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Contents

eyeball Country profile
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eyeball Biological significance
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eyeball Conservation threats
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eyeball WWF involvement
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eyeball Achievements
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eyeball Scholarships
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eyeball Udzungwa mountains National Park
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eyeball Environmental education - TEEP
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eyeball Ruaha National Park
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eyeball Conservation of lowland coastal forests
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eyeball Mafia island marine park blue line
header: Tanzania


RUAHA NATIONAL PARK

Africa  elephant (Project T20053)

The Ruaha National Park in the southern highlands of Tanzania is one of the less well-known parks in the country, but it boasts the second largest population of elephants in East Africa and a unique collection of wildlife and forest resources.

These projects aim to assist the conservation of the Ruaha ecosystem which has been severely damaged by heavy poaching. This has caused the elephant population in the area to fall by 65 per cent over the last 15 years, from 44,000 animals to fewer than 15,000.

To protect the wildlife, the management capacity of TANAPA in Ruaha National Park is being strengthened. The five-year WWF programme began in 1991 to improve operational efficiency and reduce elephant poaching. This will be achieved through the establishment of essential park infrastructure and law enforcement systems.

By 1989 nearly all the large tusked animals had been destroyed and the few remaining herds were dangerously compressed into the relatively safe area surrounding the park's headquarters. The international ban on ivory, together with a vigorous anti-poaching exercise, has temporarily reduced depredations, but black-market ivory is reappearing and poaching continues to be a serious threat.

WWF received a commitment in 1990 from the Cote d'Or Foundation of a three-year US$300,000 investment to aid anti-poaching initiatives in the Ruaha National Park. One of the first steps of the programme enabled park personnel to monitor the park more effectively by providing transport, road maintenance machinery, radio communication and camping equipment. Monitoring by air was made possible through the acquisition of a Cessna light aircraft, and several new ranger posts are being built throughout the area.

The question of boundaries poses additional problems for the elephant population. The Ruaha ecosystem falls under the direction of two separate management authorities - the Ruaha National Park and the Kizigo Game Reserve. Even though the park and the reserve are adjacent to each other, two separate projects manage the entire Ruaha ecosystem.

To give the Ruaha elephants a more certain future, WWF applied for funds to support an elephant research project which would encompass the entire area, thus engaging both management authorities in a common goal - the protection of the Ruaha African elephant.