Our vision for the future

Create opportunities for community led conservation:

• Establish community-owned and led conservation and grazing areas in key locations near Tarangire National Park

• Advocate at a national level for sound and supportive policies that promote community-based conservation

• Focus on areas of importance near parks ecosystem in terms of migratory corridors and spill over of wildlife

• Support, expand, and protect the Simanjiro Easement

IMPACT

Simanjiro plains – the lungs of the Tarangire ecosystem.

Just west of Tarangire National Park lie the grasslands of the Maasai Steppe’s Simanjiro Plains. This area provides crucial grazing lands for both wildlife and the local Maasai’s cattle. Much of Tarangire’s wildlife spend more than half the year in these grasslands where the soil and vegetation provide the minerals required for successful breeding and lactation. Over the years, the grazing lands and wildlife numbers have severely diminished due to hunting, farming, population and other pressures, resulting in increased pressures on Maasai livelihoods and cultural values.

Creating an ecologically and economically thriving landscape that supports both the people and wildlife is only possible when land tenure is secured. Indigenous peoples have protected and stewarded these lands for hundreds of years and we believe they are best situated to continue caring for these areas into the future.

Through Certificates of Customary Right of Occupancy (CCRO), a creative solution that entrusts the stewardship of the land to the community, communities are able to secure indivisible rights over their land. By formalizing land holdings and providing legal documentation, CCROs' help communities protect their land rights and ensure the stewardship of their ecosystem into the future.

CCRO’s encourage community-based sustainable land management which helps promote healthy grasslands, healthy livestock, and healthy herds of ungulates. This in turn supports hundreds of families and contributes to the overall health of the Maasai Steppe ecosystem and Tarangire National Park. Over 223,000 acres of Tanzania’s northern rangelands have been protected through CCRO’s including 300 square kilometers of the Simanjiro plains.       

By supporting community-based institutions and providing modest financial incentives, we have found that local communities are willing to conserve wildlife. The Simanjiro plains conservation easement provides a fascinating example of how animals and people can coexist together.