MT. KILIMANJARO TO HOST THE FIRST EVER PARAGLIDING EVENT IN TANZANIA

TANAPA's Public Relations Manager Pascal Shelutete (left) and Wings of Kilimanjaro Coordinator Paula Mc Rae addressing the media during the launch

 By Pascal Shelutete - Public Relations Manager
Tanzania National Parks (TANAPA) in collaboration with an Australian company “Wings of Kilimanjaro” will host the first ever Paragliding event on Mount Kilimanjaro from 27th January, 2013 to 6th February, 2013.
A group of more than 100 adventurers and philanthropists from 25 countries from around the globe will come together to Tanzania to climb and fly from the Roof of Africa. The team, who will be one of the largest ever groups to attempt the world’s tallest free standing mountain, aim to ascend the 5,895m high peak and fly from the summit.
“Wings of Kilimanjaro” will donate 100% of money raised to support the charities of “One Foundation”, “Plant with Purpose” and “WorldServe International”. These organizations are undertaking ground-breaking work in East Africa to address the severe problems of poverty in rural communities, deforestation and humanitarian issues including clean drinking water, education and nutrition.
The whole expedition will have more than 600 porters, guides and crew who will support the 100+ adventurers. The group will spend seven days making the trek to the peak where the pilots will launch.
The paragliding event, whereby pilots will be flying from the Roof Top of Africa will take place on 5th or 6th February, 2013 depending on the weather at Kibo. The team of pilots have chosen the grounds surrounding the Umbwe High School and Kibosho Vocational Training Centre between the villages of Machame and Kibosho. The public is highly welcomed to witness this important touristic event.
Paragliding participants currently include several newsworthy individuals from the world of adventure sport, adventure travelling and philanthropy including the 2012 National Geographic Adventurer of the Year, Sano Babu Sunuwar from Nepal.

Face-to-Face With Lowland Gorillas

DEEP in the equatorial rain forest of the Central African Republic lies a natural treasure that few have ever seen. We endured a 12-hour drive over rough trails to reach the Dzanga-Ndoki National Park, a pristine wildlife reserve in the southwest corner of the country, between Cameroon and Republic of the Congo. Our goal was to meet Makumba, a western lowland gorilla, and Makumba’s family.

Our guide told us to stay together and to be on the lookout for elephants, since we would be hiking on trails that they used daily to search for food. But elephants weren’t our only concern. “If a gorilla charges you,” our guide warned us, “stand still and look at the ground. He won’t hurt you; he’ll just make a lot of noise. Don’t make eye contact with him. In fact, I find it helps just to close my eyes.”

Along with our guide, we were led by a tracker from the BaAka people, considered a Pygmy group because of their physical traits and short stature.  By means of the faintest sights, smells, and sounds, the skilled native tracker can detect the presence of the most elusive animals. Swarms of maddening sweat bees surrounded us. We struggled to keep up as he strode with ease through the dense vegetation.

Soon our tracker was taking us through virgin forest where few Westerners have ever trod. Then, abruptly, he stopped and waved his arms over a large area near our path. There we could see crushed bushes and matted grass where young gorillas had been playing, as well as broken and stripped branches​—the remnants of a midmorning snack. Our anticipation mounted as we continued on.

A western lowland gorilla can grow to 6 feet (1.8 m) tall and weigh over 440 pounds (200 kg)

After about two miles (3 km), the tracker slowed his pace. To avoid startling the gorillas, he made a clack-clack noise with his tongue. Close by, we could hear deep grunts punctuated by snapping branches. Our guide slowly waved us forward. With a finger to her lips, she indicated absolute silence. She told us to crouch and pointed through the trees. About 26 feet (8 m) ahead, we saw him​—it was Makumba!

The once boisterous forest was now quiet, and all we could hear was the beating of our hearts. Of course, the question on our minds was, Would Makumba charge? Makumba turned his leathery face in our direction and, after what seemed to be a casual evaluation, welcomed us with a yawn. Needless to say, we were relieved!

Although in the Aka language the name Makumba means “Speedy,” during our time together, Makumba simply enjoyed a leisurely morning meal. Nearby, two juveniles wrestled and tickled each other. Sopo, a saucer-eyed ten-month-old, played near his mother, Mopambi, who gently pulled him back whenever his boundless curiosity led him out of arm’s reach. The rest of the family either stripped leaves and pith from branches or frolicked in groups, briefly glancing at us before losing interest and resuming their play.

After an hour, our time was up. Makumba seemed to feel the same, and with a single grunt, he hoisted himself up with his massive arms and moved off into the forest. Within seconds, the entire family vanished. Though we could spend only a short time with these magnificent creatures, the experience will stay with us for many years to come.

GORILLA LIFE

Gorillas build their ponderous bodies one shoot, branch, and leaf at a time, our guide explained. They also eat insects and seasonal fruits and can travel up to 2.4 miles (4 km) a day in search of food. The family may sleep on the ground or build nests in trees. The dominant male is called a silverback, since the fur on his back grays with age. The silverback usually sleeps on the ground to protect his family.
To help the gorillas become accustomed to humans, trackers visit them every day for at least five years. Habituated gorillas, as they are called, may then be visited by tourists, whose park entry fees help pay for research and for the conservation of this endangered species.
Source:Awake Magazine

TANZANIA RECEIVE THREE BLACK RHINOS FROM UK

   

Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism Ambassador Khamis Kagasheki (fourth left front row) shake hands with UK's High Commissioner Dianne Corner soon after the later handed over three rhinos from UK to Mkomazi National Park (Picture by Pascal Shelutete)j

 Tanzania National Parks has received three black rhinos from Britain. The rhino were handed over to the Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism Honorable Ambassador Khamis Kagasheki by the UK’s Hugh Commissioner Ms. Diane Corner at Mkomazi National Park over the weekend.
During the handing over ceremony, Ms. Diane Corner said that her country and Tanzania share very common aims in protecting the remaining rhinoceros population.
The rhinos were translocated from the United Kingdom by the donors – Damian Aspinall and Amos George of the Aspinall Foundation and Port Lympne Wild Animal Park and ferried to Tanzania aboard a huge DHL 757 aircraft last Saturday and touched down at Kilimanjaro Airport at around 7:20 am last Sunday.
The rhino’s motorcade, which was under tight security, arrived at Mkomazi National Park at 2:30 pm where Ms. Corner handed over the wild animals to Ambassador Kagasheki before they were taken to their cage at Mkomazi Rhino Sanctuary.
In her handing-over remarks, Ambassador Corner lauded Mr. Tony Fitzjohn of the George Adamson Wildlife Preservation Trust as well as his talented and dedicated Tanzanian team for building, stocking and managing the Mkomazi Rhino Sanctuary to a highly professional level where they were able to accept the donation of the rhinos, protect them, breed them up and perpetuate the very precious species.
Ambassador Kagasheki told the envoy that the history of black rhino population in Tanzania and Africa in general has been one of a disappointment, saying during the 1960’s, it was estimated that there were about 70,000 black rhinos in Africa, of which 10,000 were in Tanzania, the largest concentrations of black rhino in Africa.
However, the Minister said by 1984, it was estimated that Tanzania’s rhino population had been reduced by 70% from 10,000 in 1960 to around 3,000. Worse still, said Ambassador Kagasheki, by 1990 black rhino numbers in Tanznaia had been reduced by over 97% to less than 100 animals, a tragic story indeed, he pointed out.
“The severe decline in rhino numbers and the extent of poaching throughout the country has continued to pose a serious challenge in our anti-poaching operations,”he said. Ambassador Kagasheki has asked communities living around all national parks countrywide to offer maximum support to wildlife conservation organs in the country to ensure that black rhinos and other highly endangered wild animals do not disappear from earth as the future generation will come and ask on the integrity and worthiness of our existence at the time.
Earlier, the Director General of Tanzania National Parks, Mr. Allan Kijazi, told  the audience that black rhinos were classified as ‘Critically Endangered’ in the World Conservation Union (IUCN) Red List in 1996 and is listed on Appendix 1 of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora.
He said Mkomazi, whose status was upgraded to a National Park on March 14, 2008, used to have a large population of black rhinos until that population was wiped out in the 1980’s, adding that Mkomazi hosted between 150 to 250 eastern black rhinos back in 1968, estimated at nine black rhinos per square kilometer. By the 1980’s population of the animals had dropped to below twenty.
Source:Tanapa

AMBONI CAVES TANGA

     

 

Tourists flock Serengeti to witness the return of Nature’s “Greatest Show on Earth”

  

17TH September, 2012
Hundreds of thousands of tourists are now flocking Serengeti National Park to witness the return of the Wildebeest described as the Nature’s Greatest Show on Earth from the neighboring country where they went for their holidays.
This year, Tanzania National Parks (TANAPA) conducted a special event of welcoming home the legendary Wildebeest Migration, consisting of about two million ungulates, among them 1.5 million wildebeests believed to have spent less than a month in the neighboring country. Soon they will all be back home in the Serengeti where they will spend most of their life in a year before crossing again to Masai Mara for their short holidays.

 

Early rains in the Serengeti have encouraged the wildebeest to cut short their holidays in Masai Mara as there is plenty of grass to feed on back home.
At Mara River, the wildebeest migration which also includes zebras and gazelles could be seen escaping giant crocodiles as they crossed the wide and deep, River Mara on their way back to Serengeti from the neighboring country’s Masai Mara.

  

    

 

Nature’s Greatest Show on Earth normally covers more than 1000 kilometers and takes place annually on a 12 month circle, in which the ungulates spend 10 months in Tanzania (Serengeti - Ngorongoro ecosystem) and two months in Kenya’s Maasai Mara.
Pascal Shelutete
PUBLIC RELATIONS MANAGER
TANZANIA NATIONAL PARKS

DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU MISS BY NOT VISITING LAKE MANYARA?

African wild dogs are most endangered species of carnivores. Recently a pack of 5 dogs have taken residency on the southern part of Lake Manyara National Park".

See the pictures below.

 

   

   

http://www.tanzaniaparks.com/news/wild-dogs.html    

Tanzania photos (Tanzania's wildlife and natural beauty)

 

MY BEAUTIFUL TANZANIA

      

 



       


           


  



 


 

 
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PICTURES  OF  MIKUMI  NATIONAL PARK  IN  TANZANIA.THE PARK NEAR  MOROGORO

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