Maasai in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area: Sustainable Development and Traditionality

Abstract

The paper highlights the modern problems of sustainable development of protected areas with the living indigenous peoples on the example of the Maasai of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA) in northern Tanzania. NCA for 30 years (since 1959) has been a unique long-term experiment to maintain a stable coexistence of wild animal populations and the Maasai community practicing traditional methods of cattle breeding. Options for the development of NCA are discussed, taking into account new challenges, such as the growth of the population of Maasai people and livestock and the need to expand the area of the NCA strictly protected zone. The interviews conducted by the authors among the young Maasai of Ngorongoro have demonstrated that this the most advanced group of young people can be characterized by the specific combination of traditional and modern trends as regards to the future life plans, access to modern technical means, attitude towards the traditions and trends on the blurring of the stereotypes of reproductive and sexual behavior including information on the self-protection against malaria and COVID. One of the acceptable solutions for the provision of the sustainable development of Ngorongoro conservation area could be the relocation of the part of the Maasai population for the decrease of the competition for resources with the wildlife and the control of the abundance of the Maasai cattle.