Operation Villagization and Its Implications for Wildlife Conservation in South-western Serengeti, Tanzania: The Case of Maswa Game Reserve, ca. 1970s–1980s
Journal of Humanities & Social Science (JHSS),
Vol. 13 No. 1 (2024)
Abstract
Operation Villagization in Tanzania attracted the attention of many scholars, including
historians, inside and outside the country. This is because it is one of the major
policies in the history of Tanzania that affected many sectors. Despite the extensive
scope of these studies, minimal attention has been devoted to exploring the
connections between this operation and wildlife conservation. The current article
uses the case of the Maswa Game Reserve (MGR) to examine the extent to which the
operation affected wildlife resources conservation. In essence, it argues that poor
implementation of the operation led to enormous encroachments in the MGR, which
in turn reduced its size by more than 15 percent following several realignments of its
western boundary. This led to loss of wildlife habitats and dispersal areas for both
residents and migratory ungulates. Moreover, the operation led to a significant loss
of wild animals in both the MGR and the Serengeti National Park owing to increased
organised poaching activities, and the commercialisation of game meat.
(Received: 19 January 2024; Accepted: 6 April 2024; Revised: 25 April 2024)
Keywords
Download Citation
Endnote/Zotero/Mendeley (RIS)BibTeX
- Adams, W.M. 2000. The Political Ecology of Conservation Conflicts. Conservation Society, 2(3).
- Assogba, N.P. & Zhang, D. 2022. An Economic Analysis of Poaching Linking with Village
- Characteristics Surrounding A Protected Area. Human Dimension of Wildlife, 27(5): 422–435.
- Barrow, E. 2014. 300,000 Hectares Restored in Shinyanga, Tanzania-But What Did It Really
- Take to Achieve This Restoration? Survey and Perspective Integrating Environment and Society,
- (2): 3.
- Benedict, J. 2019. Wildlife Conservation and Local People’s Livelihoods: The Case of Maswa
- Game Reserve in Tanzania, 1950s to 2010s. University of Dar es Salaam. M. A Dissertation.
- Clifford, R. et al. 2013. The Creeping Decentralization in Tanzania: Is the Strategy Accorded Full
- Support by the Government? International Journal of Social Sciences and Entrepreneurship, 1(5).
- Coulson, A. 1979. African Socialism in Practice: The Tanzania Experience. Nottingham. Spokesman.
- Dublin, H.T. & Douglas-Hamilton, I. 1987. Status and Trends of Elephants in the Serengeti-
- Mara Ecosystem, African Journal of Ecology, 25: 19–33
- Fisher, E. Forced Resettlement, Rural Livelihoods and Wildlife Conservation Along the Ugalla River
- in Tanzania. Retrieved from https://www.environmentandsociety.org on 21st June, 2023.
- Ford, J. 1971. The Role of the Trypanosomiases in African Ecology: A Study of the Tsetse Fly Problem.
- New York. Oxford University Press.
- Gemeda, D.O. 2018. Impacts of Human-Wildlife Conflict in Developing Countries. Journal of
- Applied Sciences and Environmental Management, 22(8): 12–33.
- Hoag, H.J. & Ohman, M. 2008. Turning Water into Power: Debates Over the Development of
- Tanzania’s Rufiji River Basin, 1945–1985. Technology and Culture, 49(3): 624–651.
- Ibhawoh, B. & Dibua, J.I. 2003. Deconstructing Ujamaa: The Legacy of Julius Nyerere in the Quest
- for Social and Economic Development in Africa. African Journal of Political Science, 8(1).
- Kjekshus, H. 1977. The Tanzanian Villagization Policy: Implementational Lessons and
- Ecological Dimensions. Canadian Journal of African Studies, 11(2): 269–282.
- Karluki, R.W. et al. 2021. Integrating Stakeholders Perspectives and Spatial Modeling to
- Develop Scenarios of Future Land Use and Land Cover Change in Northern Tanzania. PLOS
- ONE 16(2): 18.
- Kangalawe, H. 2018. Plantation Forestry in Tanzania: A History of Sao Hill Forests, 1939–2015.
- Stellenbosch University, PhD Thesis.
- Keles, D. et al. 2020. What Drives the Erasure of Protected Areas? Evidence from Across the
- Brazillian Amazon. Ecological Economics, 176 (2020).
- Kibera, F.J. 2018. Transformations in Local Environmental Conservation Practices in Tanzania: The
- Case of Ngitili in Bariadi District, 1800s-2000. M.A. Dissertation, University of Dar es Salaam.
- Kideghesho, J. 2016. Elephant Poaching Crisis in Tanzania: A Need to Reverse the Trend and
- the Way Forward. Tropical Conservation Science, 9(1): 369–388.
- Kikula, I.S. 1997. Policy Implications on Environment: The Case of Villagization in Tanzania. Uppsala.
- NordiskaAfrikainstitutet.
- Kuboja, J.B. & Chuhila, M.J. 2021. People’s Livelihoods and Conservation: Community-based
- Conservation in Maswa Game Reserve. Tanzania Journal of Development Studies, 19(1).
- Kurji, F.J. 1983. Change in Human Populations and Settlement in the Serengeti Ecosystem,
- Tanzania. M.A Thesis, University of Dar es Salaam.
- Kurji, F.J. 1985. Population and Conservation in the Serengeti – Maswa Area: Part 1 –
- Demography. Institute of Resource Assessment, University of Dares Salaam, Research
- Paper No. 9.
- Kurji, F.J. 1985. Population and Conservation in the Serengeti-Maswa Area: Part 2 – Land Use.
- Institute of Resource Assessment, University of Dar es Salaam, Research Paper No.10.
- Lamprey, H.E. et al. 1967. Invasion of the Serengeti National Park by Elephants. East African
- Wildlife Journal, 5: 151–66.
- Makacha, S. & Msigwa, M. 1979. Dry Season Forage Interaction between Cattle and Wildlife in
- Endulen Zone (Ngorongoro Conservation Area): Some Urgent Management Suggestions.
- Unpublished Report.
- Makacha, S. et al. 2022. Threat to the Serengeti Herds. Retrieved from www.cambridge.
- org/core on 25th June 2022.
- Masaki, S. 1975. Operation Pwani: Kisarawe District. Implementation, Problems and Prospects.
- M.A Thesis, University of Dar es Salaam.
- McGuiness, S. 2014. The Effects of Human-Wildlife Conflict on Conservation and Development:
- A Case Study of Volcanoes National Park, Northern Rwanda.. PhD Thesis, University
- College, Dublin.
- McCall, M. 1985. Environmental and Agricultural Impact of Tanzania Villagization Programme.
- In John Clarke (Ed.) Population and Development Projects in Africa. Cambridge: Cambridge
- University Press.
- Mohajan, H.K. 2018. Qualitative Research Methodology in Social Sciences and Related
- Subjects. Journal of Economic Development, Environment and People, 7(1): 23–48.
- Neumann, R.P. 1998. Ïmposing Wilderness: Struggles Over Livelihood and Nature Preservation in
- Africa. London: University of California Press, 1998.
- Neumann, R.P. 1992. Political Ecology of Wildlife Conservation in the Mt. Meru Area of
- Northeast Tanzania. Land Degradation and Rehabilitation, 3.
- Nyerere, J.K. 1979. Freedom and Development. In Coulson (ed.) African Socialism in Practice: The
- Tanzanian Experience, 27–35.
- Nyerere, J.K. 1966. ‘President’s inaugural address’, in Freedom and Unity: A Collection from Writings
- and Speeches. New York: Oxford University Press.
- Selemani, I.S. 2020. Indigenous Knowledge and Rangelands’ Biodiversity Conservation in
- Tanzania: Success and Failure. Biodiversity Conservation, 29: 3863–3876.
- Sharma, G. 2017. Pros and Cons of Different Sampling Techniques. International Journal of
- Applied Research, 3(7).
- Shetler, J.B. 2007. Imagining Serengeti: A History of Landscape Memory in Tanzania from Earliest
- Times to the Present. Athens: Ohio University Press.
- Sinclair, A.R.E. et al. 2008. Historical and Future Changes to the Serengeti Ecosystem. In
- Sinclair, A.R.E. et al. Serengeti III: Human Impacts on Ecosystem Dynamics. Chicago and
- London: The University of Chicago Press.
- Sunseri, T. 2009. Wielding the Ax: State Forestry and Social Conflict in Tanzania, 1820–2000. Ohio:
- Ohio University Press.
- Swai, I. 1994. Effects of Villagization and Other Policies on Wildlife Conservation in Tanzania. In
- N. Leader-Williams, J.A Kayera and G.L. Overton (Eds.). Community Based Conservation in
- Tanzania, (Occasional Paper of the IUCN Survival Commission No.15, Workshop Proceedings.
- United Republic of Tanzania (URT). 1955. Annual Report of the Game Department.
- URT. 1956. Annual Report of the Game Department.
- URT. 1956. Report of the Serengeti Committee of Enquiry.
- URT. 1974. Wildlife Conservation Act.
- James Benedict Kuboja & Hezron Kangalawe
- JHSS, Volume 13 Number 1, 2024
- Veldhuis, M.P. et al. 2023. The Serengeti Squeeze: Cross Boundary Human Impacts
- Compromise an Iconic Protected Ecosystem. Retrieved from https://eprints.whiterose.
- ac.uk/144632 on 16 May 2023.
- Walia, R. 2015. A Saga of Qualitative Research. Social Criminal, 5(2).
- Watson, R.M. & Bell, R.H.V. 1969. The Distribution, Abundance and Status of Elephant in the
- Serengeti Region of Northern Tanzania. Journal of Allied Ecology, 6: 115–32.
- Weiskopf, J. 2016. Living in “Cold Storage”: An Interior History of Tanzania’s Sleeping Sickness
- Concentrations, 1933–1946. International Journal of African Historical Studies, 49(1).
- Wilfred, P. & Maccoll, A.D.C. 2015. Local Perspectives on Factors Influencing the Extent of
- Wildlife Poaching for Bushmeat in a Game Reserve, Western Tanzania. International Journal
- of Conservation Science, 6(1): 99–110.
- Yeager, R. 1986. Land Use and Wildlife in Modern Tanzania. In Yeager R. & Miller N.N (Eds.).
- Wildlife, Wild Death: Land Use and Survival in Eastern Africa. New York: State University of
- New York Press.
References
Adams, W.M. 2000. The Political Ecology of Conservation Conflicts. Conservation Society, 2(3).
Assogba, N.P. & Zhang, D. 2022. An Economic Analysis of Poaching Linking with Village
Characteristics Surrounding A Protected Area. Human Dimension of Wildlife, 27(5): 422–435.
Barrow, E. 2014. 300,000 Hectares Restored in Shinyanga, Tanzania-But What Did It Really
Take to Achieve This Restoration? Survey and Perspective Integrating Environment and Society,
(2): 3.
Benedict, J. 2019. Wildlife Conservation and Local People’s Livelihoods: The Case of Maswa
Game Reserve in Tanzania, 1950s to 2010s. University of Dar es Salaam. M. A Dissertation.
Clifford, R. et al. 2013. The Creeping Decentralization in Tanzania: Is the Strategy Accorded Full
Support by the Government? International Journal of Social Sciences and Entrepreneurship, 1(5).
Coulson, A. 1979. African Socialism in Practice: The Tanzania Experience. Nottingham. Spokesman.
Dublin, H.T. & Douglas-Hamilton, I. 1987. Status and Trends of Elephants in the Serengeti-
Mara Ecosystem, African Journal of Ecology, 25: 19–33
Fisher, E. Forced Resettlement, Rural Livelihoods and Wildlife Conservation Along the Ugalla River
in Tanzania. Retrieved from https://www.environmentandsociety.org on 21st June, 2023.
Ford, J. 1971. The Role of the Trypanosomiases in African Ecology: A Study of the Tsetse Fly Problem.
New York. Oxford University Press.
Gemeda, D.O. 2018. Impacts of Human-Wildlife Conflict in Developing Countries. Journal of
Applied Sciences and Environmental Management, 22(8): 12–33.
Hoag, H.J. & Ohman, M. 2008. Turning Water into Power: Debates Over the Development of
Tanzania’s Rufiji River Basin, 1945–1985. Technology and Culture, 49(3): 624–651.
Ibhawoh, B. & Dibua, J.I. 2003. Deconstructing Ujamaa: The Legacy of Julius Nyerere in the Quest
for Social and Economic Development in Africa. African Journal of Political Science, 8(1).
Kjekshus, H. 1977. The Tanzanian Villagization Policy: Implementational Lessons and
Ecological Dimensions. Canadian Journal of African Studies, 11(2): 269–282.
Karluki, R.W. et al. 2021. Integrating Stakeholders Perspectives and Spatial Modeling to
Develop Scenarios of Future Land Use and Land Cover Change in Northern Tanzania. PLOS
ONE 16(2): 18.
Kangalawe, H. 2018. Plantation Forestry in Tanzania: A History of Sao Hill Forests, 1939–2015.
Stellenbosch University, PhD Thesis.
Keles, D. et al. 2020. What Drives the Erasure of Protected Areas? Evidence from Across the
Brazillian Amazon. Ecological Economics, 176 (2020).
Kibera, F.J. 2018. Transformations in Local Environmental Conservation Practices in Tanzania: The
Case of Ngitili in Bariadi District, 1800s-2000. M.A. Dissertation, University of Dar es Salaam.
Kideghesho, J. 2016. Elephant Poaching Crisis in Tanzania: A Need to Reverse the Trend and
the Way Forward. Tropical Conservation Science, 9(1): 369–388.
Kikula, I.S. 1997. Policy Implications on Environment: The Case of Villagization in Tanzania. Uppsala.
NordiskaAfrikainstitutet.
Kuboja, J.B. & Chuhila, M.J. 2021. People’s Livelihoods and Conservation: Community-based
Conservation in Maswa Game Reserve. Tanzania Journal of Development Studies, 19(1).
Kurji, F.J. 1983. Change in Human Populations and Settlement in the Serengeti Ecosystem,
Tanzania. M.A Thesis, University of Dar es Salaam.
Kurji, F.J. 1985. Population and Conservation in the Serengeti – Maswa Area: Part 1 –
Demography. Institute of Resource Assessment, University of Dares Salaam, Research
Paper No. 9.
Kurji, F.J. 1985. Population and Conservation in the Serengeti-Maswa Area: Part 2 – Land Use.
Institute of Resource Assessment, University of Dar es Salaam, Research Paper No.10.
Lamprey, H.E. et al. 1967. Invasion of the Serengeti National Park by Elephants. East African
Wildlife Journal, 5: 151–66.
Makacha, S. & Msigwa, M. 1979. Dry Season Forage Interaction between Cattle and Wildlife in
Endulen Zone (Ngorongoro Conservation Area): Some Urgent Management Suggestions.
Unpublished Report.
Makacha, S. et al. 2022. Threat to the Serengeti Herds. Retrieved from www.cambridge.
org/core on 25th June 2022.
Masaki, S. 1975. Operation Pwani: Kisarawe District. Implementation, Problems and Prospects.
M.A Thesis, University of Dar es Salaam.
McGuiness, S. 2014. The Effects of Human-Wildlife Conflict on Conservation and Development:
A Case Study of Volcanoes National Park, Northern Rwanda.. PhD Thesis, University
College, Dublin.
McCall, M. 1985. Environmental and Agricultural Impact of Tanzania Villagization Programme.
In John Clarke (Ed.) Population and Development Projects in Africa. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Mohajan, H.K. 2018. Qualitative Research Methodology in Social Sciences and Related
Subjects. Journal of Economic Development, Environment and People, 7(1): 23–48.
Neumann, R.P. 1998. Ïmposing Wilderness: Struggles Over Livelihood and Nature Preservation in
Africa. London: University of California Press, 1998.
Neumann, R.P. 1992. Political Ecology of Wildlife Conservation in the Mt. Meru Area of
Northeast Tanzania. Land Degradation and Rehabilitation, 3.
Nyerere, J.K. 1979. Freedom and Development. In Coulson (ed.) African Socialism in Practice: The
Tanzanian Experience, 27–35.
Nyerere, J.K. 1966. ‘President’s inaugural address’, in Freedom and Unity: A Collection from Writings
and Speeches. New York: Oxford University Press.
Selemani, I.S. 2020. Indigenous Knowledge and Rangelands’ Biodiversity Conservation in
Tanzania: Success and Failure. Biodiversity Conservation, 29: 3863–3876.
Sharma, G. 2017. Pros and Cons of Different Sampling Techniques. International Journal of
Applied Research, 3(7).
Shetler, J.B. 2007. Imagining Serengeti: A History of Landscape Memory in Tanzania from Earliest
Times to the Present. Athens: Ohio University Press.
Sinclair, A.R.E. et al. 2008. Historical and Future Changes to the Serengeti Ecosystem. In
Sinclair, A.R.E. et al. Serengeti III: Human Impacts on Ecosystem Dynamics. Chicago and
London: The University of Chicago Press.
Sunseri, T. 2009. Wielding the Ax: State Forestry and Social Conflict in Tanzania, 1820–2000. Ohio:
Ohio University Press.
Swai, I. 1994. Effects of Villagization and Other Policies on Wildlife Conservation in Tanzania. In
N. Leader-Williams, J.A Kayera and G.L. Overton (Eds.). Community Based Conservation in
Tanzania, (Occasional Paper of the IUCN Survival Commission No.15, Workshop Proceedings.
United Republic of Tanzania (URT). 1955. Annual Report of the Game Department.
URT. 1956. Annual Report of the Game Department.
URT. 1956. Report of the Serengeti Committee of Enquiry.
URT. 1974. Wildlife Conservation Act.
James Benedict Kuboja & Hezron Kangalawe
JHSS, Volume 13 Number 1, 2024
Veldhuis, M.P. et al. 2023. The Serengeti Squeeze: Cross Boundary Human Impacts
Compromise an Iconic Protected Ecosystem. Retrieved from https://eprints.whiterose.
ac.uk/144632 on 16 May 2023.
Walia, R. 2015. A Saga of Qualitative Research. Social Criminal, 5(2).
Watson, R.M. & Bell, R.H.V. 1969. The Distribution, Abundance and Status of Elephant in the
Serengeti Region of Northern Tanzania. Journal of Allied Ecology, 6: 115–32.
Weiskopf, J. 2016. Living in “Cold Storage”: An Interior History of Tanzania’s Sleeping Sickness
Concentrations, 1933–1946. International Journal of African Historical Studies, 49(1).
Wilfred, P. & Maccoll, A.D.C. 2015. Local Perspectives on Factors Influencing the Extent of
Wildlife Poaching for Bushmeat in a Game Reserve, Western Tanzania. International Journal
of Conservation Science, 6(1): 99–110.
Yeager, R. 1986. Land Use and Wildlife in Modern Tanzania. In Yeager R. & Miller N.N (Eds.).
Wildlife, Wild Death: Land Use and Survival in Eastern Africa. New York: State University of
New York Press.