MUME ANASA PICHA ZA UCHI ZA MKEWE AKIWA NA MWANAUME MWINGINE

                  Mke wa mtu, Rehema Mboje akiwa amelala gesti.

Mwanaume mfanyabiashara wa jijini Dar aitwaye Joseph Mboje, amenasa picha za mkewe aliyemtaja kwa jina moja la Rehema akimtuhumu kusaliti ndoa yao na mwanaume mwingine. 
Mboje alidai kuwa kwa muda mrefu alikuwa akimhisi mkewe ‘kucheza nje kapu’ na mwanaume mwingine ambapo katika pekuapekua yake ndipo akanasa picha hizo kwenye simu yake kabla ya hivi karibuni kutengana kabisa.
  
Kwa mujibu wa Mboje, baada ya kumgundua na kunasa matukio yake na mwanaume nje ya ndoa hasa gesti, mkewe huyo aliondoka nyumbani maeneo ya Manzese, Mtaa wa Sisi-Kwasisi, Dar, bila kujua alikohamia lakini alipofanya uchunguzi akabaini ana mwanaume mwingine.

“Sikuacha kupeleleza, nikaambiwa na mtu wangu wa karibu kuwa chanzo cha mke wangu kuondoka nyumbani ni kijana mmoja tuliyewahi kumwajiri katika biashara zetu,” alisema Mboje.

 Rehema Mboje akiwa na mwanaume mwingine
  Huku akizungumza kwa uchungu, jamaa huyo alisema kuwa kijana huyo aliletwa na mkewe kama meneja wa baa yao iliyopo Kinondoni-Mkwajuni, Dar lakini baada ya muda aliona mabadiliko makubwa kutoka kwa mkewe, jambo lililomshtua kwani alianza kuwa mlevi wa kupindukia na kurudi nyumbani usiku wa manane.

Alidai kuwa baada ya kushtuka, alimuuliza mkewe huyo kuhusiana na hali hiyo ya kuvuka kiwango hadi kujifotoa akiwa na mwanaume nje ya ndoa lakini alikana.
  
Mboje alidai kuwa aliendelea kufuatilia nyendo zao kwa kipindi cha miaka mitano, mwaka wa sita ambao ndiyo huu, mambo yakawa wazi kuwa mkewe wa ndoa aliyedumu naye kwa miaka 17, anatembea na kijana huyo aliyemtaja kwa jina moja la Lwalwai.
  
“Nimeumia sana, sikutarajia kama mke wangu anaweza kunifanyia hivi,” alisema.

Rehema alipotafutwa  alianza kwa kumkandia mumewe na kusema hamtaki tena.
  
Alipobanwa na wanahabari wetu, alikiri kuwa Mboje alikuwa mumewe na kwamba amezaa naye watoto wawili na kuishi pamoja kwa miaka 17 kabla ya ndoa kuvunjika.
Alisema kwa sasa maisha aliyoamua kuishi anayajua mwenyewe hivyo kila mtu achukue hamsini zake.
  
Mwanamke huyo pia alikiri kuwa na uhusiano wa kimapenzi na Lwalwai tangu kipindi cha nyuma na hii yote alifanya kutokana na tabia za mumewe ambazo hakutaka kuziweka wazi.
  
Alisema kwa sasa anaishi peke yake na kama huyo mumewe ataanza kumfuatafuata huenda akaamua kuolewa na Lwalwai.
  
Kwa upande wake, Lwalwai alisema kuwa ni kweli alikuwa na uhusiano na Rehema lakini hakujua kama ni mke wa mtu ndiyo maana alikubali kushirikiana naye kimapenzi pamoja na kuwa alikuwa anafanya kazi kwake.

7 Sex Positions Men Love

The bedroom moves that men love: try these sex positions tonight.

Want to spice things up in the bedroom? Make his night and drive him crazy with these sex positions that men love. Ultimately, sex is about love and intimacy, so while the positions are part of the fun, the real payoff is the way various maneuvers allow you to connect and explore each other in different ways.

1. Woman on Top: Ask your guy what drives him crazy in the bedroom, and we're betting he'll say it's pleasing you. This sexy position puts you in the driver's seat, and that's exactly where he wants you. Take advantage of being in control and set the pace according to what you like, leaving his hands free to roam. The bonus? He loves having your curves in full view…so flip on the lights and give him a show.

2. Missionary: This standard go-to is a favorite because it puts him in control, while still being intimate: your hips are free to do all the work, and you can lock lips and eyes with ease. And while he's in the power position on top of you, the two of you can set the pace together. If you want him to go slower or deeper, put your hands on his hips and guide him. The best sex is like a conversation, and missionary allows you to communicate with your bodies.

3. Reverse Cowgirl: This reverse variation of the woman on top position is the best of both worlds for your guy. It gives him the sexy view he gets during doggie style but it puts you in control. This position doesn't allow for a ton of touching or eye contact, but it's a nice contrast to some of the more classic, romantic positions. If you're craving a connection flash a look back at him while you're doing your thing—it'll drive both of you over the edge.

4. Doggie Style: This rear entry positions puts him in control, allowing him to call the shots and to go at the speed that's best for him. Plus, it allows for deeper penetration, making him feel like king in the bedroom. Some women love the intense full feeling, but if it feels like too much, let him know. Communication is key to enjoying sex and experiencing the full psychological benefits of physical intimacy.

5. Standing Up: Getting it on while standing up is probably not your go-to move, but it's perfect for that sweaty, gotta-have-you-now sex that'll make him feel irresistible. Whether he's bending you over the new kitchen table or you're steadying yourself against the wall, this spontaneous position is perfect for a quickie.

6. Spooning: Sex while spooning is the ultimate intimate position, and a go-to for when you're feeling lazy and affectionate. Not only does it give him total access to your bod, it also frees your digits up so that you can give yourself a hand, a move that's sure to drive him wild. Make it even hotter by twisting your body and head slightly towards him so you can smooch while his hands roam. Afterward you can slip into an easy, snuggley sleep.

7. The Lap Dance: Pull up a chair and have him take a seat while you get on top. He'll love the look and feel of you straddling him, and having you in control will help him last longer, too. A bonus? Unlike the standard woman-on-top position, this ones allows for you to stay super close, kiss, and make eye contact. Plus, he still gets to be aggressive with his hands, tugging on your hair, rubbing your back, and pulling you closer.

How To Make Your Girlfriend To Want To Make Love With You

You've been dating your girlfriend for a while and are ready to made love. You're pretty sure that she's ready, but you want to know how to make her want you without pressuring her or coming on too strong. If you want to make your girlfriend want to made love with you, you have to first make sure she's ready. Then, you can build her trust, treat her well, and turn her on to get her in the mood and mindset for having sex with you. If you want to know how to make your girlfriend want to made love with you, just follow these steps.

Be Dependable

If you want to make your girlfriend want to made love with you, then you should show her what an amazingly dependable guy you are. If your girl is going to trust you enough to made love with you, whether it's her first time or if she's had sex before, then she has to feel like she can depend on you. One of her fears may be that as soon as you made love, she won't be able to rely on you anymore because you would have gotten what you wanted. So, prove her wrong by being an upstanding and dependable guy.

Show up when you say you're going to show up. If you routinely pick her up half an hour late for your dates, she'll think that you don't think she's so special, and she'll be less likely to made love with you.

Don't be a flake. If you say you're going to take her to the beach over the weekend, do it. If you don't stick to your word, she won't be able to trust you.

1   Be her rock. Let her talk to you about her problems and insecurities while knowing that you can make her feel better.

Don't go hours or even a day or two without returning her phone calls or texts. This will make her feel like she can't depend on you.

2   Give it time. Some guys can be ready to made love with a girl in the time it takes to down a beer, while some girls can take months, or even longer, to decide that they're ready to make love. And some girls -- sorry, gentlemen -- are really adamant about holding out for the one, and don't even want to made love before marriage. So, don't rush into it -- wait for the girl to trust you first.

If your girl is barely comfortable with kissing, then you shouldn't bring up the "s-word" for a while.

However, if you and your girlfriend are already comfortable hooking up in bed all the time after just a few weeks, then you can start thinking about taking it to the next level.

If you want to make your girlfriend want to made love with you, the worst thing you can do is bring it up or try to force it when it's way too early. This will turn your girlfriend off and will make her much less likely to sleep with you.

3   Don't act like you're obsessed with sex. Let's face it -- if you're a male of a certain age who is desperate for his girlfriend to made love with him, then you probably are obsessed with sex. But that doesn't mean you have to make jokes, innuendos, or even blatant references to sex all the time. The last thing you want your girlfriend to think is that you're a horn dog who is so obsessed with sex that you don't care which lady comes into your bed. You should make her feel special, like you want only her.

You don't have to hide the fact that you're a man with needs, but you should avoid being vulgar, talking about sex all the time, or talking about other people who made love all the time.

Don't make derogatory comments about other women. This will make your girlfriend feel like a piece of meat. Remember that you're not with your bros, but with your special lady.

4   Be loyal. If you want to make your girlfriend trust you, then you have to be loyal to her. She'll never made love with you if she thinks you're talking to or checking out other women, or even hanging out with other women. Though you don't have to be rude to or ignore other women, you should have a laser-sharp focus on your girlfriend so she knows that you will always be there for her, especially after you start having sex.

Spend lots of time with her. Make sure that you plan at least one or two dates every week, and that you check in with her at least once a day if you're not together.

There's a difference between being loyal and being possessive and smothering your girlfriend with affection. You should make a point of seeing her when you both want to hang out, but don't try to see her 24/7 or she'll begin to pull back.

You should not only show your girl that you're loyal by being loyal to her, but by showing that you're a loyal sibling, friend, and teammate. Show loyalty in many aspects of your life and your girl will be impressed.

Treat Her Well

1   Treat her like a lady. If you want your girlfriend to made love with you, then you should treat her like a lady, not just like someone you want to hook up with. To do this, you have to be a gentleman and be courteous, kind, understanding, and generally admirable. Open doors for her, give her your coat when she's cold, pull out chairs for her, and help her carry her heavy bags.

Make sure to compliment her to let her know how great she looks or how special she is.

It's important to be a gentleman, but don't do anything that feels too unnatural to you, or she'll be able to tell that you're not being yourself.

2   Clean your home. This may sound silly, but if you want your girlfriend to really feel special, then you shouldn't invite her to hang out at your place if it looks like the set for World War Z. You need to make sure to remove any dirty laundry off your floor, clean your counters, and make your bed look and smell as clean and inviting as possible.

Not only will this make your lady feel special, but it'll make her feel more inclined to made love with you. She won't want to get it on if your bed is covered in candy wrappers and dirty underwear.

If you drive her around a lot, you should also keep a clean car. Give your lady the respect she deserves by making sure she has a clean seat.

3   Show an interest in all of her -- not just her body. Your girl's biggest fear may be that you don't care at all about her mind because you're too busy obsessing over her body. So, you have to prove her wrong. Show her that you are about who she is as a person, about her hopes and dreams, and about what makes her tick.

Ask her about her friendships, her childhood, and her favorite experiences.

Show her that you value her opinion. Ask her what she thinks about the current political situation in your state, or about the state of your new outfit.

Make eye contact when you talk to her. Show her that everything she says is important to you.

4   Take her out on romantic dates. If you want to build the sexual tension, you have to build the romance first. Make her feel special by taking her out, dressing up, and picking a romantic spot for dinner, a drink, or even just for stargazing. You don't have to do anything corny or out of your element to make her feel special.

Though you and your lady can have fun at baseball games, birthday parties, or at a loud, sweaty concert, these events will be less conducive to lovemaking.

Doing something romantic once in a while will show your lady that she really matters to you.

5   Be attentive to her needs. If you're not attentive to your lady's everyday needs, then how will you be attentive in the bedroom? Your girl needs to feel like you know when she's sad, nervous, anxious, or even just cold or hungry. Pay attention to her eyes, her body language, and her words to know if there's something bothering her. If you act completely oblivious when she's obviously upset about something, then she'll think you're not really paying attention to her.

If something's wrong, don't be afraid to ask her what's up. This will only show that you care.

6   Make sure she's ready to made love. If you really want to treat your lady well, then you have to be able to have an idea about whether or not she's ready for sex. If you're her first boyfriend, if she's sexually inexperienced, or if she's deeply religious or has other moral convictions that make her steadfast about not having sex, then you should back off and wait for her to trust you enough to even consider having sex with you. But here are some ways to know if she does want to made love with you:

If things have been getting hot and heavy in the hook up department, then she may be ready to move forward.

If she's been talking about sex, giving you sexual compliments, and touching you a lot more, then she may be ready for sex.

If she's been hinting that she wants to sleep over, spends a lot of time in or near your bed, or invites you over late at night, then she may be ready for more intimacy.

If she has deep moral or religious convictions that make her not want to made love, don't try to force it. Accept that some girls will never made love until they're married, and that there's nothing you can do to change that.

Turn Her On

1   Be prepared. If you plan on trying to made love, or even talking about having sex with your girl, then you should be prepared with some condoms in case the mood strikes her. This doesn't mean that you should flash the condoms or make her feel uncomfortable, but it does mean that you should have some backup just in case things do go in a favorable direction.

If she wants to made love and you have to run out to the drug store for some condoms, this may make your first sexual experience fall flat.

2   Set the mood. If you want your girl to made love with you, then you have to set the mood. You should start the evening by doing something romantic to soften her up. Then, go back to your (clean) apartment, which should be stocked with red wine, grapes, chocolate, and some light jazz on the radio. Light the candles and turn the radio on to get her in a romantic mindset, and offer her something to eat or drink.

If this feels corny, you should only do what makes you both get in the mood. If you just want to dim the lights instead of lighting candles, then that's fine too.

3   Kiss her. If you want your girl to made love with you, then you have to be a master kisser. Even if you've been kissing for a while, you should still know how to kiss her in a variety of ways and make your kisses feel fresh. Don't overwhelm her and grope her the second you lock lips. Instead, take it slow, grazing your lips as you touch her hair or stroke her face.

Take breaks from kissing so she has time to come up for air and want you even more.

You are not very likely to made love with your girlfriend if all you've done is kiss. It takes a bit longer for things to reach a natural progression.

4   Play hard to get. If you really want to make your girlfriend want you, then you shouldn't act like a sexual beast, moving rapidly from kissing to touching, to ripping off your clothes and practically levitating into the bedroom. Instead, you should kiss your girlfriend for a few seconds, then hold back, stroke her, and talk to her. Repeat this move a few times and wait for her to go wild.

Why does playing hard to get work? Because this will make your girlfriend feel like you like her, but that you're in control of your desires and aren't desperate to get your hands all over her -- even if you are.

This move will make her want to be the one who asks for more.

5   Touch her. If you want to turn on your girlfriend, you can start thinking about doing more than just kissing. Begin by lightly caressing her arms, the back of her head and hair, and then, as things progress, stroke her breasts under her shirt or wait for her to touch you. If your clothes are off or partly off, you can kiss her breasts or touch her through her underwear to get her in the mood.

Just make sure that your actions are reciprocated -- if you're touching her and she just lies there and doesn't make noise or do anything, then you're probably making her uncomfortable. Make sure she's ready for more before you proceed.

If you're already in the bedroom and hooking up, then you can simply ask her if she's ready to made love with you. This doesn't have to be elaborate or corny -- just say, "Are you sure you're ready?" and be prepared for any answer.

6   Don't ever pressure her. If your girlfriend says she's not ready to made love with you, then you shouldn't pressure her. Don't try making any arguments -- saying things like, "But we've been together for so long," "Everyone else is doing it," or "But I really, really like you," isn't going to make her feel any better. In fact, trying to reason with her will only make her more frustrated, annoyed, and much less likely to sleep with you.

Jifahamishe kuhusu Utalii katika Nchi yetu Tanzania

UTALII

Sekta ya utalii Tanzania ni miongoni mwa sekta zenye uwezo wa kukua sana kiuchumi. Inaleta fedha nyingi za kigeni na kuajiri watu 30,000, na inahamasisha sekta nyingine kama kilimo na hivyo kukuza uchumi. Mchango wake katika Pato la Taifa ni asilimia 14, ambayo ni sehemu ndogo ikilinganishwa na uwezo wa sekta hii.

Tanzania imebahatika vivutio vingi vya utalii. Tanzania inashinda nchi nyingi kwa kuwa na wanyamapori wengi na wa aina nyingi na mandhari za kuvutia, mazingira yasiyoharibiwa, watu wakarimu na sekta za kiuchumi zenye kuweza kuhimili sekta ya utalii, kama sekta ya madini na nyinginezo.

Vivutio vingi asilia na ukubwa wa nchi unatoa nafasi ya kuendeleza shughuli za utalii kama kutazama wanyama, safari na shughuli za ufukweni, upandaji milima, kuona manthari, uwindaji, na upigaji picha.

Lengo letu ni kuendeleza utalii endelevu na bora ambao unaendana na uhifadhi, utunzaji wa mazingira na utamaduni wetu. Kwa kufanya hivyo Tanzania itakuwa inapata faida halisi kutoka kwenye shughuli mbalimbali za utalii.

Tanzania ni mahali pa pekee katika Afrika, ambapo bado hapajagundulika na wengi. Ni nchi yenye maajabu ya mimea na viumbe visivyopatikana kwingine. Kilimanjaro ni mlima mrefu kuliko yote Afrika wenye theluji; visiwa vya maajabu vya Zanzibar; hifadhi za wanyama za Seregeti; ziwa Tanganyika; ziwa Manyara; kileta ya Ngorongoro; magofu ya karne ya 14 na 16 ya Kilwa Kisiwani; goji la Olduvai; nyayo za Laitoti; hifadhi za Baharini Kisiwa cha Mafia ni machache tu ya sehemu za kuvutia utalii. Mandhari na topografia ya nchi na watu wake wakarimu, wana uwezo mkubwa wa kukuza utalii na utamaduni, likizo za ufukweni, uwindaji, shughuli za akiolojia, na upigaji picha mzuri kulilo wote barani. Kwa habari zaidi ya vivutio vya utalii, tazama www.tanzania-web-com/home2.Htm

Sera ya Utalii

Sera ya Utalii ya Septemba 1999 ina malengo yafuatayo: 

• Kuongeza uchumi na kuleta hali nzuri kwa wananchi kwa kupunguza umaskini, kwa kuendeleza utalii ulio endelevu na wa hali ya juu kiutamaduni, unaokubalika na watu, unaokubalika kiikolojia, wenye kuzingatia mazingira mazuri na unaolipa kiuchumi. 
• Kutangaza Tanzania kama kituo muhimu cha utalii na nchi yenye utajiri wa utamaduni na fukwe nyingi. 
• Kuongeza mchango wa sekta kutoka asilimia 16 hadi 25 na 30 ifikapo mwaka 2010. 
• Kuweka msingi wa rasilimali ya utalii kwa kiwango cha kutosha kama sehemu ya rasilimali ya umma.
• Kuboresha miundombinu ya utalii na kuiendeleza zaidi ili kupata pato kubwa kutoka kwenye sekta.

Mkakati wa kutekeleza Sera ni pamoja:

• ¨ Kuboresha miundombinu kama vile barabara, usafiri wa anga nk.
• ¨ Kuongeza huduma zaidi kama hoteli na migahawa.
• ¨ Kuongeza ubora na ufanisi katika kutoa huduma
• ¨ Kuchukua hatua za kuitangaza bayana tasnia na kuweka mipango ya masoko ya ndani na kimataifa.
• ¨ Kuboresha maeneo ya utalii kwa kutunza uasilia wa mahali.
• ¨ Kuimarisha taasisi mbalimbali zinazohusika na utalii na kuongeza uratibu wa huduma mbalimbali za kitalii
• ¨ Kuchochea uwekezaji kutoka ndani na nje ya nchi wa miundombinu na huduma za utalii
• ¨ Kuendeleza uwezo wa wafanyakazi kulingana na mahitaji ya utalii.
• ¨ Serikali itahusika katika kuweka miundombinu ya msingi na mazingira yanayofaa kwa washika dau wakati sekta binafsi itaachiwa kuendeleza sekta ya utalii.

Tanzania iko kwenye mazingira ya ushindani katika utoaji wa bidhaa bora na huduma za utalii, dhidi ya idadi ya vituo vingine vya utalii na uchaguzi mkubwa walio nao watalii. Katika hali hii, sera imeweka wazi haja ya kuwa na sheria na taratibu zinazowezesha mazingira ya ushindani.


Washikadau wa Sekta ya Utalii:

Bodi ya Utalii Tanzania (TTB)
Bodi ya Utalii Tanzania inakuza maendeleo ya utalii.

Kazi zake

• ¨ Kutangaza utalii ndani na nje ya nchi
• ¨ Kufanya kampeni (matangazo, uhusiano wa umma.maonyesho) kwa lengo la kuvutia utalii.
• ¨ Kutayarisha na kuchapisha vipeperushi na makala za kujitangaza
• ¨ Kutoa habari za kitalii
• ¨ Kutafiti na kuweka kumbukumbu za kisasa za utalii.

Elephant Carnage and Conservation

It would be an understatement to say that elephant poaching has dominated the African conservation news of late, at least in the United States. On September 3, The New York Times ran a lengthy feature by their East Africa correspondent, Jeffrey Gettleman, with the rather emotive headline ‘Elephants dying in epic frenzy as ivory fuels wars and profits.’  The article, based on field reporting by Gettleman in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) Garamba National Park, describes the involvement of various military and paramilitary regimes in ivory poaching and trade in this conflict zone, including armies from DRC, Uganda, South Sudan, and the Lord’s Resistance Army, the notorious band of rebels-cum-marrauders led by Joseph Kony. Gettleman also added a new twist to recent ivory poaching coverage by relaying reports from the field that the Ugandan military, which receives considerable US government support, may have been responsible for a recent slaughter of elephants in Garamba. Earlier this week Yale e360 followed up the Times piece with an interview with Gettleman (‘Shining a bright light on Africa’s elephant slaughter’) that discusses his reporting from DRC and investigations into the linkages between regional militaries and ivory trade.

Soon after, National Geographic released its October issue, which features a piece by Brian Christy (‘Ivory worship’) focusing on the other side of the ivory trade and poaching crisis, namely surging demand from Asia. Christy’s article examines the role that religious carvings play in this growing Asian ivory market, using a colorful cast of players that includes Thai Buddhist ‘elephant monks’ and Philippino priests. The piece also provides a first-hand look at ivory manufacturing in China and devotes considerable space to a discussion of the impact of the ivory sales authorized by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) in 1999 and 2008. The article’s main ultimate policy argument is that those sales have helped encourage new black market demand from China and other Asian countries- an argument that has been made frequently over the years in debates over the ivory trade- and is heavily critical of CITES as well as TRAFFIC, the international wildlife trade monitoring body whose research is a critical influence on CITES decisions.

These reports all highlight the basic reality that the illegal ivory trade, like the black market trade in rhino horn, has grown rapidly over the past several years. TRAFFIC issued a report in July that documents the increase in ivory seizures over the past several years, with over 24 tonnes seized in 2011, the highest level since the elephant was listed on Appendix 1 of CITES in 1989, which effectively banned the international ivory trade. While Christy’s Nat Geo piece documents some interesting micro-scale dimensions of this black market trade and the mechanics of smuggling ivory, the macro-level drivers are fairly intuitive: increasing wealth and consumption in China and other parts of Asia, as well as increasing trade links between China and Africa.

On the ‘supply’ side, Gettleman’s Yale e360 interview highlights the link between elephant poaching and the capacity, or lack thereof, of many African governments to police the ivory trade, or indeed to provide even the basic public services of order and security.  In discussing the role of the DRC army in elephant poaching, Gettleman highlights this link between state capacity and law enforcement:

…this taps into a bigger issue of state failure. The reason why the Congolese army is so undisciplined, and preys upon its own people and its own environment is because that state is incredibly weak. The central government in Congo barely controls that territory and in some areas it is totally irrelevant. Congo has had a legacy of decades of misrule, sometimes quite brutal. And we are seeing this now expressed against elephants.

Much of the publicity of the surging ivory trade includes the explicit or implicit suggestion that the slaughter of elephants has gotten as bad as it was during the 1970s and 1980s, when the overall continental population of elephants dropped by more than 50% from about 1.3 million to around half a million animals. During this time hard-hit countries such as Kenya lost most of their elephants, with numbers there dropping from over 200,000 to about 20,000; Tanzania’s population went from perhaps 180,000 to about 55,000 by 1989.

It is hard to find up-to-date analysis of elephant population trends and the impact that the current surge in poaching may be having on elephants; the African Elephant Database, maintained by the IUCN African Elephant Specialist Group, released its last compilation in 2007, although a note on the TRAFFIC web site says that a new continental synthesis will be released later this year. But bits and pieces of information suggest that the continent-wide situation is not quite as bleak as it was in the 1980s before the ivory ban, and a bit more complex in terms of regional trends.

Firstly, the largest population of elephants in Africa is now in Southern Africa, centered on northern Botswana, home to about 130,000 elephants, the largest single elephant range state population. The transboundary region of northern Botswana, western Zimbabwe (centered on Hwange National Park), Namibia’s Caprivi Strip, and southern Zambia, contains around 250,000 elephants, between half and a third of all the elephants in Africa. A main objective of the Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area being developed across the borders of those four countries as well as neighboring Angola, is to expand the area available to elephants through improved local conservation measures in Zambia and Angola, lessening the pressure on what are considered excessive numbers of elephants in Botswana and Zimbabwe. A similar rationale is incorporated in the Greater Limpopo Transfrontier Conservation Area which aims to expand elephant range from South Africa’s Kruger National Park into neighboring Mozambique’s new Limpopo National Park. Elephant numbers in Kruger have been considered overabundant for decades, with frequent debates over the years about culling elephants in order to reduce their population within Kruger.

Southern Africa’s elephant populations have for the most part been increasing for decades, including during the 1970s and 1980s when elephant numbers were plummeting throughout the rest of their African range, and this growth continues today.  The reasons for these trends include a range of factors, primarily 1) the historic reduction in elephants and other large mammals south of the Zambezi River by white settlers and game hunters during earlier colonial periods; 2) relatively strong rule of law and highly capable wildlife management and law enforcement bodies throughout Southern Africa- for example, Botswana routinely receives the best scores on Transparency International’s annual corruption survey of any country in Africa; 3) sound wildlife policies that grant private landholders and local communities rights to utilize wildlife and control over revenues generated by wildlife on their land (see this edited volume for a useful regional overview); 4) high and growing levels of wildlife tourism, hunting, and related industries that generate revenues from wildlife across both government and local landholders, providing resources for management and law enforcement and incentives to invest in conservation.

Outside of Southern Africa, the largest regional concentration of elephants is in East Africa. Tanzania trails only Botswana in terms of its national population, having about 110,000 elephants. Kenya has an estimated 35,000. Both of these national populations have rebounded significantly since 1989, when Tanzania had about 55,000 elephants and Kenya an estimated 19,000 at that time. While the trends over the past two decades have constituted impressive recoveries, there has been a widely reported and documented surge in poaching, as well as trafficking of ivory through East African ports, in recent years. Yet a closer look at available data suggests that the current elephant population trends in East Africa are at least somewhat equivocal. In Kenya’s Tsavo National Park, the country’s largest single elephant population inhabiting the country’s largest state protected area, census results reported in 2011 estimated the elephant population at 12,572, up from 11,696 recorded in the previous census in 2008. While these figures may be subject to sampling or counting error and subject to debate, it seems unlikely that poaching levels in Kenya could be reverting to the out-of-control situation that prevailed in the ’70s and ’80s if elephant numbers in Tsavo are holding their own or increasing.

Tanzania has relatively clear and recent elephant population data and trends as summarized in the2010-2015 National Elephant Management Plan, published by the Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute with support from the Wildlife Conservation Society. This data reveals considerable localized variation in elephant population trends and status within Tanzania’s main elephant ranges. Two areas- Ugalla Game Reserve in the west and Selous Game Reserve in the south, the latter of which is the country’s largest protected area- have experienced significant declines in elephant numbers since 2006, particularly in the vast Selous where the population may have dropped from about 50,000 elephants in 2006 to about 39,000 three years later. Other large elephant populations in the southern and western part of the country, such as the Katavi and Ruaha-Rukwa ecosystems, do not demonstrate these large-scale declines, and in the northern part of the country, notably the Serengeti and Tarangire ecosystems, elephant numbers have continued to increase, a trend that goes back more than 20 years now.

Elephants in northern Tanzania's Tarangire National Park, where elephant numbers have rebounded since 1989.

The situation in Tanzania is clearly complex and, while the upsurge in poaching in certain areas since 2006 is certainly threatening both elephant populations and human security, the situation, as in Kenya, is not quite what the data records from the ’70s and ’80s. If one were to generalize, it seems that governance may be playing a key role in the levels of elephant poaching in Tanzania’s different wildlife areas.  National parks, which are managed by the parastatal Tanzania National Parks (TANAPA), which generally has a good reputation and has the advantage of considerable revenues generated by tourism magnets such as Mount Kilimanjaro and Serengeti National Park (Serengeti alone generates more than $25 million annually), generally seem to have elephant populations that are increasing or stable, according to the data reported in the National Elephant Management Plan. Game Reserves such as Ugalla and the Selous, by contrast, are managed by the Ministry of Natural Resource and Tourism’s Wildlife Division, which has long had a reputation for weak governance and corruption (for an overview see this publication), and it is these areas that seem to have lost large numbers of elephants to poaching in recent years. The Wildlife Division also lacks the resources that TANAPA has at its disposal; Game Reserves are used primarily for tourist hunting, which is a lucrative wildlife industry in Tanzania, but the Wildlife Division does not retain this revenue but rather remits it to the Treasury, and depends on the overall government budgetary process for its own operating revenues.

If governance differences between governmental authorities within Tanzania helps explain the variation in levels of poaching across different protected area management categories, then similar governance differences across the African continent seem key to the growing regional divergence in the status of  elephants in different areas.  The reality today is not that elephant populations are being slaughtered indiscriminately across all of Africa; this is clearly not occurring in Southern Africa and significant parts of East Africa. Where elephants are really getting hammered and may be facing localized or national depletion or extinction is across much of Central Africa as well as the Sahel and West Africa, where elephant populations are threatened by both habitat loss and poaching. As Jeffrey Gettleman’s reporting illustrates, the underlying problem for elephants in those areas is two-fold: First, governments’ law enforcement capacity in those regions is weak or, in extreme cases such as DRC, non-existent, while corruption is rampant. Second, outside of East and Southern Africa, where elephants are increasingly concentrated as they decline outside those regions, elephants do not generate significant revenues through tourism, which means there are few local or national economic incentives to protect elephants, and limited resources with which to do so.

Indeed, it would be a very interesting exercise to run a correlation between a) elephant population trends and levels of poaching at the landscape scale; and b) tourism revenues generated by those landscapes. It seems that where elephants are a part of a significant tourism industry and generate substantial revenue, and where government (or private or local community) protected area governance is relatively sound, elephants are at least withstanding the current poaching onslaught. Where neither of those two conditions exist, their prospects are increasingly bleak.

BINTI ALIYETOROKEA UINGEREZA KUKWEPA KUOLEWA NA MFALME MSWATI III...

KUSHOTO: Tintswalo Ngobeni. KATIKATI: Sherehe za kimila ambapo Mfalme huchagua mke kati ya wasichana hao. KULIA: Mflame Mswati III.

Msichana mdogo ameomba hifadhi ya ukimbizi nchini Uingereza baada ya kukataa kwa dharau harakati za ndoa za wake wengi za Mfalme Mswati III wa Swaziland na kugoma kujiunga kwenye nyumba harimu ya wake 13.

Tintswalo Ngobeni, mwenye umri wa miaka 22, alitimkia Uingereza kutoka taifa hilo la kusini mwa Afrika akiwa na umri wa chini ya miaka 18 baada ya kuvuta hisia za mfalme huyo milionea, mtawala maarufu mkandamizaji kwa maisha yake ya anasa.
Ikiwa ni sehemu ya mila za Swazi, Mfalme Mswati III, mwenye umri wa miaka 45, ameruhusiwa kuchagua mke mpya kila mwaka.

Tintswalo, ambaye sasa anaishi mjini Birmingham, alikuwa na umri wa miaka 15 tu wakati Mfalme huyo alipofanya harakati zake baada kumuona kwenye jumba la kifalme la mke wake wa nne, LaNgangaza. Binti huyo alisema 'alitishika' pale alipogundua dhamira zake za ndoa.

Aliongeza: "Alianza kunipigia simu kwenye shule ya bweni. Aliniuliza kama ningetaka kuwa sehemu ya familia ya kifalme. Ilinibidi kukaa kimya kuhusu mashaka yangu lakini nilifahamu sikutaka kuolewa naye na kujitolea maisha yangu kwa mfalme huyo.
"Wake zake wamewekwa kwenye majumba yao, wakizingirwa na walinzi, na hakika hawawezi kwenda kokote isipokuwa tu mfalme akisema hivyo. Kitu pekee wanachofanya ni kwenda Marekani mara moja kwa mwaka, wakati mfalme huyo anapowapatia posho kwa ajili ya manunuzi."

Tintswalo alikuwa amelazimishwa kuachana na maisha ya starehe kwenye shule moja ya bweni huku shangazi yake, ambaye alikuwa mlezi wake mkuu, akisuka mipango ya kutorokea Uingereza kuungana na mama yake, ambaye alihamia mjini Birmingham miaka mitano kabla, akimtoroka mume wake mnyanyasaji.

"Sikuwa na jinsi," alisema. "Hakuna aliyewahi kumwangusha mfalme huyo au kuthubutu kumdharau, hivyo nikatoweka tu."

Tangu kuwasili nchini Uingereza, Tintswalo amekuwa sauti ya upinzani dhidi ya utawala kandamizi za Swazi, ambapo vyama vya upinzani vya siasa vimefungiwa na wanaharakati wamekuwa wakikamatwa mara kwa mara au kushambuliwa.

Hatahivyo, shughuli kuu za Tintswalo, ikiwamo maandamano ya kila wiki nje ya ubalozi wa Swazi mjini London akiwa na kikundi cha Swazi Vigil, zimesikika kwa mamlaka hizo nchini kwake na sasa anaamini yuko kwenye hatari kubwa zaidi kuliko ilivyowahi kutokea.

Alisema: "Hivi karibuni nilipata taarifa kwamba watu wametumwa kutoka Swaziland kuja kunikamata, jambo ambalo hakika linanitisha mno. Kama nikirejea, nitakamatwa au mbaya zaidi huku pale kuna watu ambao wanateseka, kupigwa au kuuawa kwa kujihusisha na siasa."

Tintswalo sasa anaishi katika mashaka ya kuweza kurejea nchini Swaziland, baada ya ombi lake la kwanza la hifadhi ya kisiasa nchini Uingereza mwaka 2007 kukataliwa mwaka 2011.

Mwezi uliopita, alikamatwa na kupelekwa kwenye kituo cha kushikilia wahamiaji baada ya miezi 18 ya kuripoti kila wiki katika mamlaka hizo.
Hatahivyo, baada ya shinikizo kutoka TUC na ofisi ya Mbunge wa Birmingham kupitia chama cha Labour, Roger Godsiff, Tintswalo aliachiwa na sasa amekata rufaa wizara ya Mambo ya Ndani.

Godsiff alisema juzi: "Tumefurahishwa mno wanasheria walifanikiwa sana katika kuwezesha kutazamwa upya kwa kesi ya Ngobeni."

Baba huyo wa watoto 27, Mfalme Mswati III alikuwa mgeni kwenye harusi ya William na Kate na pia kwenye sherehe za Miaka 50 ya Malkia wakati wa majira ya joto mwaka jana.

Mke wa sita wa mfalme huyo alitoroka kutoka kwenye jumba hilo harimu mwaka jana, akielezea miaka kadhaa ya 'machungu na udhalilishaji wa kimwili' uliofanywa na mume wake.

Msemaji wa Wizara ya Mambo ya Ndani alikataa kuzungumzia chochote.