Plans to turn Kihansi into a game reserve afoot: Nemc

Morogoro. The National Environment Management Council (Nemc) plans to turn Kihansi catchment--a watershed area covering Kilolo, Mufindi and Kilombero districts--into a game reserve in order to conserve and protect its biodiversity.

Kihansi catchment, characterised by steep slopes to the east and gentle slopes to the west, and Kihansi gorge in particular, is internationally recognised as an important site for biodiversity within the Udzungwa Mountains because of unique species which include Kihansi spray toads and montane forest.

Nemc Environmental officer Henric Mwilongo told reporters here yesterday that the council appeals for public cooperation to ensure the toads (referred to scientifically as Nectophrynoides asperginis) remain safe by respecting the borders of the catchment area. Safety of toads will depend on catchment’s environment remaining clean, he said.

“We appeal for public cooperation and understanding to ensure boundaries of the Kihansi River Basin are respected and the basin is not encroached upon because Kihansi gorge ecosystem has always been very delicate.

“The council plans to make the entire catchment a game reserve after certain formalities are completed,” he told journalists on the occasion of returning 1,000 toads to their natural habitat from Dar es Salaam University laboratory.

The toads were discovered in Kihansi gorge in 1996.

Project assistant researcher Nassor Mohammed said the toads have been marked in order to trace them, monitor their health in an unrestricted vast environment and see whether they are facing any problems.

The university lab keeps only 2,000 toads, any excess is taken to Kihansi basin. Game officer Richard Ugomba said the toads, only found in Tanzania, are delicate creatures that need cold weather, clean water and survive on insects that share their territory.

He said even when the toads were in the laboratory they were using treated water, where salt had been eliminated.

Dr Charles Msuya, a researcher and consultant in wild life, said follow-up studies on released toads has revealed that the creatures have new habits because erstwhile they were confined in lab bottles and in the basin are hunted by predators.

The Kihansi toad was formally described as a new species in mid-1998 and listed as a critically endangered. Kihansi catchment area lies between 1,200m and 2,200m above sea level.