Tanzania Tells World Bank, "Nuts"

The President of Tanzania Jakaya Kikwete told World Bank representatives that it will go ahead with a northern route [red, map courtesy of wildlifeextra.com] for a commercial road to the banks of Lake Victoria. The northern route will bisect the famed savannah of Serengeti National Park, site of one of the last mass ungulate migrations on Earth. A recent statistical study based on computer modeling and posted at PLoS ONE shows a 35% drop in the number of herd animals which would mean a disaster for predators who rely on the migration to feed themselves. Paving and fencing will inevitably follow the road as will human settlements and agriculture thereby erecting a catastrophic barrier to migration and facilitate increased poaching. The northern route also threatens to cut off Kenya's Masai Mara Reserve from the migration which would jeopardize that country's most important source of tourism.

In response to the world outcry against the ill-conceived plan, the World Bank included a southern route around the park in its Country Assistance Strategy, indicating a willingness to help fund the alternative project. The road project is scheduled to begin in 2012. Local environmentalists welcome the alternative route [green] since it spares the inevitable destruction of wildlife and provides a greater benefit to the densely populated area adjacent to the Serengeti's southern boundaries. The route also avoids the last 400 Hadza, Africa's last true hunter-gatherers. Since Tanzanian authorities apparently are insensitive to protecting their greatest natural resource, it may come to an international travel boycott or other means of convincing officials to reroute their commercial traffic in order to save the world heritage site. Hope to see the world's greatest wildlife spectacle in person one day? Sign an on-line petition to ask for a southern route to bypass the Serengeti.