"The Mountain of God Ol'doinyo Lengai to the Maasai is an active volcano rising sharply a few kilometers from the town of Engare Sero in northern Tanzania. At its base lies Lake Natron, a shimmering salt lake. It's considered the most important breeding site for 75% of the global population of lesser flamingos. But it's also an important site for Maasai people, who consider parts of it their ancestral land."
"Now, some fear another mass eviction is coming. "I was forced to flee my home. They turned the area where I lived into the Pololeti hunting reserve," says 36-year-old Nesikar Daudi, now living in Engare Sero. In 2022, the Tanzanian government established the Pololeti Game Reserve, and designated it exclusively for hunting and tourism. Thousands of people, like Nesikar were directly affected or even forcibly evicted. "We suffered a lot because of this takeover. We lost our livestock, and bulldozers demolished our homes," Nesikar says."
"Since the 1990s, the country has seen a 20% expansion of protected areas. But Maasai lawyer and activist Joseph Oleshengay says the government's strategy in recent years has little to do with conserving nature. "It is essentially a mechanism for land dispossession," he says. Behind the rhetoric of environmental protection, he argues, stand economic interests linked to tourism and trophy hunting."
Ol'doinyo Lengai rises near Engare Sero in northern Tanzania above Lake Natron, a key salt lake and the primary breeding site for 75% of the global lesser flamingo population. Parts of the surrounding area are Maasai ancestral land. In 2022 the government created the Pololeti Game Reserve for hunting and tourism, triggering forced evictions, loss of livestock, and home demolitions that displaced local families. Since the 1990s protected areas have expanded about 20%. Maasai activists and lawyers characterize recent designations as mechanisms for land dispossession serving tourism and trophy-hunting interests. A law permits land reclassification for "public interest" without mandatory consultation.
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