Ngorongoro Conservation Area

Historical Context

Ngorongoro conservation area (NCA) is located in Ngorongoro District, an area about 14,000sq km. It has a population of approximately 120,000 people, whose major livelihood activity is pastoralist livestock production.

The district is dominated by tourism and conservation interests, containing Loliondo and sale Game Controlled Areas (GCAs), NCA and the Lake Natron Ramsar site, and bordered by Serengeti National Park to the northeast Maswa GCA to the southeast and Monduli GCA to the west.

Ngorongoro Conservation Area covers 8,300sq km of Ngorongoro district, and is currently home to an estimate of 50,000 people, 97% of who are pastoralists. There are six wards and 14 villages in the area, which are represented on Ngorongoro District Council.
NCA was envisaged as a multiple land use area where different land use interests were to be integrated, and was classified as a World Cultural and National Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1979 in recognition of this. Today it is a prime destination for tourists in Tanzania, earning an estimate 11m US$ on gate entry fees alone in 2005.

Creation of NCA

NCA was created by the Ngorongoro Conservation Ordinance of 1959, when Maasai pastoralist were persuaded to leave the Serengeti and permanent springs of Moru and Siironet by the promise of rights to land in Ngorongoro and new water supplies to compensate for what they had left behind. Between 1959 and 1965 three boreholes were constructed as part of the Serengeti Compensation Scheme.
These became defunct in the early 1960s, and by 1994 the three dams constructed under the scheme had collapsed. Over time access to the Ngorongoro, Olmoti and Empaki craters, Olduvai Gorge and the Highland Forest was restricted and managed burning of pastures.

Administration of the Area

There are currently four major institutions of Authority in NCA:
• The District Administration;
This works with the local government set up of villages and wards operating from the district capital Loliondo.
• The Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority (NCAA), This is an autonomous parastatal organization
• The Pastoral Council (PC); This advises the NCAA on funding for community developments
• Informal Maasai customary structures with age-set and clan leaders.

The overlap of authority and interests between these institutions however, creates a complex situation and often times have led to conflict between the different bodies.