Tanzania News - archive 4

Tanzania news, views and interesting items brought to you by TaZnews.

This issue:                                                                                        Updated May 2007

Government bans construction of lodges in conservation area

The government has banned construction of hotels and lodges inside the Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCAA).

Lodges and hotels would now be built outside the conservation area in neighbouring places such as Karatu district and the Loliondo Township from where visitors could be driven to the parks. The NCAA has taken steps to acquire an area of 400 hectares in Karatu district for hotel and lodges investors.

Cultivators should also quit the conservation areas and shift to Oldonyo Sambu village which NCAA has set aside for cultivation purposes. After this season's harvest no one should be farming inside the conservation area.

The government spokesman stated that in the conservation area, animals should enjoy their freedom and live in their natural environment with minimum disturbance.

The minister said the government intends to make tourism the top foreign exchange earner within four to five years and hence the need for maintenance and close protection of Ngorongoro conservation area, a first class tourist attraction in the world.

Source: Arusha Times

 

Kihansi toads sent to US are to return to Tanzania

Over 400 endangered toads from Kihansi hydro-power that were sent to a US zoo for conservation are to be returned to the country at the end of this year.

In 2002 and 2003, the Kihansi spray toads` population grew to an estimated number of 21,000. Unfortunately, the number crumbled to as few as 50 individuals due to human activities and other factors facing Kihansi Gorge.

Toad life became difficult because of the decreased volume of water triggered by electricity production. Also contributing was the effects of sediment toxicity and Chytrid fungus growth. A tug of war between environmentalists, power stakeholders and experts ensued which resulted in the governments decision to send the endangered toads to the US.

Currently, there are more than 450 toads housed in US-based zoos (Bronz zoo in New York and Toledo zoo in Ohio). The plan is to return the species in phases at the end of this year.

According to the minister, if the captive population in the US zoos continues to double, Tanzania would have to establish its own captive population by the end of this year.
Source: Guardian

A former resident of Tanzania gets a makeover in Berlin

The world's largest dinosaur skeleton is being fixed, buffed and pampered for the summer opening of an exhibition at Berlin's natural history museum.

A team of Canadian specialists are reconstructing the 12.5 meter high (41 feet); 23 meter long Brachiosaurus after the giant herbivore was dismantled three years ago while the museum building was refurbished.

The dinosaur has undergone a total makeover, with numerous sections of the skeleton recast in carbon fiber, a material experts working on the project said was about 100 times lighter than the original fossils.

The bones of the Brachiosaurus, considered one of the largest dinosaurs to have ever walked the earth, were found in the early 1900s in Tendaguru, a former German colony, in what is now Tanzania.

Source: Reuters

 

Tanzania’s Precision Air to invest Sh172b

Precision Air, a Tanzanian airline, is to invest $100m (about sh172b) to enhance its continental operations in Africa.

The investment will come with increased flights to Entebbe International Airport (from 1 to 3 a week). The carrier already flies to 15 destinations in Africa but new destinations include Johannesburg, Nairobi and Comoros and plans are in place to replace and expand its current fleet.

 

The company was started in 1987 for crop-spraying in Tanzania. Precision Air was voted the Airline of the year in 2006.

Source: New Vision

Kilimanjaro glaciers may last longer than predicted -A 2006 comeback

A fresh assessment suggests the famous ice fields on Africa's tallest mountain will be around for decades yet.

A joint Austrian-U.S. research team that took seven years of measurements from weather stations atop Africa's tallest mountain says that its ice fields will be around for another 30 to 40 years, while the glaciers on its slopes could last even longer.

The research team found new evidence showing that lower precipitation—and not rising temperatures on the summit—is the main cause for the Kilimanjaro glaciers' retreat.

The abundant snows needed to maintain the ice fields come from weather patterns that form in the Indian Ocean. A computer simulation of weather patterns since the year 1500 showed that such systems have formed less often in recent years.

The mountain's ice, for example, retreated by about a foot and a half (a half meter) each year starting in 2000, when the researchers began taking measurements.

The glaciers now measure about 0.8 square mile (2 square kilometres), down from 4.6 square miles (12 square kilometres) in 1912.

But in 2006 an El Niño weather pattern helped bring heavy snowfall that almost buried weather stations on Kilimanjaro. The storms also thickened the peak's glaciers, increasing their thickness even though their surface area stayed the same.

El Niño had been known to bring more precipitation to low-level ecosystems in East Africa. But the finding that it did the same at higher altitudes is new.

The findings push back slightly the date the mountain is expected to completely lose its ice, the researchers say. The weather station data and modelling work indicates the tropical ice should last well beyond 2040.

That's good news for Tanzania's tourism industry as thousands of tourists visit Kilimanjaro each year.

Source: Daily News & National Geographic news

 

UN supported tourism website to be launched soon

A website on promotion of tourism in Tanzania, the first of its kind under the support of United Nations World Tourism Organisation, will be launched soon.

Briefing journalists in Dar es Salaam yesterday on a seven day conference held in Addis Ababa in May, the Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism Prof. Jumanne Maghembe said one of the issues raised was promoting tourism in African countries.

Prof. Maghembe said the World Tourist Organization has agreed to team up with the Microsoft Company to establish a website to promote tourism for the respective countries beginning with Tanzania.

A team of experts are due to arrive to begin to work on the launch of the website.

Source: Guardian

 

New branding for Tanzania tourism menu

A new Tanzania tourism branding effort intends to focus more on cultural heritage, history and striking natural attractions and also seek to promote less developed tourist attractions including southern and western Tanzania wildlife parks, the scenic mountains in southern highlands, cultural tourism in villages, sports, arts, shopping and special interest tours in the country.

Tanzania Tourist Board (TTB) Director of Marketing Amant Macha was recently in Germany where he briefed a section of German and other Western journalists about the countries new tourism branding efforts. The Tanzania government is seeking opportunities for more press coverage in the traditional tourist markets of North America, Europe and emerging markets in South East Asia.

The new strategy is part of Tanzania’s campaign to attract one million tourists by the year 2010 and mint over USD one billion (1.3 trillion/-).

Tourism publicity and infrastructure development (upgrading roads, air transport and accommodation) are also a priority

Source: Guardian


Street lights at the end of the tunnel

The northern Tanzania city of Arusha is braced to have its first street lights installed along the 'Afrika ya Mashariki' road which leads to the international conference centre (AICC). Installation of the lights on the one kilometre road will begin soon and may signal the beginning of a long term programme to put lights on the city's roads.

The road leading to the AICC from the Moshi-Namanga highway was named Barabara ya Afrika ya Mashariki. It leads to the temporary headquarters of the East African Community and where the new head offices of the Community will be constructed effective mid this year. Current AICC tenants include the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and EAC and its key organs.

Further developments to the AICC include expansion of Simba Hall, one of the meeting rooms of the country's largest convention centre, to seat an extra 500 delegates, roof refurbishment, acoustic and lighting upgrades, extended car parking and external painting. The face lift is to ensure the AICC remains the top notch conference centre in the country.

Source: Arusha Times

 

Education boost for Tanzania

One of the Millennium Development Goals is to ensure that all children are able to complete primary education. There are currently 77 million children who are out of school, 38 million of them in Africa.

Tanzania has been successful in raising primary school enrolment from less than 60% in 2000 to 96% in 2006. However, increased long-term funding is essential to help the government of Tanzania address the big challenges that still remain, including lack of teachers, classrooms, teaching materials, teacher’s housing, and the need to improve teaching skills.

The UK government has recently announced it will provide funding for education in Tanzania over the next 10 years. Governments need the security of long-term aid so they can plan their education spending over years, not months

In 2006/07, UK provided 110 million in aid to Tanzania, of which 90 million was provided as general budget support to assist the government in implementing priorities set out in the National Strategy for Growth and Reduction of Poverty (MKUKUTA).

In 2007/08, UK is planning to provide 120 million in aid to Tanzania, of which 105 million will be provided as general budget support to assist implementation of MKUKUTA.

Source: Guardian

 

New Tanzania manufactured medicine on the market

Tanzania has become the first African country to manufacture Zinc tablets for treatment of acute diarrhoea among infants. The local new drug was launched in April 2007.

In May, 2004, the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) issued a joint statement recommending the use of zinc together with new formulation of oral rehydrated salt (ORS) with reduced levels of glucose and salt as a two-pronged approach to improve case management of acute diarrhoea in children.

Zinc deficiency has been rampant in developing countries, including Tanzania. The new tablets are expected to help reduce the infant mortality rate in the country.

The WHO and UNICEF together with USAID have jointly approved the newly launched Zinc tablets for case management of acute diarrhoea among infants.

Source: Sunday Observer

 

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