Serengeti General Management Plan

F. Park Operations Programme
However, wildlife offtake within the Park remains a substantial threat to the natural resources
of the Serengeti. Over the past decade, there appears to be a gradual upward trend in the
total number of hunters arrested in the Park (see Figure F.3 below), although care must be
exercised in interpreting the data, as there is no indication of the degree of effort invested in
resource protection in the data series.
Figure F.3: The annual total number of poachers arrested in Serengeti National
Park, 1993-2003
Number of hunters
1400
1200
1000
800
600
400
200
0
1993/1994
1994/1995
Source: SENAPA 2004
1995/1996
1996/1997
1997/1998
1998/1999
1999/2000
2000/2001
Financial Year (July - June)
2001/2002
2002/2003
Table F.2 over page shows the range of illegal activities identified with arrested persons and
Figure F.4 indicates areas of spatial variations in degrees of risk from illegal hunting. Wildlife
offtake is the major illegal activity, accounting for nearly two-thirds of the reported activities
from arrested persons. The next major threat to the park resources is from habitat destruction,
resulting from bush clearing for cultivation sites along the boundaries; cutting of trees
and grass; firewood collection and man made fires within and outside the Park.
The continued, if not increased, levels of illegal natural resource offtake in the Park suggests
that despite the professionalism and efforts of the Park’s Resource Protection Department,
the current park resource protection strategies are alone insufficient to reduce wild-resource
offtake in the Park. New strategies are needed that concentrate on developing solutions directly
with the local communities from where the wildlife offtake pressure arises. In addition,
the efficacy and appropriateness of the prosecution process for hunters apprehended within
the Park needs to be reviewed so as to ensure that there is an adequate deterrence against
illegal resource use.
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