Tanzania - North Pare Project Brief

AHT International GMBH - http://www.aht-inter.com/actb973.htm#TANZANIA

In the frame of the mapping of seven project areas of the Natural Resources Management and Bufferzone Development Programme by GAF/AHT, the basis for erodibility and vegetation/land use maps at 1:25 000 was prepared for the project area of the Tanzania Forestry Action Plan - North Pare. The North Pare Mountains are located in the Kilimandjaro Region, south of the famous mountain of the same name and along the Kenyan border. The area is densely populated, as soil and water conditions in the internal valleys of the North Pare Mountains are favourable to agriculture. The farmers of North Pare have developed a land use system which recognises the importance of trees and crops in a permanent crop production pattern where food crops, cash crops and livestock are inter-related. The project activities in participatory land use planning, soil conservation/afforestation are specifically orientated towards the neighbouring population of the several National Forest Reserves established in the area. Therefore our intervention was planned to support these activities and special attention was given to update the information available about deepness and inclination of soils, recently burnt forest areas, new locally made road net-work.

As a basis for the ground survey SPOT-Pan and Landsat-TM images were used and complemented by an intensive fieldwork to palliate the lack of aerial photos. The collected information is ready to be digitised and incorporated into a GIS system which is part of the products and the know-how to be delivered.

Beside the interesting, but very technical aspects of this work is to mention the warm reception given by the local population at any place where we had to work and the overwhelming views offered from the North Pare. To the north, the Mount Kilimandjaro was visible when the clouds allowed it; to the east, the Savo National Park which is unfortunately across the Kenyan border; to the south, the Mkomazi Game Reserve where few wildlife stay at the moment as the main water source is dry; and to the west, the Nyumba ya Mungu Dam and Lake in the Masai Plain which is supposedly infested by crocodiles and hippos.

It is a pity no one was to be seen,... or better so.