Chart out plans for Loliondo reserve: advice

Arusha. The Ngorongoro board has been tasked to come up with new tourism products that can be executed at the newly demarcated reserve in Loliondo.

The annexed Pololeti Game Reserve has been placed under the management of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority (NCAA).

Natural Resources and Tourism minister Pindi Chana issued the directive to General (rtrd) Venance Mabeyo, who is also the NCAA chairman during the inauguration of the agency’s board.

The newly Pololeti Game Reserve, is a section of the Loliondo Game controlled area, now operating under the NCAA, an important area for wildebeest breeding, according to the minister.

“It is important for the authority to come up with new tourism products in the game reserve as part of the country’s strategy to boost tourist traffic from 1.5 million to 5 five million by 2025. The target also aims to increase tourism revenue to $6 billion by 2025.

Ngorongoro should not just depend on the crater alone for tourism, but must diversify to include other sites, attractions and products not promoted before,” she said.

The minister called for the rehabilitation and improvement of infrastructure, especially the road connecting Loduare, a gateway for Ngorongoro to Golini area on the Serengeti National Park side.

According to her, the management of Ngorongoro need to speed up relocation of residents in the area to Msomera in Handeni so as to better conserve the environment.

She also instructed the NCAA board members and management to chart out ways of clearing invasive species threatening natural growth in the conservation area.

For his part, General Mabeyo said the NCAA was hatching efforts to attract foreign tourists and become a portal for domestic tourism to realise tourists target.

“We as well as other players in the tourism industry will work hard to make sure that the five million tourists target is reached even before the year 2025 through improving services, coming up with new products and other important measures,” he said.

On invasive plant species, he said they have already started working on the problem, clearing off the alien growth from the crater basin in association with various other conservation and research institutions.