The Weighbridge structure which stands along the Arusha-Namanga road slightly off the Longido Township is blocking Wildlife, causing huge elephants’ traffic jams at night.
It seems the jumbos gather around the Longido weighbridge every night to demonstrate against the invasion of the wildlife connectivity route, demanding their right of way.
The new Kimokouwa Weighbridge is located about 15 kilometres from Longido town, which is some 95 kilometres from Arusha City and 11 kilometres from Namanga border.
According to the Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute (TAWIRI) the construction of the truck scale project at Longido did not take into consideration the fact that its location is in the middle of an important Wildlife Corridor.
“And now the officials who man the weighbridge complain that large herds of elephants throng the structure every night, scaring the daylights out of them,” Dr Julius Keyyu the Director of Research at TAWIRI, pointed out.
The Kitendeni Wildlife Corridor, links West Kilimanjaro and Lake Natron through Longido, but also connects with the Kilimanjaro-Amboseli connectivity route transcending into the neighboring country of Kenya.
But according to Dr Keyyu, the Truck Scale at Longido is blocking the wildlife passage and that the Tanzania Roads Agency (TANROADS) have already been informed about the situation.
The scientist was presenting a report on Wildlife corridors, their current Status, threats and implications for sustainable biodiversity conservation and community livelihood in Tanzania, during the 14th TAWIRI Scientific Conference.
The 2023 series of the bi-annual scientific conference attracted over 400 participants from 22 countries around the globe that converged in Arusha for three days.
Other findings of the report are that though Tanzania has earmarked a total of 61 wildlife corridors that are operational, only two of these important natural connectivity passages have been officially gazetted.
Dr Julius Keyyu revealed that out of the 61 identified corridors, 41 such passages are highly threatened with extinction.
“So far there are only two wildlife corridors that have been officially gazetted and these include the Kitendeni Wildlife Corridor linking Longido and West Kilimanjaro Kilimanjaro as well as the Mpanga-Kipengere, which although has a Government Notice (GN) is still in horrid condition,” pointed out Dr Keyyu.
The Minister of Natural Resources and Tourism, Angela Kairuki who officially opened the meeting said the government has realized that 20 wildlife corridors were indeed in pathetic conditions and that it is high time all these passages get gazetted.
Some of the main topics during the conference include Human and wildlife coexistence with biodiversity as the basis for a sustainable future being presented by Professor Veldhuis M. Paul, an Assistant Professor on fundamental principles in the organization of ecosystems at the Institute of Environmental Sciences, Leiden Public University of Netherlands.
The other sub-themes of the TAWIRI Scientific Conference 2023 Human-Wildlife Conflicts comprise Emerging technologies for Wildlife Conservation; Tourism Development and diversifications for social-economic development; Wildlife Ecology and Ecological Interactions.
Scientists also discussed Monitoring of Wildlife Population and threatened species; Ecosystem Health and Wildlife Diseases; Water Resources and Wetland Conservation; Climate Change and – Ecological resilience; Bee ecology, Beekeeping and Api-tourism development as well as Vegetation ecology, Invasive species and Habitat conservation.
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