thrown out of the country). Erasing me was not nice, to put it mildly, and certainly not helpful to those who want to learn more.
Putting a lid on everything is
regularly attempted in the case of 1,500 km2 as well, but more
information gets out anyway, since more people are affected. In Ngorongoro
Conservation Area there’s another mentality and some people will always speak
up openly and with their face and name, perhaps because there isn’t the
experience of the many years of the very peculiar Loliondo police state, even
when arrests, torture and treason take place in NCA too.
The land grab
Thomson Safaris claim 10,000
acres (for many years 12,617 acres) of Maasai grazing land as their own private
“Enashiva Nature Refuge”. A small piece of land compared to the illegal game
reserve that was brutally demarcated in 2022, but adding to the problem, huge
when you’re there on foot, with or without cattle, and worse when you live next
to it. Thomson base their claim on that the then parastatal Tanzania Breweries
in 1984, free of charge, were allowed to cultivate 10,000 acres in Soitsambu
village (later split up and now this land is in the villages of Sukenya and
Mondorosi). After having grown barley on 100 of the 10,000 acres in 1985/1986
and some 700 acres in 1986/1987 while the Maasai continued using the rest of
the land as before, TBL left due to an unfriendly natural (drought and wild
animals) and social (sabotage to equipment, according to Moringe Parkipuny)
environment, and the whole of the land reverted to Maasai land use. Many years
later, in 2003-2004 TBL – using obviously forged documents (even a stamp
was forged for “Sukenya village” that didn’t exist as such until decades after
the date on one document) – got a 99-year right of occupancy, which they in
2006 sold to Thomson Safaris (through their company Tanzania Conservation ltd,
that was apparently created for this purpose) at the throwaway price of US$ 1.2 million.
Thomson’s cosy
use of the local police state
Thomson Safaris had been warned that they were buying a conflict, and could not have missed how much land the Maasai had already lost and how much was under threat (this was under President Kikwete’s horribly anti-pastoralist first term, with its brutal "anti-livestock" operations, from Usangu in 2006 to Loliondo in 2009) but apparently felt safe that authorities would protect them against the legitimate landowners, which is what happened. Besides their own guards, they employed the local police to keep the Maasai and their cattle out of the “nature refuge”. When instances of violence reached the press, Thomson’s reaction was to deny everything and paint themselves as the victims, in a way that has disgusted many people who have been contacted by them, not least, or maybe most of all, myself.
Thomson Safaris copied and perfected
OBC’s way of using a local police state to defame any land defenders, have them
harassed, called to the district security committee for interrogation, arrested,
and not least accused of being “Kenyan”. In fact, the first thing I ever heard
from one of Thomson’s friends was that the problem was a “Kenyan” Maasai woman
telling the “locals” to “squat” on the land. They also copied OBC’s use of
charity as a weapon, depending on divide and rule (made easier by the fact that
the land lays between three Maasai sub-sections) and compromising selected
leaders, mostly the same as those compromised by OBC. Though it may be “unfair”
to talk about copying when the repression against Thomson’s critics (before the
government moved to create the 1,500km2 illegal game reserve and
abducted all ward councillors for over five months) was even harsher than
against other Loliondo land defenders.
Thomson have sought the
assistance by Tanzanian authorities not only against the Maasai whose land they
claim for their own private nature refuge, but against anyone reporting what
they’re doing, even when they’ve had an invitation from the land grabbers
themselves. Several international journalists have got caught, which should
have sharpened their reporting and made them follow-up, but it did not … Maybe
the first one, Trent Keegan, would have done something better, but he was
murdered in Nairobi, after leaving Loliondo where he was threatened. Tanzanian newspaper
articles were soon replaced by those written by Thomson’s own American employee
whose Tanzanian wife engaged in “befriending” local leaders and providing
contacts higher up (or that’s what she boasted about, according to a former
Thomson employee). This destructive couple, after several years, moved on,
which now is years ago, and the wife has, perhaps genuinely, reinvented herself
as some kind of freedom fighter, in which she avoids mentioning this nasty job.
Though there could also have been the factor of those reporting (not only this
blogger) being thrown under the bus by intimidated local CSO people.
New court
case on the way
While Oakland’s new report is thin, and not so recent, when it comes to facts from the ground, which they with their resources, and new friends and contacts, could do better, it’s very valuable indeed for sharing facts and new documents regarding the court struggle and Oakland’s own communication with the pompously insincere Thomson Safaris, through their lawyers. Though it did hurt like a thousand knives that such new documents have not been shared with me. Most importantly, and quite reassuringly, was the “news” that 141 villagers from Mondorosi, Sukenya and Soitsambu already on 20th November 2023 issued a 90-day notice of intention to sue the Commissioner for Land, the Ngorongoro District Council, and the Attorney General. Their demands in this notice are more serious and to the point than I would have expected: the president to immediately revoke the land title, TCL (Thomson Safaris) to stop its businesses and immediately vacate the land, and damages of 200 billion TShs paid for economic and social losses. It’s the best I’ve heard in a very long time.
The court case was supposed to be filed at the end of April, and then the second week of May. Apparently, the
pleadings are all prepared and complete, but stuck with a CSO that’s supposed
to do some “vetting”, but has become unresponsive.
Downhill
after 2013, plummeting from 2016, fear paralysis in 2018, and crashing in 2022
The main issue in Oakland’s
new report is that Thomson have capitalized on the chaos of the brutal and
illegal demarcation in June 2022 of the 1,500km2 as a “game reserve”
by one-sidedly planting their own beacons to demarcate 10,000 acres as their
private nature refuge, and increased abuse against the villagers to enforce
these new boundaries. Even I was informed about this and wrote about it at the
time in 2022. This abuse originates from the madly unfair ruling in Land Case
No.26 of 2013, filed in the good old times (then I had no idea how good those
times were) when a threat by Minister Kagasheki against the 1,500 km2
Osero had been defeated and the Maasai were united. An earlier case, filed by
Soitsambu village council in 2010, had been dismissed. The judgment came in
October 2015 when the court ruled against the Maasai on all points except a
minor one concerning Tanzania Breweries adding 2,617 acres in 2004. This was
appealed, but as mentioned, a CSO that had too much influence over it put a tight and heavy
lid on all information.
Regarding 2013, in 2012-2013
three young men and two children were beaten arrested and dragged through court
by Thomson for “trespassing”. In June 2013, the case was finally dismissed
since Thomson were contradicting themselves too much about whether Thomson Safaris or TCL was the “owner” of the land. I met two of them in July the same
year. They were happy, felt that with unity they could defeat Thomson, and full
of praise for their lawyer, Shilinde Ngalula. It’s totally heartbreaking how everything
has then gone downhill.
After several people were in
2016 arrested accused of having shared “espionage and sabotage information”
with me (even Advocate Shilinde, inside the court precinct and in full court
attire was arrested and accused of incitement and espionage) and four were
charged with these farcical “crimes”, I only heard about Thomson Safaris from
people who came online once a year, or so, and whose messages were hard to
understand. It should be noted that those arrested were not who at the time
were sharing most information with me - about Thomson and OBC/1,500km2 – and
some had been quite silent for years. This together with the passive
prosecution, which led to the case eventually being dismissed, indicated that
the aim was intimidating and silencing, and this was in several ways
successful. One important person was a year later, after years of “offers” and
quite serious threats, compromised by Thomson, and stopped even his very
sporadic communication.
Case killing
drive
In 2021, then District
Executive Director Jumaa Mhina put heavy pressure on village chairpersons to
withdraw court cases (both regarding the 2017 mass arson operation in the 1,500
km2 Osero and Thomson Safaris’ land grab) - even when it wasn’t anything the
chairpersons can do on their own - and almost succeeded in making them withdraw the appeal, but
the chairmen changed their mind and decided to stay firm. Still, on 18th
February 2022, this appeal was killed based on legislation introduced under
Magufuli to do away with all separation of power, so that local governments
can’t sue the central government, and can’t use private lawyers, but it should
not have been possible to use this on a case filed before the law came into
operation. Still, the court shockingly ruled that the case did no longer exist,
and the lawyers to the villages weren’t even added to the court records. Can Thomson
influence the court like this? Probably. Would they? Definitely. The court had
in 2015 ruled that both parties were to participate in the – madly unfair –
resurveying, but Thomson notorious Enashiva manager, Daniel Yamat, in the wake
of the extremely brutal and illegal demarcation of the 1,500km2
“Pololeti Game Reserve”, in July 2022 planted the beacons with district
authorities and police, excluding the villagers.
Boundary
enforcement
Oakland detail how the again
stricter boundary enforcement affects people from Enadooshoke and Irmasiling
east of the stolen land who must take a detour to reach the rest of Mondorosi
or Soitsambu, schools and health clinics, and the assaults by Thomson guards
against children herding livestock, which is something that has been going on
for a long time. Children certainly ran away when I arrived unannounced at the
stolen land in a (non-Thomson) vehicle, but not when arriving by motorbike.
Besides passage, the land is early dry season and early rainy season grazing,
and the restrictions have varied through the years, with how developments are
going in court, maybe media coverage, but most of all, when Thomson’s servants
at the district council and the DC have expressed concerns over protests
against Thomson/police violence, particularly when Olunjai Timan was shot in
2014. What I heard after the demarcation was that Thomson was invading people’s
farms with road construction. In Sukenya, ole Musa was invaded by Thomson, and
in Mondorosi, ole Nanyoi (Irmasiling) and ole Orgeso (Enadooshoke) were under
attack. I was at the time expressly asked to mention the names.
Running away in 2013.
In October 2022, there was
another exhibition of charity as a weapon of war at Sukenya dispensary with
Judi Wineland and then DC and human rights criminal Raymond Mwangwala. In
December the same year, I was informed that when Thomson was chasing away
cattle, one cow belonging to mzee ole Orgeso was killed when hit by a Thomson
vehicle and Thomson’s guards were beating children, as is their custom.
Land use
classification
According to the report, there are concerns that Thomson are now – when there is not (yet) an ongoing court case - lobbying the government for a change in the land use classification of “surrounding” areas (though not so clear if Oakland actually mean that, or refer to the 10,000 acres, or both. It varies through the text.). I thought that Thomson had not succeeded in changing the official land use classification of the stolen 10,000 acres, but since the silence of the past years has been so horrible, I fear anything could have happened after the 2022 killing of the appeal. Oakland, but not I, have access to a letter by the village councils requesting the Minister of Lands to reject such a change in land use. I’ve got hold of one person who should know and who said that the classification, that must pass through the district council, had not been changed. In October 2009, a sign was put up next to “Enashiva Nature Refuge” saying, translated from Swahili, “The Government hereby intends to change the land use in Farm no. 373 which is situated in Sukenya and which is owned by Tanzania Conservation Ltd from agriculture and pastoralism to conservation and tourism. Any person liable to be affected by the changes should express their opinions via the office of the District Executive Officer within 30 days from the 27th of October 2009.” Both Soitsambu Village Council and the District Council held meetings and produced minutes strongly opposing the change in land use.
Thomson had been
lobbying for this change since 2006. It should not be possible to pass such a land
use change since the district council does not only consist of the district
officials at the service of Thomson, but also the elected councillors, who are
all more or less compromised – but not to that extent. Though one
specialty of Thomson is “befriending” councillors, just like OBC, and I really wish
anyone who knows could inform me about who are currently compromised. In 2010 I
was shocked to, from Thomson’s website, learn about one case, the then
councillor of Enguserosambu who according to the “investor” was seeking a
“partnership” between Orkiu village and Thomson. The councillor was at this
time communicating with me, pretending to be a land defender and even his
colleagues said they had been unaware of his treason. Then we of course have a
more lawless than ever government that could illegally bypass relevant
authorities.
Thomson
replying to Oakland in their usual style
Interesting, but unsurprising,
is Thomson’s reply to Oakland when given the opportunity to respond to
allegations. Oakland are advised to consult with the Solicitor General, the
Commissioner for Lands, and the Tanzania Police Force (the police directly work
for Thomson and were at least in the past responsible for much of the violence
…) before publishing such “unfounded allegations”. In the past Thomson would
have published their own contrived and obvious lies to “rebut”, but I suppose
they have become more media trained, or discovered that nothing happens and
tourists keep coming. Most of the response consists of urging Oakland to
produce a copy of their registration certificate as an NGO authorized to
operate in the United Republic of Tanzania, since otherwise what they doing is
an “offence”. They do of course not have such registration, since they aren’t a
Tanzanian NGO. It is indeed typical of Thomson to refer to their closeness to
government authorities as some way to “prove their innocence”, which is surreal
to hear for anyone even remotely familiar with Tanzania. Not only does the
government’s anti-Maasai and pro-tourism efforts perfectly align with Thomson’s,
but any crime committed by Thomson has already been committed, and is being
committed, a thousand times worse by the government itself.
Oakland’s
first report and the year 2018
Oakland first report, from
2018, was quite good indeed regarding Thomson, but outdated, basically a
delayed report from 2015, with some updates, and certainly relying on my blog,
even if I was only mentioned as someone who “says” I was deported. Regarding
OBC and the 1,500km2 it was mostly good, but with some radically
incorrect information about the key issue of the 1,500km2, and
confused about some other issues. In later articles Oakland presents more
correct information, and has, unlike with the first report even been open to
making corrections, after having got more Tanzanian “anonymous researchers” and
been in contact with more people (me included). 2018 was, for partly unknown
reasons, but the fear of President Magufuli was peaking - a year of extreme
silence and fear among local activists. The Tanzanian army set up a camp Lopolun
that year (later made permanent with funds from NCAA), and then got on a
rampage against local people, including some of those defending their land
against Thomson, while there was a general fear that everyone had been sold out
by local leaders. Some (very far from all, but it got worse towards the end of
the year) CSO people were even eager to disassociate themselves from Oakland’s
report, while everyone was too afraid to use it as an occasion to speak up, so
Oakland should know what it’s like to be thrown under the bus, and I even
helped them at that time (not with the report about which I was unaware, except
that they certainly read my blog, but with the “bus” thing after it was
released) … Oakland are now friends also with under-the-bus throwers, but deny
that this would be the reason that there wasn’t a single link to my blog. The
reason was that their “anonymous researchers” did not read my blog. There’s a
lot more to say about this, but it will have to be some time in the distant
future.
The name and
online reputation
I’m not so sure that Thomson
have changed the name of their claimed “Enashiva Nature Refuge” to “Eastern
Serengeti Nature Refuge” as Oakland say. The latter has been used for years in
their online material directed to clients while “Enashiva” is also still in
use. Anyway, it’s better to mention both. In a court declaration against a
website in 2013 Judi Wineland said that Thomson “incur fees of thousands of
dollars per month to an agency specializing in search engine optimization,
online reputation management and analytics”. I don’t understand how that
works, or if it can make this blog less likely to be found.
Judging by their interest in
the Kenyan Northern Rangelands Trust (years ago, and I reported about it then,
they sent people on a study tour) and their online spinning, Thomson Safaris’
self-image is as some “benevolent” colonial landowners, engaging in
conservation and community development via the tourism business. However, their
land grab was committed a century too late. While very nasty indeed and with
heavy government support, they are just a tourism operator and with some unity
and seriousness they should have been chased away long ago, before everything
turned this bad. Let’s see if the new owners will do the right thing and
hand back the land.
Thomson's camp in 2013.
Campaign
victory for Oakland when World Bank suspends REGROW funding
While beyond the scope of this
blog (but not my scope in social media) the Oakland Institute has had a
campaign success with the World Bank and the REGROW project that affects other
parts of Tanzania than reported about here – because it’s a big deal and
because even if Oakland have chosen to treat me like dirt, they mostly do a very
good job.
Oakland, also on 16th
April, published a brief, which was indeed brief, on the US as a driving force
behind Tanzania’s aggressive expansion of the tourism sector at the cost of
land rights and rural livelihoods. I must return to comment on this in coming
blog posts, but regarding Thomson, USAID and Thomson’s long and close “partnership”
with AWF come to mind in several ways. Otherwise, it’s Germany that’s funding
and facilitating these crimes in Loliondo. Though it seems like USAID is
involved in most harmful projects about “corridors”, WMAs and expansion of the
tourism sector in Tanzania. Since the US can’t even be stopped from arming the
Israeli terror state and occupation force’s current livestreamed genocide in
Gaza, it would seem futile to expect any impact, but on 22nd April
Oakland announced that as of 18th April the World Bank, funded by
the US, has with immediate effect suspended disbursements for REGROW - a US$150
million project that began in 2017 to “improve the management of natural
resources and tourism assets" in southern Tanzania.
In September 2023, Oakland
released a report revealing how this project is directly financing evictions
and egregious human rights abuses against communities living near the Ruaha
National Park. Oakland is quite critical of how slow the World Bank has been in
reacting, but I’m amazed that they reacted at all. Serious human rights
violations, evictions and eviction threats have been going on around Ruaha
National Park for at least two decades, reported by Tanzanian organizations and
researchers, there’s been legal action, and even the press has sometimes, not
always, reported on the somewhat regular torture, disappearances and killings
of local people by Ruaha National Park rangers (sometimes mentioned briefly in
this blog), and about cattle seizures with the same extortionate “fines” as in
Serengeti, and in Loliondo after the 2022 land theft. Most reported about were
the brutal evictions of herders from the Usangu basin in 2006 and the infamous
GN No.28 of 2008 for massive expansion of Ruaha National Park, lobbied for by
tourism investors. This government notice has been a regularly issued threat,
which has intensified with the current tourism-crazed and brutal government. The
World Bank can hardly have been unaware in 2017, but Oakland made them act.
On 20th April,
Ruaha rangers again invaded the village of Iyala and seized 809 heads of cattle,
claiming that they were inside the national park. Instead of the going
extortion of 100,000 TShs per head, they demanded 150,000. The herders had not
got legal representation.
On 25th April,
Tanzanian government spokesperson Mobhare Matinyi said that the government does
not violate human rights in any of its projects, that when the World Bank gets
clarification everything will continue as planned, and that the project would
continue even without the remaining World Bank funds, the amount of which was
also downplayed by the spokesperson.
By the way, another area were
people are frequently being disappeared and murdered by national park rangers
is west of Serengeti National Park (not Loliondo and Ngorongoro that’s to the
east). Tanzania Human Rights Defenders Coalition and others have reported about
this, but no international coverage that I know of.
Lastly,
As if anyone would need
another vomitive, the grabber of Maasai land and ruthless hypocrite Judi
Wineland, is reported as saying, "Rick and I have spent more than 40
years building a set of companies we can be truly proud of, so when it came to
passing the baton, we had extremely high expectations. We knew we wanted our
legacy to be honored and our values to be upheld. We knew it had to be a
company that believed tourism must be an instrument for good, benefiting local
communities, preserving the land and wildlife, and bringing guests closer to
the natural world. We found the perfect match in Lindblad Expeditions and
Natural Habitat. We are excited to see our companies reach even greater heights
under their careful and caring stewardship."
Don’t honour this “legacy”!
Stop Thomson Safaris! They should have been stopped so long ago. Lindblad
Expeditions, remove the beacons, stop all business on the stolen land, and
vacate it immediately!
Stop them!
Susanna
Nordlund is a working-class person based in Sweden who since 2010 has been
blogging about Loliondo (increasingly also about NCA) and has her fingerprints
thoroughly registered with Immigration so that she will not be able to enter
Tanzania through any border crossing, ever again. She has never worked for any
NGO or intelligence service and hasn’t earned a shilling from her Loliondo
work. She can be reached at sannasus@hotmail.com
Please
contact me with any questions about Loliondo. Never guess and never copy
hurriedly written newspaper articles, or even reports by serious organizations,
without double checking. Also, please contact me with any information you may have.
Don’t assume that I’m getting it automatically. I must chase people 24-7 for
information. While anyone with good intentions is allowed to use anything
written in my blog, and I’ve long ago understood that many fear being
associated with me (partly understandable for Tanzanians, but NOT for
non-Tanzanians), I appreciate being given credit or at least having my blog
linked to.
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