Tanzania National Parks Rules : All National parks in Tanzania have Rules that must be adhered to by both visitors and the guides. These rules and regulations are aimed to protect the natural environment, the plants and animals with its natural resources and the entire ecosystem is built. These Rules are designed to protect and ensure the safety of everyone using the parks including the tourist.
National parks of Tanzania
There are a total of 22 National Parks in Tanzania which are protected by Tanzania National Parks Authority. Some of the most popular National parks are Serengeti National park, Tarangire National Park, Lake Manyara National Park, Arusha National park, Ruaha National Park, and Nyerere National park. All the animals inside the park are routinely counted by rangers and the data is kept. They take their conservation seriously and follow the simple principle of non interference with the natural way of plants and animals. This includes maintaining and balancing of the ecosystem that allow wildlife to thrive .
The only human activity which can be allowed in the park is tourism. Most commonly used means of visiting the parks is by use of off-Road vehicles, this activity is known as Game Drive. The unique and different one among the parks is Kilimanjaro National Park because people visit it primarily for the purpose of climbing the highest mountain in Africa and the world highest free standing mountain in the world. There are also parks which are located in the remote places of Tanzania such as the islands of Lake Victoria or the mountains near Africa’s deepest lake ,Lake Tanganyika. But majority of the National parks are located in the vast open savannah woodland and sparse forest.
In some designated area the authorities may allow construction of eco-friendly hotels that can offer accommodations to travellers directly in the National park. This is very important because game drives take place very early in the morning before sunrise and in the evening, before it gets dark. This reduces the distance between the overnight location and the start of the safari route.
There are also special set places inside the National parks where visitors are allowed to get out of their cars ,these are called the picnic sites. These are places designed for rests and having lunch while observing and admiring the scenery and walking safari route in some parks.
The main part of the Tanzania safari is the game drives, where the tourists are comfortably and safely seated in an SUV observing the amazing African wildlife from the car window or with binoculars from under the raised rooftop of the car.
What will happen if you break the rules?
Each National Park in Tanzania has a set of rules that all it visitors must follow. The wordings of the rules are similar: You should not interfere with the lives of animals, damage plants, leave garbage, remove objects of animate and inanimate nature from the conservation area, move around the park at night and so on. Both of these rules are mandatory guidelines to help in conservation efforts and the safety of all park users.
Sometimes the rules may not sounds as too strict and the temptation to go a little against the Tanzania National Parks Rules is very great especially when you seize the excitement of the game drive. Most of these regulations violations have far reaching consequences. Here are some of the park regulations.
Do not Speed on a game drive
While it is fun to ride in an SUV while standing under the open roof ,enjoying the trees flashing past your moving car, birds soaring above ,and the puffs of dust that the car leaves behind . Sometimes it is tempting to ride in the savannah with a breeze, the driver or the guide may receive a message on the radio about the location of a pride of lions. You need to be on the right road to see the lions sharing their prey and to be as close to them as possible because in a few minutes, dozens of other cars will arrive. This is a most common occurrence in some of the most popular parks with hundreds of tourists such as Serengeti and Maasai Mara.
There are set speed limits in National parks , this is because speed scares animals away such as small rodents, antelopes, birds and some baby animals. The more unpleasant situation is when an animal suddenly jumps out onto the road and can be run over. The maximum speed allowed in Tanzania’s National parks is 50km/h and 25km/h in Ngorongoro Conservation Area. Safety on a Tanzania tour safari is the number one priority.
Do not Go off -road
There is so much temptation of driving off road in Africa to get close to animals such as cubs hiding in the grass, a family of warthogs or a stream with crocodiles lurking on its banks. It may seem that nothing wrong has happen ,but small animals and birds often hide in the grass such as Baby caracals, serval, little kittens stay or hide in the grass while their parents go hunting or just patrolling the territory.
Many Nocturnal birds spend the day sleeping in the grass during the day and just don’t have time to react and fly out from under the wheels in time. The grasses is also the nesting place to many of the birds, the car can crush their eggs or even kill the flightless chick’s that have just been hatched. It is advisable to try and look for animals inside the car as much as possible and try using binoculars.
Do not feed wild animals
It is not permitted to feed animals for the reason that constant human feeding may look good as it is ,but it is depriving animals of the skill to get their own food. The problem is more common in the designated picnic sites of National, where are outdoor tables set up for lunch or diners. Many park user carry their lunchboxes because sometimes the game drives take the whole day and the picnic site snack is the only way to eat during the day between breakfast and dinner at the hotel.
Monkeys and birds flock these picnic sites, sometimes waiting with modesty for people to throw them a treat or just snatching it right out of the hands of tourists. Sometimes in 2020 rangers at Tarangire National Park had to shoot many vervet monkeys and baboons that were attacking humans.
The only way for tourists is to report to the rangers in case you come across abandoned or orphaned animals from which the rangers will vocally Tanzanian Veterinary Service.
Other things that are not allowed in the park
There is a ban on disturbing the animals at night. Generally Tanzania is close to Equator, the sun rises and sets at the same time throughout the year after 6 am and shortly after 6pm respectively. It is also not allowed to bring animals and plants into the park or take flora and fauna out from the park, neither is it allowed to take things found in the park such as skulls, bones rocks and other objects of nature.
You cannot litter in the parks, including throwing unextinguished cigarettes. Campfires are not allowed. Many other Tanzania National Parks Rules are available at the entrance of these National parks.
