Mike Mande
2 November 2009
Nairobi — Tanzania has once again blocked the opening of the Bologonja entry point into the Maasai Mara-Serengeti national parks.
It says it can't risk environmental damage to the world famous Serengeti National Park as a result of massive tourist flows from Kenya.
Senior officials from the Tanzania Tourist Board, the country's official tourism marketing and promotion institution, said there was no way the crossing point into the Serengeti park would be opened.
Peter Mwenguo, managing director of TTB, told The EastAfrican in Dar es Salaam that Sand River-Bologonja crossing points will remain closed.
He said he had communicated this information to all diplomatic missions within the country and overseas, as well as tourist representatives, tour operators and travel agents.
The entry point was closed by the government of Mwalimu Julius Nyerere in 1977 after the collapse of the East African Community.
In its statement, TTB said the Bologonja border entry point will remain closed despite claims by the Kenya Association of Tour Operators (Kato) that it would open soon after successful discussions between the two governments.
Ezekiel Maige, Deputy Minister for Tourism and Natural Resources, also said Tanzania has no intention of reopening the border point at this time, as jointly agreed earlier with Kenyan leaders.
Mr Maige said there is a committee dealing with the issue, but that the entry point will remain closed for environmental reasons.
Elsewhere, Kenya's Wildlife and Tourism Minister Najib Balala argued that continued closure of the Bologonja entry point by Tanzania was not in the spirit of the East African Community.
"A lot of progress has been made in tourism within the Community, but the hesitation by Tanzania -- especially on its border posts -- is worrying," he told journalists in Nairobi.
But Mr Maige argued: "The fragile ecosystem of the area, which is a World Heritage Site, cannot be sacrificed for the mere purpose of shortening the route between Maasai Mara and Serengeti, which is also a crossing point for wildlife during the annual migration."
Officials of the TTB said that, according to the Tourism Co-operation Agreement signed by Tanzania and Kenya following the Arusha Summit Communique of November 16, 1983, Article X(b), tourists shall be transported in and out of each country through designated border posts or regional towns.
The chief executive officer of Kato, Fred Kaigua, had earlier stated in an e-mail that a new consensus had been reached between Tanzania and Kenya on opening the crossing point to allow tourist vehicles from Kenya to enter Tanzania from the Sand River crossing point.
The e-mail, circulated to Kato members in September, said the decision to open the Bologonja-Sand River entry point would dramatically reduce the travel time between the Maasai Mara Reserve in Kenya and the Serengeti in Tanzania.
It would also signify a new official border crossing between Kenya and Tanzania.
The KATO circular said the new development in the opening of the border point had been announced by Mr Balala after obtaining a confirmation from immigration chiefs in both Kenya and Tanzania.
"Our initial enquires to confirm the actual situation on the ground reveal that there is full deployment of immigration staff on the Kenyan side at Sand River, whereas they are yet to be deployed on the Tanzanian side," reads the Kato message.
But Tanzania Tourist Board officials said the circular from Kato was misleading since no agreement had been reached to open the border point.
The officials added that the circular would create confusion and inconvenience tourists visiting Serengeti in Tanzania and Maasai Mara in Kenya.
The designated border point currently used by all tour operators from Tanzania and Kenya is Isebania-Sirari outside the Serengeti National Park.
"The Tanzania Tourist Board would like to inform all diplomatic missions, within and overseas, tourist representatives, tour operators, travel agents, operators of tourist accommodation establishments, transporters, tourists and the public, that the Sand River and Bologonja border crossing point connecting Maasai Mara Game Reserve in Kenya and Serengeti National Park in Tanzania is not open," the TTB communication reads.
"We would like our esteemed clients to note that Tanzania has no intention of reopening the border point. The entry point will remain closed for environmental reasons. The fragile ecosystem of the area, which is a World Heritage Site, cannot be sacrificed for the purpose of shortening the route between Maasai Mara and Serengeti National Park," it added.
According to TTB officials, the authorised border crossing points currently are Namanga, Sirari-Isebania, Holili-Taveta, and Horohoro-Lungalunga (Tanzanian side listed first).
Since the Bologonja entry point between Kenya and Tanzania was closed 32 years ago, Kenyan tour operators have been lobbying for its opening in order to allow their vehicles to enter the Serengeti National Park, Ngorongoro Conservation Area and other parks on the northern Tanzania tourist circuit.
Tour operators in Tanzania, on the other hand, claim that opening the controversial border point could kill the country's tourism as hundreds of Kenyan tourist vehicles would enter Tanzania for game drives during the day and return to Kenya in the evening.
Serengeti is the source of the spectacular annual migration of over one million wildebeest and 200,000 zebras to and from the Mara.
The wildebeest spend nine to 10 months roaming the 14,763 square kilometre plains of Serengeti park.
There are less than 12 tourist hotels, lodges and tented camps inside Serengeti National Park.
These have been designed to accommodate an optimum number of people to avoid mass tourism.
On the Kenya side, there are over 40 properties (lodges and camps) around the Maasai Mara and nine lodges inside.
The reserve hosts many more tourists and tour vehicles.
In August this year, the United Nations Education, Science and Cultural Organisation raised concerns over increasing human activity in the Serengeti National Park as a result of more border crossing points.
Unesco said the danger emanates from Serengeti embracing mass tourism as practised in neighbouring Kenya.
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