NGORONGORO

The Truth, Falsity and Mismanagement: Need for an interdisciplinary community-led multifunctional landscape management model in Ngorongoro

Read this report which compiled the opinions of Indigenous Peoples on matters related to the socio-economic, cultural, and ecological conditions of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA). Beyond opinions, it presents historical accounts of land tenure in Tanzania and among us Maasai, as well as the status of ecological conservation and tourism investments, livestock populations, human growth, and settlement dynamics in the NCA. The information presented dispels the false narratives spun by the Tanzanian government against us. The report also offers narratives of historical and recurrent injustices done against our community in Ngorongoro. It finishes by offering recommendations for ecosystem conservation and tourism investment; improving human development and controlling population growth; improving livestock and destocking strategies; and on eliminating the othering of and calculated targeting of us, which is being used to justify our eviction from the NCA.

The Looming Threat of Eviction: The continued displacement of the Maasai under the guise of conservation in Ngorongoro Conservation Area(Oakland Institute, 2021)

Read this Oakland Institute’s report which presents our newest threat of displacement and to our survival - this time as a result of the Tanzanian government’s plans to expand the Ngorongoro Conservation Area.

Sudden leap into darkness: The case of Maasai exclusion and marginalisation in Ngorongoro, northern Tanzania

Read human rights advocate and lawyer Joseph Oleshangay’s commentary on our history of exclusion and marginalization. He highlights the throughline that connects the racism of Tanzania’s colonial periods to our contemporary plight.

We demand that our right to stay in the land be respected. Financial interests in tourism and conservation should never be undertaken at the expense of our lives. We denounce the defunding of social services and other cruel state tactics intended to displace us from our land.

We have been living in the Ngorongoro and Serengeti areas for over eight centuries. Under the British colonial regime, following the fortress conservation model that excludes human presence from the ‘wild nature’, we were forced out of Serengeti National Park in the 1950s with promises that we would not be disturbed in Ngorongoro. The Ngorongoro Conservation Areas (NCA) was then established, and the founding law clearly included the recognition of Maasai rights and the promotion of pastoralism as founding objectives. Despite this, we are subjected to marginalisation, large-scale propaganda financed by the State and its conservation allies. Tanzanian authorities have been advancing various plans to evict an estimated 80,000 Maasai from Ngorongoro, even though their right to live in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA) has been guaranteed by law since the 1950s.

In April 2021, the President of Tanzania instructed the government to find a solution for what she described as a high human population and increased livestock numbers in Ngorongoro. The NCA authority then issued a notice to demolish nine primary schools, six dispensaries, four religious institutions, nine village offices, one police station etc. The notice has not been executed as planned because of public pressure, but the Government did suspend many services in health, education and water, to suffocate us to enforce relocation. Access and operation of key services within the NCA remain limited:

• The denial of construction permits impaired the construction of public facilities; the operations of Flying Medical Service (a dependable health service provider since the late 1960s) has been grounded, preventing us from accessing basic and emergency health services.

• Provision of services such as ambulance and radiology has effectively been outlawed at Endulen Hospital.

• No national budget has been allocated since 2021 to the service of the NCA communities, making living conditions unbearable.

From January 2022, a government-sponsored media campaign targeted every aspect of Maasai life and livelihoods. We were accused of being immigrants and hosting foreign livestock that are destroying nature. All accusations ended with our eviction out of Ngorongoro being presented as the solution. The President also accused us on TV of being “World Heritage destructors."  UNESCO and IUCN have played a central role in legitimising and advancing the current eviction plans in the NCA World Heritage Site.

In July 2024, the Tanzanian Government decided to take away the Maasai’s right to vote by excluding people in Ngorongoro from participating in the voters’ registration process, impacting over 100,000 people. The Government also issued a notice to “delist” (i.e. remove the legal status) all the villages within the NCA.

Maasai await medical services from the Flying Medical Service. Credit MISA.

Maasai of Ngorongoro Conservation Area hold peaceful protest for 6 days, 18–23 August 2024. Credit: MISA.

April 2025 - Maasai of Ngorongoro Conservation Area wait to present their case to the Presidential Commission, which was formed after the protests of August 2024. Credit: MISA.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

On 18 August 2024, 25,000 Maasai gathered at the Oloirobi and Lemara areas blocking both the highway and the Crater exit road, demanding that the Tanzanian Government listen to their demands to reinstate social services and voting rights, as well as demands to halt the harassment of Maasai at Loduare Gate when entering NCA from Karatu. Credit: MISA.

Our mobilisation led to the establishment of two Presidential Commissions

This move by the Government triggered massive protests in the following weeks, with over 50,000 of our people blocking the Ngorongoro-Serengeti road and demonstrating peacefully for 6 days in August 2024. This movement resulted in the decision by the Government to re-enlist villages previously delisted and return the name of all Ngorongoro communities transferred by National Electoral Commission to Msomera. It also led to the formation of two presidential commissions in December 2025 to investigate the situation: one on land issues (see here the terms of reference of the land commission, including original Swahili version), and the other one on the relocation process (see here the terms of reference of the relocation commission). 

We Reject the Recommendations of the Two Commissions

The establishment of the commissions created hope that people's concerns, experiences and proposals would be taken into account. However, the terms of reference were drafted not with the intention of finding solutions but with the objective of ensuring successful relocation. The presentation of the commissions' reports on 12 March 2026 (see livestream here, in Swahili) was a blow to our movement. They recommended: the continuation of the large-scale relocation programme to remove Maasai pastoralists from Ngorongoro, the abandonment of the Multiple Land Use Model (MLUM) that enables and protects human-wildlife coexistence, a confirmation that the village land that was grabbed in Loliondo to create Pololeti Game Reserve will not be returned to the people, and the expansion of strictly conserved areas in Lake Natron, where no human settlement or grazing will be allowed. You will find an official summary of the land commission report here and of the relocation commission here. You will also find here the full transcript of the presentation of the reports on March 12, both in Swahili and English. These are important reference documents since the actual reports have not been published. 

We categorically reject the commissions' recommendations and call on the government not to implement them. The reports are non-credible, they perpetuate false narratives and risk creating more conflicts. The future of Ngorongoro, Loliondo, Pololeti, Lake Natron and Serengeti lies in recognising and strengthening the role of Indigenous Peoples as historical stewards of our lands. We are here to stay.

Read our Statement on the Commissions' Reports:

Several people wait to be registered at Nasipooriong’ Voters Registration as voters on 16th December 2024 after an initial attempt by NEC to disenfranchise us. Credit: MISA.