Tanzania's National Parks Become No-Drones Flying Zone
By ADAM
IHUCHA --Tanzania’s
national parks’ airspaces have been declared a no-drones flying zone, as the
country banned the high-tech aircrafts in its bid to intensify security in the
wake of escalating poaching.
High demand for flying
drones in national parks’ skies rises as the unmanned aircrafts become more popular, compounded by hobbyists, who create films for both leisure
and commercial purposes.
“As of November 6,
2014, the use of drones or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) of any size for
photo taking, filming and any other purpose is not allowed in the national parks
for security reasons” reads part of Tanzania National Parks (TANAPA)’s
statement.
Tanapa
though doesn’t specify the so-called security reasons, there’s a speculation
that poachers could use the drones for mapping out places where elephants and
rhinos concentrate in the sprawling national parks.
Last month, poachers
shot dead two elephants and chopped off their ivory in Serengeti National park,
amid a maximum security, leaving authority with reservations.
TANAPA’s Public Relations Manager, Mr. Pascal Shelutete says
that there are serious concerns about the potential; negative
impact that flying unmanned aircraft can cause in parks.
“So, we have decided
to prohibit their use until we can determine the most appropriate policy that
will protect park resources” he clarified.
The
ban targets all drones and UAVs used for any purpose in the country’s 16 parks.
This means pilots
of hobbyists’ drones and UAVs will no longer be allowed to fly their gadgets in
Serengeti, Mount Kilimanjaro, Tarangire, Lake Manyara, Arusha, Gombe Stream,
Katavi, Kitulo, Mahale, Mikumi, Mkomazi Ruaha, Rubondo Island, Saadani, Saa
Nane Island and Udzungwa Mountain national parks.
If the
need arises, the Tanapa director general will exclusively consider allowing the
usage of these high technologies after a thorough scrutiny of the application.
“In
this regard, we ask all tour operators to notify their clients and assist in
the compliance of this public notice. The same applies to all visitors
intending to do filming in the parks,” the statement reads in part.
Mr
Shelutete says drones and UAV are the latest high-tech tools with which
officials are not conversant with its operations, leading to the fear of
jeopardising security.
“There’re
no clear guidelines on how the drones and UAVs can fly over national parks’
skies without compromising security,” Mr Shelutete says.
“It is
foreign operators only who currently know what they are doing with the gadgets,
this is quite unacceptable,” he adds in an interview.
However, Tanzania Civil
Aviation Authority (TCAA) says there’s a proper regulation for allowing drone
operators’ unfettered access to the skies, similar to model aircraft.
“We have legislation for
anything that access our airspace, that’s why the UAVs were allowed to fly in a
trial basis with a view to support the country’s anti-poaching initiatives in
future,” TCAA acting director general Charles Chacha says in a separate
interview over the phone.
Arguing that the drones
and the UAVs are currently flying across the world, Mr Chacha does not cite any
law in Tanzania that permits the machines to access the sky.
A source from within the
aviation industry says there’s no drone-specific regulation and that the
TCAA is attempting to finagle existing aircraft regulations and apply them
to the gadgets, even when the legislation clearly does not exist.
Tanzania
Association of Tour Operators CEO Sirili Akko, nonetheless, commends Tanapa for
its bold decision, saying it is for the very best interest of the nation.
“However,
I challenge them to be well equipped technologically in a bid to identify and
deal with such things accordingly without causing inconveniences to
holidaymakers,” Mr Akko notes.
One of
the UAVs operators, Mr Mike Chambers, who successfully used the gadgets for
monitoring Tarangire National Park last month, supports the Tanapa’s stance,
saying it is imperative to control the machines.
“In the
Bathawks Company’s case; we had extensive discussions with Tanapa before we
tested specific anti-poaching equipment.
“But
Tanapa just can’t allow every Dick and Tom to fly any machine. The responsible
way is to take control and only allow authorised activities,” Mr Chambers says.
The use
of the UAVs for aerial survey is envisioned to help stop the senseless killing
of over 10,000 elephants and thousands of other wildlife in Tanzania.
The
trials are part of latest efforts by the private sector to compliment the
government’s anti- poaching initiatives through private public partnership.
Natural
Resources and Tourism minister Lazaro Nyalandu says in a long-term basis, they
will look for suitable drones to intensify anti-poaching squad in Serengeti.
Tanzania has been under
close scrutiny over the commercial-scale slaughter of its elephants.
Indeed, available data
paints a harsh reality as it shows the country is losing 30 elephants a day, or
nearly 11,000 a year.
Almost a half of the
country's elephants have been shot, speared or poisoned since 2007, leaving
barely 60,000 in total. Going by the present poaching appetite, Tanzania's
elephants will be extinct within five years.
Tawiri’s latest report
shows the giant Selous Game Reserve -- UNESCO World Heritage Site that boasted
accommodating 38,975 elephants in 2009 -- now has barely 13,084.
Covering 50,000 km2,
Selous -- the largest protected area in the world – is renowned for its large
numbers of elephants and other big game.
But rampant poaching has
brought about a dramatic decline in its elephant and rhino populations whose
numbers have significantly been shrinking since the reserve was listed as the
World Heritage Site in 1982.
The current poaching crisis began in Central Africa about a
decade ago and has since shifted to East Africa, where as many as 25,000
elephants were killed in Tanzania’s Selous ecosystem -- 66 per cent of the
reserve’s population -- between 2009 and 2013, prompting UNESCO’s decision to
add it to its list of the World Heritage Sites at risk.
