It is two days after Christmas and the gusting icy wind is tugging at my jacket. I am so cold that my whole body is shaking. One hour till sunrise and getting colder still, hopefully it will get warmer soon. Sitting on the rim of Tanzania’s only active volcano close to the equator, one would expect it to be steaming hot. The five hour climb up Ol Doinyo Lengai at 2850m was a tough challenge, and the first highlight of our 3 week trip to this amazing part of Africa.

As the sun gradually lit up the surroundings we could look over the rift valley towards the low lying Lake Natron now shrouded in early morning mist. Beyond lies Kenya at the other end of the lake. The rising escarpment forms a barrier between the lower base of the valley and the higher lying plains on which Serengeti and Ngorongoro are situated. Looking down into the Lengai crater one can see plumes of sulphurous smoke, as well as signs of fairly recent volcanic activity. The slopes bear witness to large flows of sodium rich minerals which sustain the alkaline water of the nearby lake, and its many flamingos that feed on the algal growth. The rift valley was formed as a result of major fault lines running the length of Africa. These lines of weakness in the earth’s crust caused enormous Volcanic activity creating Kilimanjaro, Mt Meru and Ngorongoro Crater to name a few.

Our daughter, Krissie runs the PAMS Foundation in Tanzania with two partners. We were sharing our family summer holiday together getting to know the amazing conservation areas with their rich abundance of wildlife. Until one has actually visited these areas one cannot appreciate their real beauty and the feeling of awe that one gets when surrounded by the spectacle of thousands of animals in their unspoilt habitat.

Speaking to Krissie one evening I asked her how long she planned to stay in Tanzania, and she answered that she first wants to save the elephants! A long time I guess, and also typical of Krissie’s passion for the environment, its animals, plants and peoples.

There are many challenges, and conservation of habitat is probably top of the list, as in so many other countries. Tanzania as a country has done exceptionally well with around 40% of its area formally protected, compared to 7% in South Africa for example. One of the reasons for this is that the Masai do not hunt game, as they are nomadic cattle herders and do not occupy land for agriculture. Traditionally a young Masai had to kill a lion to establish his manhood, but this custom is dying out. Currently the Masai still inhabit the areas surrounding the parks, while they are allowed to graze their cattle in Ngorongoro during dry periods.

The PAMS Foundation aims to help sustain and conserve biodiversity, wilderness, habitats and ecological processes through actions that benefit nature and communities, and has included projects in its objectives such as: identifying new conservation areas, improving management effectiveness of existing protected areas, invasive alien species management and a ranger support programme. The latter involves training village game scouts and incentivizing their performance with rewards such as bicycles and cameras to encourage ongoing patrols in their areas to prevent poaching, illegal logging and illegal farming. The well known game reserves earn huge revenues for the government from tourism, but smaller communities outside these popular areas are very much on their own when it comes to finances and improved living conditions.

Krissie spends a lot of her time on applications for funding, as the PAMS Foundation is a not for profit organization registered in Tanzania and thus solely dependent on foreign assistance. Even while on holiday she was burning the midnight oil under a tree at her computer, following up on numerous details of her latest proposals.

While travelling around by road I was struck by the amount of charcoal that is used for home cooking, and wondered how long this could be sustained. Many persons are dependent on this activity as a source of income, and equally as many depend on it as a source of energy. Planting of young trees on a large scale would help to sustain this and would also generate work opportunities. Again this would be a project that would require a lot of funding and effective management.

Tanzania is virtually devoid of wire fences, which is one of the reasons that the large animal migrations still function as they used to centuries ago. With population growth however there is ever increasing pressure on the migration routes, and one wonders what management systems are in place to ensure that migration routes do not get blocked by indiscriminate settlement of villages.

Highlights to name a few – Wildebeest and Zebras in Serengeti, Ngorongoro Crater a wildlife paradise with lions everywhere – amazing photo opportunities. Contrast of forest and salt flats at Lake Manyara. Lake Eyasi – giant fever trees, palms, cracked mud as far as the eye can see, cool fresh spring water. Tarangire – elephants for Africa – they look so happy! Enormous trees and Colobus monkeys in Arusha National Park (Mount Meru). Sailing on a dhow to a white sand island from Peponi. Climbing Lengai Volcano. Lake Natron flamingos and surroundings.

All in all a magnificent holiday, and a visit to Tanzania wildlife sanctuaries should rank as one of the things to do before you die.

I am reminded of a quote attributed to Chief Seattle when faced with the white man’s greed for land:-

“ What is man without the beasts?

If all the beasts were gone, man would die from a great loneliness of spirit.”

Wendel Krook