Tanzanian authorities have failed to recognize the Maasai as an Indigenous People and further failed to recognize their right to their ancestral lands in Loliondo. Traditional lands owned and used by Maasai pastoralists for grazing are increasingly threatened by the establishment of conservation areas without their consultation or participation. Ngorongoro District Council allocated the Loliondo division of Tanzania’s northern Ngorongoro district as a hunting concession to tourism businesses without first consulting the Maasai People or even providing them alternative land, leaving the Maasais’ very survival in jeopardy.
Between June 2022 and May 2024, Amnesty International conducted research into forced evictions of the Maasai Indigenous people of Loliondo to investigate the role of businesses operating in the traditional lands owned and used by the Maasai. The investigation for this report builds on Amnesty International’s June 2023 publication, “We have lost everything”: Forced evictions of the Maasai in Loliondo which included interviews with 45 individuals, including 29 Maasai residents, three lawyers, and three journalists. In October 2023, Amnesty International visited Loliondo to identify businesses operating in the 1,500km area, two years after the state established Pololeti Game Reserve. Amnesty International saw that the area was now gated and labeled Pololeti Game Reserve. Three tourism companies – &BEYOND, OBC and TAASA Lodge – appeared to be operating in the area. Amnesty International also confirmed that OBC had three camps within Pololeti Game Reserve – Chali One, Lima One and Lima Two.
In April 2024, Amnesty International visited Arusha region on a fact-finding mission and interviewed an additional nine people, – including one current employee and four former employees of the private companies in Loliondo, all residents of Loliondo, and one lawyer, – who were all privy to internal operations of the companies and sometimes involved in conversations on and implementation of the companies’ plans. As with previous reporting, Amnesty International has withheld names and other identifying information to protect the safety of interviewees. The organization’s Evidence Lab examined 23 images and seven videos, conducted an open-source investigation and analysed recent changes in locations of businesses operating in Loliondo, which were visible in satellite imagery.
This report calls on businesses operating in Loliondo to respect the rights of the Maasai Indigenous People, carry out human rights due diligence, and provide remedy where their business operations are identified to be causing or contributing to adverse impacts on the Maasai People’s rights. Companies must have internal policies and standard operating procedures which safeguard human rights when their operations include proposals to resettle communities.
Read “Business as Usual in Bloodied Land? Role of Businesses in Forced Evictions in Loliondo, Tanzania.”