Tribe receives $34,500 for leasing land to a tour operator

Associated Press

OLOLOSOKWAN, Tanzania — With their spears planted in the ground nearby and knives in hand, Maasai tribesmen squatted along the riverbank, feasting gleefully on huge cuts of grilled beef served atop green leaves.

The red-clad tribesmen had reason to celebrate. In a landmark agreement, their village of Ololosokwan had just received a payment of $34,500 for leasing land to a South African tour operator.

"For years, lions, elephants, giraffe and other wildlife have been our neighbors, but never before have we benefited as much from living in their midst," Ole Ngoitiko said during last week's ceremony, as gusts of wind blew over the village on the northeastern edge of Serengeti National Park.

Under the agreement, Conservation Corporation Africa has exclusive use of thousands of acres of prime Serengeti land owned by the Maasai, as well as sole access to a tourist camp built by an American professional hunter in 1926.

Until now, such agreements were usually struck between tour operators and local officials, who received 40 percent of the fee, while Maasai villagers would receive less than 7 percent.

Under the 15-year lease with CCA, the 40 percent will now go to Ololosokwan's residents, who will in turn pay local taxes. They will also receive an increasing percentage of the lodge rentals. The villagers also retain the right to graze herds and collect water on most of the leased land.

The lodge is perched on the edge of the Kuka Hills, overlooking wooded hillsides and the rolling grasslands of the Serengeti. The 25,000-acre tract lies along the great wildebeest migration route between the Serengeti and Kenya's Masai Mara.

Each year, in an unparalleled spectacle, hundreds of thousands of zebras, eland and Thomson's gazelle join 1.5 million wildebeest in the annual migration in search of lusher pastures.

But for Ololosokwan villagers, the dazzling wildlife has been a thorn as well as a blessing. A previous lessee, an Italian businessman, tried seize title to the land.

"The tenant tried to use his western education to deprive us of our land," village chairman Yohana Ole Saing'eu said.

Following a string of lawsuits by the Maasai, the dispute was settled with the aid of the U.S.-based African Wildlife Foundation, which also assisted in negotiating the new lease with CCA.

For now, the agreement has eased the villagers' suspicion of outsiders.

"We used to consider tourists as nothing but vagabonds," said Ole Ngoitiko, surrounded by warriors bearing spears, clubs, bows and arrows. "But experience...has shown us the kind of rewards we could reap from the visitors."

For Ndulwai Kalya, a 50-year old mother of six, the deal "will make life much better" for her and Ololosokwan's other 3,000 villagers.

It has meant the construction of a health clinic, the creation of a fledgling wild honey industry and a market for women to sell handicrafts to tourists — all funded by a CCA-established foundation.