Selous

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Selous
Selous Game Reserve-8.jpg
Selous (Tanzania)
Paris plan pointer b jms.svg
Coordinates: 9 ° 0 ′ 0 ″  S , 37 ° 24 ′ 0 ″  E
Location: Morogoro , Tanzania
Specialty: World Heritage Site, Africa's largest game reserve
Next city: Kisaki
Surface: 51,200 km²
Founding: 1922
Visitors: 8000 (2005)
Protected areas in Tanzania
Protected areas in Tanzania
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Selous Game Reserve
UNESCO world heritage UNESCO World Heritage Emblem
National territory: TanzaniaTanzania Tanzania
Type: nature
Criteria : (ix) (x)
Surface: 5,120,000 ha
Buffer zone: 21,492 ha
Reference No .: 199bis
UNESCO region : Africa
History of enrollment
Enrollment: 1982  ( session 6 )
Extension: 2012
Red list : since 2014

The Selous game reserve (pronounced: Səlu :) extends over 50,000 square kilometers over several regions of Tanzania and thus comprises around five percent of the entire national territory. Its altitude is 200 to 500 m, in places up to 1200 m above sea level; the precipitation amounts to 750 to 1000 mm. It belongs since 1982 to UNESCO - World Heritage and is the largest controlled game reserve in Africa . Since 2014 it has been on the Red List of World Heritage in Danger due to organized poaching, which endangers the animal population .

Flora and fauna

A group of elephants on the banks of the Rufiji

The vegetation in the little human-impaired reserve encompasses several biomes from thickets to open, tree-lined grassland. However, the main part is accounted for by the so-called miombo forest (mainly carob family , which shed their leaves in the dry season).

Numerous species of mammals live in the reserve, some of which are found in very large populations thanks to the vast extent of the area. The most impressive are the populations of elephants (around 13,000, as of 2013), giraffes , hippos , buffaloes and crocodiles . Here the shy and endangered African wild dogs have found one of their last refuge areas (around 1300 animals, as of 1999), so they can be seen regularly on safaris around Lake Tagalala - one of the few opportunities for tourists to see them in their natural environment.

The existence of the black rhino in the reserve fell from about 3,000 animals in 1981 to a few hundred copies. Despite favorable initial conditions such as size and inaccessibility of the area, which makes poaching difficult, as well as year-round water supply through the Ruaha - Rufiji river system and good growth conditions for numerous elephant forage plants, the elephant populations are subject to strong fluctuations. In 1977 the number of elephants in the Selous and Mikumi ecosystems was 109,000; In 1976, 82,628 animals were counted in the pure park area, and in 1981 even 85,502. Just a year later, the elephant population was estimated at 55,000. After falling to 29,616 in 1989, it recovered to about 50,000 animals by 1994. In recent years, the number of elephants has decreased dramatically due to heavy poaching. According to a 2013 census, there were only about 13,000 animals. A game count in 1994 showed beyond a stock of 138,000 buffalos , 46,500 wildebeest (two subspecies: taurinus and albojubatus ) 29,500 Impalas , 27,000 hippopotamuses , 21,500 zebras , 20,000 Lichtenstein antelope , 11,700 Kongonis and 10,000 waterbuck . Especially in the grasslands north of the Rufiji you can find giraffes (2200 animals), eland antelopes , large reed buck , warthogs and occasionally cheetahs. In the Miombowäldern beyond are greater kudu and sable antelope typical. The large game populations attract numerous large carnivores. The lion population is estimated at 3,000–4,000 animals. The population of African wild dogs is the largest on the entire continent, with 1,300 animals. Leopards and spotted hyenas are also numerous. In addition, one finds in Selous baboons , strip jackals , Puku -Antilopen, Klipspringer , red duiker and blue duiker . Species rarely found in the area include the Sanje mangabe , Udzungwa colobus , black and white colobus monkey , topi and Sharpe ibex . The reserve is also home to around 350 species of birds and provides a habitat for three species of tsetse flies .

Land use and division

Sunset over the Rufiji in Selous

The Selous Game Reserve is part of the approximately 740,000 km² Selous Niassa ecosystem. This also includes the neighboring Mikumi National Park in the northwest , the Udzungwa Mountains National Park and the Kilombero Game Reserve in the west and extends in the south to the Niassa Game Reserve in Mozambique , with which the Selous is connected by a so-called "wildlife corridor".

About a tenth of the area in the north of the reserve (roughly north of the Rufiji to the TAZARA railway line) is open for photo safaris and ecotourism . The administration and headquarters of the rangers are also located here in the Matambwe settlement on the northwestern edge of the reserve . Approximately 8,000 tourists visit this part of the park each year (2005 estimate), the network of paths has been considerably improved in recent years with financial support from the German Society for Technical Cooperation (GTZ). In an area immediately south of the Rufiji is one of the last black rhinoceros populations in Tanzania, the population of which is assumed to be around 35 individuals and which are to be protected by 15 rangers. However, since the end of the GTZ mission in 2003, the quality of the administration and the financial possibilities are said to have deteriorated significantly.

The southern approximately nine-tenths of the area are divided into 42 hunting concessions (as of 1999), these are awarded to various hunting tenants or groups, which offer licensed big game hunters the opportunity to hunt elephants, buffalos, lions, leopards and other animals within specified shooting quotas and against Shoot down five-digit dollar launch fees. Giraffes cannot be hunted as they are rarely found in the southern regions. By law, the inhabitants of the villages bordering the reserve receive the meat of the killed animals free of charge, the hunter only has the trophy (in the case of elephants this is only the tail and possibly the ears, due to the ivory trade ban). The hunting areas are officially only accessible to the hunters and gamekeepers (on foot), safaris are prohibited here - but would not be possible due to the lack of roadways. Poaching control can only be done from the air.

Funding the reserve

Nine-tenths of the income of the reserve administration comes from the hunting concessions, less than one-tenth comes from eco-tourism and photo tourism. Only about half of the income stays in the reserve, the rest has to be transferred to the state. There are no state grants, on the contrary, the reserve must generate profits for the state, otherwise there is a risk of de-gazetting of areas, especially in the south and south-west, where population pressure on the reserve's borders is already increasing.

history

The area of ​​today's Selous was only sparsely populated at the end of the 19th century, but by no means deserted. The proximity to the Arab inland trading post of Kisaki and the Arab coastal cities of Kilwa , Lindi and Mikindani may have played a role - Kisaki was an important trading center for slaves and ivory - but the main reasons for this are the generally fluid, unstable and constant conditions contested rulings in the region. This resulted mainly from the immigration of the Ngoni population groups, who migrated northwards from southeastern Africa in the wake of the British Zulu Wars since the 1840s. When Richard Francis Burton and John Hanning Speke passed the area in 1858 along the caravan route from Bagamoyo to Lake Victoria via Kisaki, they described the striking absence of any settlement along the banks of the Rufiji. With the beginning of the German colonial conquest at the end of the 1880s, the density of sources increased. In these sources too, the impression of low population density is predominant. But the German colonial governor Hermann von Wissmann reported in the course of an expedition in March 1896 of populated areas and "uninterrupted corn, millet and ream fields" along the Rufiji. This impression was confirmed by another expedition by the German officer Georg Prittwitz von Gaffron a year later.

As a reaction to the ivory hunt - fueled by the financial needs of the German colonial administration - Governor von Wissmann had the first small game reserve set up south of the Rufiji in 1896. As part of the Maji-Maji War of 1905–1907 and the subsequent famine, the area was also depopulated by the so-called German " Schutztruppe ". The remaining residents were forbidden to work in the fields and the area was largely covered in bushes, also because the German colonial administration used the depopulation by Maji Maji to further expand the area of ​​the existing reserve in 1907. One of the consequences of war, depopulation and limited land use was the further spread of the tsetse fly, which can transmit sleeping sickness , which later led the British colonial rulers to forced evacuations and further expansion of the game reserve.

The game reserve got its current name after the British big game hunter Frederick Courteney Selous , who died in a battle with the German protection force under General Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck on January 4, 1917 on the banks of the Beho-Beho river in the middle of today's protected area. His grave and the graves of eight other fallen soldiers are near a road and can be visited in the reserve.

In the 1980s, the protected area was endangered by a planned dam at Stieglers Gorge and the search for crude oil , as numerous aisles were cut in the forests for the necessary machines, which opened up ideal access for the poachers. Both the dam construction and the oil exploration proved to be uneconomical, so that both projects were abandoned again.

Since 2010 a new mining project has threatened the game reserve. The Mkuju River project of the Australian company Mantra Resources plans to mine uranium on the southern edge of the Selous with funding from Russian investor ARMZ, in the background Rosatom . A study by the mining operators in 2010 envisages a twelve-year mining period during which 1.9 million tons of uranium ore are to be extracted each year. The large quantities of the highly corrosive sulfuric acid required for mining are produced directly in the mine. The radioactive accompanying elements released during the mining of uranium ore lead to contamination of the soil. The uranium mine is to be built on the Mkuju River. Surface and groundwater could carry radioactive sediments deep into the reserve and lead to widespread contamination of the flora and fauna. A boundary that leaves uranium deposits outside was approved in 2012. The change in the course of the border was approved by UNESCO and sharply criticized by environmentalists, e. B. Contratom and Rettet den Regenwald eV

Visiting opportunities

Lions are one of the main attractions

In the dry season, the reserve can only be reached by four-wheel drive vehicles at Mtemere and Matambwe , in the rainy season from March to May the roads are almost impassable and the lodges and camps are mostly closed. All accommodations in the reserve have their own airstrip and are served by fan guns from Dar es Salaam. Another option is to use the TAZARA train line to Kisaki .

Legends

A story popularized by the game rangers and tourist guides says that when the first wildlife sanctuary was founded, Kaiser Wilhelm II allegedly made it a symbolic gift to his wife. That is the origin of the name "Shamba la bibi" ( kiswaheli for: field of the lady). However, no historical evidence can be found for this. However, the name is still widespread among the local population.

There are also several legends surrounding Frederick Courteney Selou's death. Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck later said that Selous - recognizable by his long, snow-white hair - led his men on that day with his head held high, without noticing the Germans lying in hiding. Lettow-Vorbeck himself had seen Selous from a hill, recognized him and pressed the barrel of the gun down to an Askari accompanying him , who had already aimed at Selous, who was within range, so that he could not shoot. Lettow-Vorbeck wanted to capture the great hunter. Another group of German soldiers lying in ambush did not receive this order in time, so that they suddenly opened fire and Selous and his men were immediately killed. This story, too, cannot be verified on the basis of historically verified sources and was not recorded by Lettow-Vorbeck during the fighting, but only reported many years after the end of the war.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b UNESCO World Heritage Center: Selous Game Reserve. Accessed August 21, 2017 .
  2. ↑ http://www.24tanzania.com/selous-elephants-at-the-verge-of-extinction/
  3. ↑ United Nations Environment Program World Conservation Monitoring Center. Protected Areas and World Heritage ( online ( memento of the original dated June 10, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this note. ). @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.unep-wcmc.org
  4. ↑ [1] .
  5. ^ Uranium One: Board of Directors . at www.uranium1.com (English)
  6. ↑ [2] .
  7. ↑ http://thecitizen.co.tz/magazines/37-tanzania-top-news-story/23732-dar-wins-uranium-battle.htmlTemplate: dead link /! ... nourl  ( page no longer available )
  8. ↑ http://contratom.de/2012/08/10/tansania-unesco-opfert-naturschutzgebiet-fur-uran-mine/
  9. ↑ https://regenwald.org/aktion/883/unesco-opfert-naturschutzgebiet-fuer-uranmine

Web links

Commons : Selous Game Reserve  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files