In April 2010 thousands of Masai women demonstrated in the provincial capital of Ngorongo against their expulsion and the theft of their land. Dozens of demonstrators were arrested and hundreds of women were forcibly taken away on lorries. The Masai are furious as this is not the first time that they are being forced to leave their land. More and more of their land is being is being designated as National - or Game-Parks or is being used for large agricultural projects. Even though the native tribes constitute around ten per cent of the Tanzanian population, the state has continually been disregarding the rights of the Masai, Barabaig, Taturu and Sukuma. It seems that the original inhabitants are valued only for their use in the promotion of tourism.

The tourist industry has become a curse for many of the Masai. When in 1951 the Serengeti National Park was founded, the original inhabitants, who were following their traditional lifestyle, were summarily despatched to the neighbouring region of Loliondo. The Masai, who had been living from the meat of their sheep and goats, as well as from occasional hunts, were seen by the National Park businesses as a danger to the wild animal population of the Serengeti. Now the big game hunters are even trying to force the Masai to disappear from the areas which have been set aside for them in the Loliondo Game Park. The holder of the hunting concessions in the game park is the Ortello Business Corporation (OBC) from the United Arab Emirates. The owner of this company is the family of the Emirate Sheiks. In 1992 the OBC took over the tenancy of the land in Loliondo. In the following years the freedom of movement for the Masai within the park became ever more restricted. Eventually the disputes escalated in July 2009. The Arabian business forcibly removed more than three thousand Masai out of the game park and burned down around 200 of their huts to prevent the semi-nomadic people from returning.

The Masai do not intend take their expulsion lying down, for the finding of new pasture grounds is for them a matter of survival. These original inhabitants are desperately searching for new pastures for their 50,000 goats and cattle. Their herds have already in recent years been decimated in numbers due to severe droughts which, due to climate change, have been more and more frequently affecting East Africa.

The situation for the Masai will become increasingly drastic. The sprawl of urban development, and the establishment of ever more Game- and National-Parks is making it increasingly difficult for the native peoples to lead their traditional way of life. Tanzania has already granted more than 130 hunting concessions for an area of more than 250,000 square kilometres, which is about a quarter of the area of the whole country. The several thousand big game hunters from abroad are quite happy to spend a lot of money to pursue their hobby. A three-week hunting expedition for lions or elephants in East Africa costs at least 49,000 US dollars. According to government information the receipts from hunting tourism amount to around 80 million US dollars per year. This is a hugely important source of money for the government, which they do not want to lose on account of the land claims of the native tribes. The authorities are constantly using false information to justify their actions. For example, following the arrests during the demonstrations in April 2010, they claimed that the Masai involved did not come from Tanzania but from neighbouring Kenya. However, the protests in the country were so strong that even the Tanzanian Parliament had to set up a Commission of Enquiry.

In recent months a broad alliance has been established, of Masai activists, Citizens’ Rights groups, Environmental Protection agencies, Women’s groups, church groups from all denominations, journalists and lawyers, who together are calling upon the government not to renew the already-expired (in December 2009) hunting concessions of the OBC for the Loliondo Game Park, and therefore to enable the return of the Masai.

Please call upon the responsible Minister for Tourism, Frau Shamsa Mwangunga, whose responsibility this is, to protect the land rights of the Masai and to reverse the expulsion of the Masai from Loliondo.

Translated by Charles and Gisela Russell