Politics and Injustice in Loliondo

There are election results.

An unbelievable unjust – but not unexpected -court ruling was delivered, and there will be an appeal.

There’s some good, some bad and some downright ugly news, and this blog post has been somewhat delayed due to confusion.

Betrayal and Abuse Continue in Loliondo

Nothing was done about the human rights abuse of February.

The RC came.

Kidupo kept getting worse.

A surveying team came and left.

Channel 10 attacked again.

Then Kenyans and those “helping Kenyans” were attacked.

Updates on the human rights abuse in February

The people whose houses were burned 10^th-14^th February did, according to reports I've got, not get any help.

Good News, Strange News, Worrying Developments, Idiotic Comments and Inexplicable Silences about Loliondo Land Threats

After some months of silence central government reappeared and disappeared in Loliondo. Then the Prime Minister appeared and declared that the 1.500km2 belong to the Maasai and their coming generations thereby reversing the threats and lies by the Minister of Natural Resources and Tourism.

Long term FZS head comes out in support of the Government and OBC.

The court case against Thomson Safaris is ongoing, there’s still unity, but sinister old manager is back.

This dry season turned bad and grazing in Serengeti NP was needed. Cows and people were arrested with strange charge sheets.

After the Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism, Khamis Kagasheki, had spent the first part of 2013 issuing threatening and bizarre statements about the Government’s intention of taking 1,500km2 of important grazing land for a “wildlife corridor” and several protest delegations from Loliondo had visited Dar es Salaam and Dodoma, the Prime Minister wrote a letter to the Arusha Regional Commissioner on 30^th May and everything went quiet. Kagasheki had gone as far as calling the Maasai “landless” invaders of their own land, and saying that they were being “given” land since the Government would not take the whole of Loliondo Game Controlled Area (that in its totality is village land). The Prime Minister, in contrast, did recognise that the land does belong to the villages, but otherwise his letter wasn’t very promising since the PM did not show an understanding of the importance of this land for pastoralism. Nothing was ever heard from the Regional Commissioner about the Prime Minister’s letter.

Another Loliondo Visit - A Kind of Safari Report

In memory of Moringe Parkipuny

In July 2013 I managed to return to Loliondo and meet some people affected by Thomson Safaris’occupation of 12,617 acres of Maasai land.

This report is maybe too personal, but not of the kind written in another time. It focuses on the land threats (and me seeking information about them) and not my inadequacies as a tourist, weird and wonderful people and animals I've met, or efforts to wash my hair without running water. The report may contain some whining and ranting.

The Beacons from Hell

The most recent efforts by the Tanzanian government to grab a “corridor” of land from the people of Loliondo

The threat of a corridor of extension of Serengeti National Park onto village land in Loliondo Division of Ngorongoro District has again reared its ugly head. On 20^th November 2012 villagers from Ololosokwan went to Klein’s Gate and it was established that Tanzania National Parks (TANAPA) were planning to put border beacons – that had been brought and were being stored - far inside land belonging to the village. They already tried this in 2008 and then the beacons were destroyed by angry villagers, some of whom were arrested for a few hours until fellow villagers forced their release. Through the years TANAPA have tried many bad tricks and then there have been times of uneventful coexistence. Similar attempts at expanding borders are going on around most protected areas in Tanzania.