The BirdLife Partnership welcomed this statement as the removal of a threat to the world’s best known national park, which is part of the route of the world’s greatest mammal migration, involving 1.8 million wildebeest and other antelopes. But since June 2011, the Tanzanian authorities have been progressing the plans for the eastern stretch of the Serengeti road, and there have been no clear public statements about the western stretch of the road. A revised Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) has not been published or submitted to the WHC. Nor has there been any public statement about an alternative southern route.

BirdLife understands that some commercial traffic is already passing through the Serengeti National Park.  Although some of the Tanzanian Government communications state that the road will not be upgraded and will remain a gravel road, at present it is not a gravel road but a seasonal dirt track, so any change, including gravelling, will in fact amount to upgrading.

The Serengeti National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and Important Bird Area, is home to over 450 bird species including two endemic to Tanzania. It is thought one third of Africa’s population of Endangered Rueppell’s Vultures Gyps rueppellii uses the Serengeti ecosystem.

300,000 tourists visit the Serengeti every year, and tourism is a major foreign exchange earner for Tanzania. It would therefore be an economic as well as an environmental mistake to endanger the Serengeti. Globally, public perceptions would be very negative, eclipsing the current goodwill and admiration for the many conservation achievements of Tanzania. The local communities’ livelihoods base could also be greatly and negatively impacted.

BirdLife is concerned that a road across the Serengeti would negatively affect its biodiversity in a number of ways, but especially through increased road kills of large mammals and attendant scavengers, including vultures, which are facing extreme pressure outside Protected Areas.  It could also increase the risk of poaching. Furthermore, the proposed road will pass close to Lake Natron, by far the most important breeding site for Lesser Flamingos in the world, and could adversely affect their breeding.

The Wildlife Conservation Society Tanzania (BirdLife in Tanzania) and the BirdLife International Partnership recognise the need for Tanzania to upgrade its transport infrastructure, including the road network, to provide increased access for local people around the Serengeti National Park.

However, BirdLife remains concerned that development of the eastern stretch of the road is proceeding, particularly as this is happening in advance of any studies on an alternative southern route.  This piece-meal approach is likely to lead to increased future pressure for the section of the road through the Serengeti to be upgraded.

Transport solutions must be sustainable and environmental issues should be properly taken into account in route decisions as is required by both Tanzanian and international law.   BirdLife believes a solution is possible through strategic planning. A Land Use Plan exercise supported by a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA), with full public consultation, should be carried out for Northern Tanzania to examine strategic options for meeting transport needs and for integrating these with environmental objectives (including biodiversity protection) and the needs of local people.

BirdLife, therefore, requests that at its June 2012 meeting, the World Heritage Committee adopts a decision which:

Urges Tanzania to set a clear timetable for undertaking Land Use Plan/Strategic  Environmental Assessment (SEA) processes to examine a range of potential      alternative routes, which could meet the objectives of the proposed      Serengeti Highway (providing an international transit corridor and   better transport links for local communities) without serious damage to      the World Heritage Site;

Urges Tanzania to put individual road projects on hold, including plans for any  tarmac roads through migration routes and/or up to the edges of the      National Park, pending completion of the Land Use Plan/SEA; and

Urges  Tanzania to confirm that it has abandoned plans for upgrading the dirt  track road across the Serengeti National Park (by gravelling or  otherwise).

Rueppell’s Vulture

The Rueppell's Vulture - Gyps rueppellii - is a large vulture that occurs in central Africa. The current population is estimated to be in the region of 30,000 and is in decline due to ongoing loss of habitat and other pressures. They are highly social, roosting, nesting, and gathering to feed in large flocks. It is considered to be the world's highest-flying bird, with confirmed evidence of a flight at an altitude of 11,000 metres (36,100 ft) above sea level.

Description

They are mottled brown or black overall with a whitish-brown underbelly and thin, dirty-white fluff covering the head and neck. The base of the neck has a white collar, the eye is yellow or amber, the crop patch deep chocolate-brown. Sexes are similar.

Call

They grunt, hiss and chatter at a carcass.

Food

It locates food entirely by sight, mainly carrion and bone fragments of dead animals.

Breeding

Rueppell’s griffons breed on cliff faces in colonies, where they lay a single egg on to a platform of sticks lined with grass. Incubation takes about 55 days and the parents share the responsibility of caring for the downy grey chick, which fledges at around 150 days.

Conservation Status – Endangered

This species has declined severely in parts of its range and overall it is suspected to have undergone a very rapid decline owing to habitat loss and conversion to agro-pastoral systems, declines in wild ungulate populations, hunting for trade, persecution, collision and poisoning. In West Africa, they have been heavily exploited for use in Black Magic.

Birdwatching

Ask Aves Birding Tours/Safaris/Adventures to create a tour for you to see these striking vultures.