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About Saadani Game Reserve and Zoo |
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Saadani Game Reserve (SGR) was conceived by Mr
Mahinda the Director of Wildlife in 1966. It was officially gazetted in
on the 24th January 1969 after he had consulted the Saadani village
elders. These agreed hoping to gain some revenue from the Reserve.
Compensation was awarded for the loss of cultivated land taken away for
the protected area. When the Reserve was established, a zoological
garden was opened as an additional attraction. Further some houses were
built by the sea. These were for the use of dignitaries wishing to enjoy
a break from Dar es Salaam and who came to hunt by special privilege.
One of these, the Saadani rest house is still there and in use by the
Reserve’s management.
The terrestrial fauna of Saadani National Park is not
entirely indigenous due to the species imported between 1968 and 1974 to
stock a zoological garden. Animals were brought in from as far afield as
Arusha and Mbeya. The first 12 animals arrived in 1968 (2 buffalos,
2 wildebeest, 2 oryx, a lioness, 2 eland, a suni, an elephant and a
warthog). More animals were brought to Saadani over the years.
All the animals were kept in cages and fenced areas. One area
was referred to asthe "small zoo" or "small fenced area". This held
several cages and was home to the carnivores. A larger area was used for
keeping the herbivores. These were sometimes taken out by game scouts to
a feeding ground for grazing. The carnivores on the other hand each had
their own particular menu: Each lion was fed 40 kg of either beef or
warthog meat per day, hyenas received 15 kg. Jackals were fed 5 kg of
beef a day and the "snake", presumeably a python, 10 chickens a month.
Non indigenous species introduced to the area were the oryx and the
ostrich –neither of which are found in the area today – as well as the
wildebeest, eland, zebra and jackals. A couple of impala too are said to
have been introduced from Arusha in1969. There is no evidence to their
presence in the area today, though allegedly in the past they used to
occur naturally at the coast between Tanga and Pangani.
Representatives of 18 species indigenous to the Saadani
ecosystem too were brought in, covering a diverse range of species, from
duiker to lion, leopard and cheetah. Lions had always been present in
Saadani though they had been few in number. In 1977 the zoo had four
lions which had come from different areas. The first lion, a lioness,
came from Muheza in Tanga Region. She was brought on the 21st August
1968 when she was 4 ½ months old and weighed between 25 and 30 kg. She
was named "Bibi Maendeleo" - Miss Progress. The second lion was a male
from Kunduchi, Dar es Salaam. He had been in private hands until the
owners decided to hand him over to the government. At the age of 18
months, weighing 90 kg he arrived in Saadani zoo on the 16th April 1975.
His name was "Azimio", Manifesto. The third lion was again a lioness.
She arrived from Morogoro Region on the 20th November 1975 at the age of
three. She weighed 165 kg and was called "Namha-Mbulinyi". The fourth
was another male lion from Tanga Region where he had been rescued from a
hole. Aged 4 to 5 months he weighed 25 to 30 kg.
In 1977, after inspection of the zoo by the Coastal Region
Environment Officer, it was realized that at 138 ha for 120 animals the
size of the zoo was too small for the number of animals kept. There was
a shortage of food, water and shelter for the game. As no funding was
available to increase the productivity of the zoo’s land by means of
irrigation or to have transport to bring in fodder from outside the
decision was taken to close down the zoo and to release the herbivorous
animals to prevent their starvation. The carnivores were sold, mainly
overseas.
Source: Official site of
Saadani National
Park a
GTZ (2001)
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