WILDEBEEST and 30X30 -- The Great Migration

In it's annual migration from Ngorongoro, through the Serengeti, across the Mara River and into Kenya to the Masai Mara, the wildebeest is an important animal in several ways:

• Tourism - large numbers of tourists follow migrations every year.

• Benefit to the environment

In February, the migration passes through the south part of  Serengeti National Park and in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. This period is the peak season for fertility for antelopes and important for the formation of the next generation. New antelopes are born during this season, and visitors may see the young walking with the herd.

Spanning across northern Tanzania is 30,000 square kilometers (12,000 sq mi) of rich grasslands. The name Serengeti is said to come from the Maasai people meaning "endless plains." Among the gazelles, zebras, and antelopes that call this place home, there is one grazer that rules them all, the blue wildebeest. As a keystone species, blue wildebeests are essential in keeping this African prairie a carbon sink.

https://www.oneearth.org/species-of-the-week-blue-wildebeest/

In the mid-20th century, the blue wildebeest population was decimated to just 300,000 individuals because of disease. Ground vegetation began to overpopulate which eventually led to wildfires that destroyed 80% of the ecosystem annually. This led to a net release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, making the Serengeti a producer of greenhouse gases. When disease management efforts helped the wildebeest population recover back to their historic levels of over 1.5 million, the landscape was brought back into balance and restored to being a natural storage unit for CO2 in less than a decade. 

Today, the blue wildebeest population is stable and considered of least concern by The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).  The rewilding of wildebeests in the Serengeti is considered one of the most successful rewilding stories of our time. Rewilding efforts can not only save species and restore habitats -  it is also an essential solution in the fight against the climate crisis.

The wildebeest population was 1.2 million in 1975 and 1.5 million as of 2020.

Without the Indigneous Maasai people, their land, which is a passage way for the great migration of widebeest and other grazing animals, would become a place for hunters with huge elaborate hunting lodges, many in the path of the wildlife corridors.

The Maasai people in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area are under the threat of eviction from their homeland.

Please, if you can, ask President Biden or VP Kamala Harris to insist that the government of Tanzania keep the Maasai in their homeland and to restore social services, wet grasslands, water rights and maize subsidies.  Biden or Harris is going there sometime in 2023.

Lake Manyara - If the Maasai are displaced by hunters and hotels, will this beautiful place still exist?

Will too many tourists and game hunters vehicles + hotels interfere with the Great migration?

Will the ecological system here fail due to climate change?

Gutenbergia cordifolia (yellow flower in the background) is not native to Tanzania. It has no Maasai name like native plants do. However in Kenya, the Maasai call it Namurdelo. Maasai know native plants well because their livestock's well-being depends on the Maasai expert knowledge of their environment. When they burn, it benefits all ungulate wildlife, not just cattle.

The Maasai used to burn noxious weed, but until recently, the NCA administration refused to do so. And when they did some burning, it was in the wrong time of the year. To learn more about Maasai expertise, go to the Maasai Community Report at this site: https://www.oaklandinstitute.org/sites/oaklandinstitute.org/files/pdfpreview/ngorongoro-community-report-final-vu.pdf

https://www.vpo.go.tz/news/tanzania-dubai-zasaini-ushirikiano-biashara-ya-kaboni