Robert Ochieng writing in the Sunday Observer in January said that a pregnant black rhino kept in the protective enclave of the Singita Grumeti Reserve in the Serengeti National Park gave hope of saving the black rhino, one of the world’s rare species from extinction. If it gave birth it would give new hope that the once zoo-bred rhinos can breed in the wild at levels high enough to keep the local population alive into the future. Besides cutting them off completely from human contact, the next most important thing that can be done is to protect their habitat so that they can breed easily and adapt to the wild nature.

Initially being fed on manufactured food products while at separate zoos in the UK before they were flown into the Singita Grumeti Reserve, the rhinos have now adapted to the wild vegetation.

South African investor Paul Tudor Jones was planning to purchase 45 rhinos from his country to be donated to the Tanzanian government. The Government had previously admitted that besides the current world economic crunch having significantly affected tourism in the country, poaching had continued to deal a devastating blow to the country’s highest foreign exchange earner.

Natural Resources and Tourism Minister Shamsa Mwangunga said: “What we have shown is that in partnership with governments and communities and business it is possible to stave off extinction for the rhino in some of its former range,” Africa’s savannas once teemed with more than a million white and black rhinos. However, relentless hunting by European settlers saw rhino numbers and distribution quickly decline. Added to hunting and habitat loss, trade in rhino horn peaked in the 1970s and 1980s, when huge quantities were shipped to the lucrative markets of the Middle East and Asia.

Responding to the crisis, both species of African rhino were listed in 1977 in Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), which prohibited all international trade of rhino parts and products.

Despite this international legal protection, the black rhino population at its lowest point dipped to 2,400 in 1995.

In 1997, there were 8,466 white rhinos and 2,599 black rhinos remaining in the wild. Today, there are 14,500 white rhinos and nearly 4,000 of the more endangered black rhinos.

Today, most of Africa’s black rhinos are found in South Africa, Namibia, Kenya and Zimbabwe, where the species’ decline has been stopped through effective security monitoring, better biological management, wildlife-based tourism and extensive assistance to enable communities to benefit from rather than be in conflict with wildlife.

FOREIGN FISHING BOAT CAUGHT
An agreement in July last year between Tanzania, South Africa, Kenya and Mozambique to step up the attack on illegal fishing boats has brought results. In March a trawler was found in Tanzanian waters with no proper documentation, flag or valid fishing permit. It had already caught some 70 tons of tuna. It had a crew comprising fifteen Chinese, three Kenyans, eight Philippinos, five Vietnamese and six Indonesians. President Kikwete commended the South African government for providing a modern surveillance ship to assist in the operation – Guardian.

DECI – PYRAMID SCHEME ?
The government has ordered the Development Entrepreneurship for Community Initiative (Deci) Tanzania to stop operations pending investigations as to whether it is operating a pyramid scheme. Deci, run by the Jesus Christ Deliverance Church, is understood to have been promising depositors up to 250 per cent interest on their deposits for periods ranging from three and 12 months, and may have links with a now defunct company in Kenya which is also under investigation.

HOTEL FIRE
A fire attributed to an electrical fault in a kitchen gutted three beach hotels – Paradise Holiday Resort, Livingstone Hotel and Oceanic Bay Hotel on March 23. Some 800 people depended on the hotels for their livelihood and one of the hotels was hosting four seminars involving 70 guests at the time. Fire fighters had to drive from Dar as there are no fire engines in Bagamoyo. While waiting for the engines some people were said to have been busy helping themselves to fridges, bedding and drinks.

LOANS TO STUDENTS
The Ministry of Education has revealed that the government is spending TShs 5 billion as loans to Tanzanian students studying abroad. The numbers are: China 255, India 158, Poland 64, Ukraine 86, Algeria 238, USA 4, UK 12, Uganda 594, Kenya 17, Cuba 25, South Africa 54 and Canada 4 – Guardian.

SCHOOL RESULTS
Girls secondary schools topped the list of ten leading schools for the second year running in last year’s Form Four examination results. St. Francis Girls’ Secondary School of Mbeya, which emerged number one in 2007, retained the position. Likewise Coast Region’s Marian Girls’ Secondary School remained at number two. 168, 420 (75.82%) out of 233, 848 candidates who sat for the exams passed. However, the pass level dropped by 10.13% from 85.95% in the previous year to 75.82 per cent.

Tanzanite on sale in Skagway (photo by the author)

There appears to be more Tanzanite in Alaska than in Tanzania! Judging by the range of jewellery and gemstones on offer on the cruise ship from Vancouver exploring the Inner Passage and the many shops lining the streets of Skagway and Juneau in Alaska, Tanzanite is apparently the number one gemstone in vogue at present. Whereas it is good to see a mineral product of Tanzania being exported for sale, the almost profligate quantity of Tanzanite being marketed raises the question, for how long can this continue? Is the Tanzanian economy gaining a fair income from its sale?

Minerals, notably gold and diamonds, have been a major revenue earner for Tanzania for decades. How relevant it was to be able to include some geology alongside and within the chemistry teaching at St Andrew’s College/Minaki Secondary School in the 1960s. I recall a colleague, Matthew Ole-Kasaro, jokingly recall how he and his friends used to play football in his home Arusha region with pebbles of minerals that by 1970 were becoming recognised as semi-precious stones. For more information on Tanzanite, see the website: www.tanzanitefoundation.org
David and Jackie Morgan

A new museum called the ‘Tanzanite Experience’ has been opened in Arusha. It is the first ever facility dedicated to Tanzanite which is found only in Manyara Region. The museum will collect, document, preserve, exhibit and interpret material connected with Tanzanite mining. Interactive media will be deployed to present the fascinating story of the rare violet-blue gemstone including sophisticated processing, cutting and polishing, all of which are being done within the country. Tanzanite One Limited, the largest miner of the rare gemstone, is supporting the project – Guardian.

In November some 16,000 Government-sponsored University of Dar es Salaam students and most other university undergraduate students were suspended indefinitely following their boycotting of classes in protest against loan fund allocations. They demanded that the government, through the ‘Higher Education Students Loans Board’ give them 100% loans instead of basing the loans they get on the financial status of their families, parents or guardians. The government decided to be tough and the affected universities were then closed. This seemed to exacerbate the situation with opposition parties condemning the government’s actions.

Tony Zakaria, a columnist writing in the government-owned Daily News was not impressed by the behaviour of the students. Extracts: ‘The pictures of students and teachers (also threatening to strike) on TV screens and on newspaper pages in the past few weeks have been colourful to say the least. Students dragging others from buses or classrooms to force them to join the strikes amounts to violence. So does the action of striking teachers throwing chairs at their leaders in a meeting hall…. teachers have been going to school but doing zero teaching in class….. Are they being paid salaries at the end of each month to silently ‘teach’ from their offices? We have seen hordes of pseudo-intellectuals on TV… struggling to juggle TVs, DVD players, impressive music systems and their suitcases large and small, as they scrambled to leave campus after they were booted out…The defiant, fire-breathing future intellectuals have vowed to fight on and strike again upon being reinstated at some unknown future date. You want to know how they spend their money, loaned or otherwise? Visit Mabibo hostel or any other dormitories of these potential future servants of the public. TV antennae growing like a forest of potted plants on windows for all to see. A cacophony of sound that passes for music …. will assail your ears, unless you are deaf to the obvious…. When do they seriously study, these music and vision lovers?’

Tanzania did not do well in the preliminary rounds of the World Cup to be held in South Africa in 2010. The results of the qualifying matches were as follows:
01-02/06/08: Tanzania 1-1 Mauritius
06-08/06/08: Cape Verde 1-0 Tanzania
13-15/06/08: Tanzania 0-0 Cameroon
20-22/06/08: Cameroon 2-1 Tanzania
05-07/09/08: Mauritius 1-4 Tanzania
This placed Tanzania in third place in its group and hence not eligible to continue in the competition. Teams have to be in one of the top two places to qualify. The group results were as follows:

Played W D L GF GA Pts
Cameroon 5 4 1 0 9 2 13
Cape Verde 5 3 0 2 6 5 9
Tanzania 5 1 2 2 6 5 5
Mauritius 5 0 1 4 3 1 2