NO MORE LODGES INSIDE THE NGORONGORO CONSERVATION AREA DECREES KIKWETE
(Posted 24th April 2014)
Information was received from Arusha that Tanzania’s President Jakaya Kikwete during a visit earlier this week to the town of Karatu, issued a directive that no more new lodges would be permitted inside the Ngorongoro Conservation Area and that any new developments would have to take place outside the UNESCO World Heritage Site. President Kikwete reportedly made reference to the existence of some 50 accommodation units already in place and suggested that new investors should look at places like Karatu to put up hotels or lodges within or outside the township. Karatu is located at the foot of Ngorongoro, not too far from the park entrance gate, and already has several tourist accommodation units located on farms outside the township like the longtime favourite Gibbs Farm, the Karatu Simba Lodge, the Umali Lodge, the Bougainvillea Lodge and several others, which are used by safari companies to book their clients at lower rates but often equal standards compared to the lodges which sit on the rim of the crater and are subject to stiff concession and royalty payments.
Nothing however was said about the increase in human population, and their livestock, inside the NCA which has over the past several decades risen substantially, posing regular challenges to the management of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority which is legally in charge of the park. This, according to several tourism stakeholders sampled, poses an arguably greater long term risk to the sustainability of the Ngorongoro Crater area than the steadily rising number of tourists, which, as it was also duly acknowledged will at a certain point need regulating to perhaps put a cap on daily entries at some stage in the future.
Already have a rise in tourist visitor numbers resulted in logistical changes to facilitate the tours into the crater itself, with full day drives and the classic picnics taken on the crater floor now a thing of the past as only half day tours are possible in order to meet the demand by the tourism industry.
(Picture courtesy of NCCA’s website)
While making the announcement during his visit to Karatu, President Kikwete also told his audience that the airstrip in Manyara would be extended to facilitate larger planes to land there. For more information about the NCA visit their website by clicking on www.ngorongorocrater.org/welcome.html
