AZURA SELOUS HAS TO HALT OPERATIONS AS LOGGERS SWARM THEIR NEIGHBOURHOOD
(Posted 14th March 2019)
Ignored by the regime mouthpiece media in Tanzania, browbeaten into submission through coercion and constant threats, has the ill conceived plans to build a hydro power plant at Stieglers Gorge in the Selous claimed its first tourism victim.
With local media fearful to report such issues, has ATCNews picked up the story as so often before, when sources in both Arusha and Dar es Salaam, for understandable reasons wishing to be assured of full anonymity, tipped off this publication.
https://africageographic.com/blog/luxury-lodge-closes-loggers-move-make-way-dam-selous-game-reserve/
«Azura Selous, a luxury game lodge situated along the banks of the
Great Ruaha River in the Selous Game has announced its sudden closure
due to the unexpected arrival of loggers in the area. In a newsletter
sent out to various members of the travel industry, Azura Selous
stated that the loggers intend to clear the area for the flooding that
will occur during the construction of the hotly debated Stieglers
Gorge hydropower dam along the Rufiji River.
According to latest news reports, seventeen Tanzanian companies have
been awarded tenders to clear 1,500 square kilometres of terrain
inside Selous – an estimated 2.6 million trees – to make way for the
hydropower plant.»
The massive investment undertaken by the owners of Azura who also own and operate two very upscale properties in Mozambique and one in South Africa, has gone to waste for all intent and purpose, a sharpish reminder that foreign investors in this socialist state are only welcome as long as it serves the purpose of the rulers but become dispensable when they are no longer needed or stand in the way of what the regime thinks as ‘progress’.
The Selous Game Reserve, the largest of its kind in the world, has for long attracted the top end of the safari market but when the poaching crisis under the regime of former President Kikwete claimed tens of thousands of elephant without any visible steps at the time to halt the factory like killings, did it suddenly become a greater challenge to convince tourists to visit the reserve.
Azura Selous, as did other upmarket safari camps, however stayed the course and remained open, only to have the proverbial rug pulled from underneath their feet through actions by the regime which have been widely condemned around the world by conservation organizations, the tourism trade and the conservation fraternity at large.
Writes Azura Selous on their website:
Farewell Azura Selous
From the Azura Selous Team – February 2019
At Azura, we consider ourselves privileged to have hosted a uniquely luxurious yet environmentally-friendly camp in a remote part of one of Africa’s last great wilderness areas, where our very presence helped protect and preserve endangered wildlife. Sadly the Tanzanian government has announced plans to build a hydropower dam in the Selous Game Reserve.
Whilst we did not expect to be affected for some years, a team of loggers recently arrived in the area surrounding Azura Selous to start clearing the area in preparation for flooding that will occur when the proposed hydropower dam at Stieglers Gorge is constructed. The government has advised us to move our camp, and with heavy hearts, we have closed Azura Selous and bid farewell.
As the last guests have enjoyed the exclusive Azura experience of the Selous Game Reserve, here are some of our memories…
Check out their site to enjoy a full range of pictures, which show what is now being willfully destroyed and will forever be lost:
https://www.azura-retreats.com/blog-azura-selous/122-farewell-azura-selous
Commiseration to the owners and staff of the Azura Selous luxury safari camp after losing their investment and jobs.
For other articles published about the Selous by www.ATCNews.org click on the links below:
https://atcnews.org/2015/01/03/big-bigger-selous-the-worlds-largest-game-reserve/
https://atcnews.org/2015/07/12/the-selous-game-reserve-to-be-or-not-to-be/
https://atcnews.org/2017/09/02/flooding-the-selous-the-big-challenge-for-the-serengeti/
