President Samia launches East Africa’s mega bridge

By Lake Zone Watch writer

Serengeti district residents have requested the Tanzania National Parks (TANAPA) to consider giving priority to goods produced in the area that should be sold to hotels within the Serengeti National Park and other game reserves to enable people enjoy the benefits of their presence.

Apart from the presence of game reserves, half of the world-famous Serengeti National Park is found in Serengeti district in Mara region.

Chama Cha Mapinduzi councilor of the Main Stand ward in Serengeti district, Mwita Mapancha, said in an interview that residents in the area have the capacity to feed all hotels within Serengeti National Park with the availability of such goods as vegetables, fruits, eggs and chicken meat.

He said that he could not understand why 95 per cent of the hotels are ordering such products from Arusha, 200 kms away, while the same are readily available at a distance of 40 kms at Mugumu town, the Serengeti district headquarters.

Mapancha said Serengeti district residents would greatly benefit from service levy from camps and tourism hotels within the sprawling World Heritage Site.

Considering the prevailing employment crisis, the Serengeti councilor also asked TANAPA to give priority to employing the jobless youth in the Tanzanian wildlife-rich district .

“Apart from the fact that the TANAPA head office is in Arusha, I don’t see any necessity of everything being done in Arusha… procurement you go to Arusaha; everything Arusha. I think they should open a branch at Serengeti National Park so that our young men and women are not compelled to send their job applications to Arusha,”he proposed.

On his part, the Chairman of the Tanzania Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture in Serengeti district, Marwa Bitalian, proposed the construction of a macadamized road to Serengeti National Park via Mugumu town to bring tourism services closer to the people.

“Lack of a good road denies Serengeti residents the benefits and opportunities offered by tourism in their area,” he said.