Road through the Serengeti will eventually ‘kill the migration’

By Paula Kahumbu, Executive Director of WildlifeDirect, special to www.mongabay.com
July 08, 2010 Tourists, conservationists, individuals, and tour companies have launched an international outcry against the Tanzanian authorities in response to the announcement of the planned construction of the trans-Serengeti Highway highway. There is even a Facebook group and an online petition with 5,038 signatures. But the government has responded by saying that the plans are still on course. In a recent interview, the Tanzanian Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism, Shamsa Mwangunga, made it clear that the decision is simply to fulfill a campaign promise made by President Jakaya Kikwete in 2005, that the fourth phase administration would complete construction of the $480 million Arusha-Musoma road. She said the main reason for constructing the road connecting Arusha-Musoma was to satisfy public interests – the current option is a 418km route that skirts around the southern end of the Serengeti National Park. Conservationists argue that this northern part of the Serengeti is untouched and should remain so. A massive road through the area will physically block the migration, introduce invasive species, and lead to greater poaching – ultimately killing the migration altogether. Clearly perturbed by the public outcry, Ms. Mwangunga retorted that, “those criticising the road construction know nothing about what we’ve planned…We’re all keen to preserve our natural resources…We’ll never compromise on that”. She claims that the road, which would link Serengeti-Loliondo districts with the national grid of major roads, will not cut cross the Serengeti National Park but would be routed in a manner that will not affect wildlife migration patterns. This she says, will be achieved by having only an unpaved 40-mile stretch of the two-lane tarmac road passing through the national park. But world renowned conservationist and ex-politician, Richard Leakey is not convinced “We must remember, that the purpose of this highway is to grow the towns of Mwanza and Musoma on Lake Victoria,” he stated in an interview on WildlifeDirect’s Baraza blog. “A dirt track may suffice today-afterall, the populations of these towns are only about half a million people each. Projecting forwards say 50 years, and thanks to the new roads, these towns will become cities of 3–4 million people each. The Tanzanians should not be assessing the impact of a narrow strip of road as we envision it today, it will not be a narrow strip of road in 30 or 40 years, that’s for sure. There will be a railway line that will parallel it, and there will probably be a 6 lane highway in each direction. This, for certain, will kill the migration.” …