A series of some 10 earth tremors including one estimated at 5.9 on the Richter scale hit northern Tanzania between July 12 and 18. They were close to the Ol Doinyo Lengai mountain, an active volcano on the floor of the Rift Valley The last major eruption was in 1966. No major damage was reported, but several of the tremors caused panic in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, when buildings shook violently. Workers were evacuated from several high-rise buildings in Nairobi as uncertainty spread. The tremors also affected Arusha where the building housing the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda was evacuated on 17 July – IRIN. Continue reading →

The Tanzania Tourism Board (TTB) has won the ‘Golden Europe for Quality and Commercial Prestige Award’ for offering quality services in the tourism sector. The award was given in Berlin on January 27 this year by France-based ‘Otherways International Research and Consultants Company’. Continue reading →

A renowned American wildlife conservationist has been quoted in the Guardian as expressing fears that the rare chimpanzee species found in western Tanzania could become extinct as a result of a mysterious disease that may have killed up to 12 of them in a short space of time. Dr Magdalena Lukasik-Braum, known for her research on wildlife in the country, said, the rare species at Mahale Mountain National Park in Kigoma Region would become extinct if the disease was not checked. She said: “The situation is critical” she said.She said the chimpanzees are genetically so close to people that they are susceptible to almost all germs which affect humans. “Respiratory outbreaks occur with alarming regularity nearly every year, usually in June/July, when large numbers of staff and visitors enter the forest after the rainy season,” she added.

In addition to its promise of help in the energy crisis Chinese President Hu Jintao told President Kikwete after his arrival from Japan in November that China would also continue its assistance in the Chalinze water project aimed at supplying water to Sangasanga and Ngerengere areas, to boost operations of the Tanzania Zambia Railway Authority (Tazara) until its privatisation, and renovate Amaan Stadium in Zanzibar, Radio Tanzania Zanzibar, and various malaria projects. President Kikwete was in China at a summit of over 40 other African leaders, to discuss sustainable co-operation between China and Africa – Daily News.

Former Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa has been elected chairman of the Board of the South Centre, based in Geneva. He takes over from Dr Boutros Boutros-Ghali The South Centre which was established in 1996, plays the role of a ‘Think Tank’ for the South, with the task of defining and implementing analysis, research and consultation programmes; collection, systematising, analysing, and disseminating relevant information concerning South-South and North-South relations. Continue reading →

National Identity Cards will be issued to some 17 million Tanzanians starting in the financial year 2007/08. The new budget includes TShs 3 billion for the preparations. There will be two types of ID card – one for citizens and the other for foreigners. The Minister of Finance said that the issuance of national identities would be a major step in the fight against poverty because anyone who wanted a loan would use the ID to secure it.

The catalogue of DNW Auction in London for sales on July 11 described details of a copper medal with an interesting history. It shows Britannia on one side holding a scroll and on the other a laurel globe and sextant. The medal, which was sold for £160, was originally given to 150 Tanganyikan members of the Royal Geographical Society’s East Africa Expedition (1878 – 1880). The medal cost at that time £41.16 shillings and the silk cord to suspend it £12. The expedition was launched to find a feasible route from Dar es Salaam to the Central African lakes and was led by Alexander Keith Johnston. However, a few weeks after setting off from Zanzibar, he succumbed to dysentery and command of the expedition passed to another Scot, Joseph Thompson, who was only 21. The catalogue explains how Thompson’s coolness and tact were remarkable and how he successfully conducted the expedition across the desolate regions of Uhehe and Ubena to the north end of Lake Nyasa and then found a hitherto unexplored track to Lake Tanganyika. He also reached Lake Rukwa from which he marched back via Tabora to the coast at Bagamoyo before returning to London in 1880 (Thank you John Sankey for this – Editor).

The Royal Geographical Society East Africa Expedition medal

The Tanzania-Zambia Railway (Tazara) will be ‘concessioned’ by Tanzania and Zambia to a Chinese investor according to the Guardian. The two governments which have run the railway since its inception in 1976 have identified a Chinese firm with the capacity to run the 1,860 kilometre railway profitably. After lengthy discussions that took years to conclude, the two governments agreed to give it to China considering the role it had played in its construction and maintenance. Tazara has in the recent past been beset by declining profits triggered by technical problems.

Monkeys are among the most heavily studied wild animals on earth, and it is getting on for a century since a new species of them was last recognised by zoologists. The monkeys were discovered in Tanzania last year by Tim Davenport of the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society and his colleagues.

The Kipunji monkey – photo Tim Davenport/WCS

The monkeys were originally named the ‘highland mangabey’. However, examination of their DNA and skeletons, proved that they are related to baboons of the Genus Papio, even though they do not look like baboons. As a result, the monkeys have now been assigned to a genus all of their own by the journal SCIENCE – Rungwecebus (after Mount Rungwe, where the first colonies were found) kipunji. The kipunji has pale grey-brown fur, with off-white fur on its belly. Sixteen colonies have been found in the Rungwe-Livingstone Forest and Ndundulu Forest Reserve. This is the first new genus to be identified amongst primates for 83 years. (Thank you Ron Fennell and Simon Hardwick for sending details of this from the Economist and the Times (May 12).