Thousands of Tanzania's Maasai Evicted from their Land 'for Tourism'

Rodney Muhumuza

Kampala, Uganda: Tens of thousands of Tanzania's ethnic Maasai people are homeless after the government burnt their houses to keep the savannah open for tourism benefiting two foreign safari companies, a US-based policy think-tank claims.

Villagers in northern Tanzania's Loliondo area, near the Ngorongoro Crater tourism hotspot, have been evicted in the past year and denied access to vital grazing and watering holes, said the new report by the Oakland Institute, a California think-tank that researches environmental and social issues.

"As tourism becomes one of the fastest-growing sectors within the Tanzanian economy, safari and game park schemes are wreaking havoc on the lives and livelihoods of the Maasai," said Oakland Institute's Anuradha Mittal. "But this is not just about a specific company - it is a reality that is all too familiar to indigenous communities around the world."