IN an effort to spur tourism in the sprawling rural northern Tanzania, a non-profit organisation has furnished the Longido Cultural Tourism Program (LCTP) with the equipment to strengthen its efficiency.<\/p>\n
Oikos East Africa, through the European Union funded Conserving Neighbouring Ecosystems in Kenya and Tanzania (CONNEKT) project has supplied the state-of-the art eco-tourism gears to support the Longido cultural tourism outfit to improve service provision to tourists.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have decided to equip the Longido Cultural Tourism Program with the eco-tourism kits in our quest to enhance its efficiency and service provision to tourists who intend to explore Longido,\u201d said the Oikos East Africa Managing Director, Ms Mary Birdi.<\/p>\n
The items include camping equipment for 10 campers which are five tents of different sizes, ten foldable camping chairs, three units of steel camping tables, two units of aluminium camping tables, ten units of camping mattresses with canvas covers, kitchen equipment for 12 campers, four solar lights, Small Gas stove and big storage trunk.<\/p>\n
In the list there are also three units of Mountain bikes to be hired out to tourists intending to explore the Longido sprawling wilderness zone on their own.<\/p>\n
\u201cOver stretching objective of the donation of the tourism development equipment is to spur the growth of tourism in Longido District, to be able to generate income for both the common people and the local government\u201d Ms Birdi noted.<\/p>\n
Longido Cultural Tourism Program Coordinator, Mr Alliy Ahmadou Mwako said the Oikos EA\u2019s eco-tourism equipment support comes at the opportune moment, as the adventure-thirsty-tourists demand the gears.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe equipment will not only be hired out by private tour companies to spawn income for the project, but also will be used by our own tourists with interest to explore Lake Natron\u201d Mr Ahmadou said after having received the gears.<\/p>\n
For his part, Longido District Game Officer, Mr Lomayani Lukumay commended Oikos EA for being in a forefront to compliment the Government efforts by innovating and supporting community development projects in a bid to achieve sustainable socio-economic agenda.<\/p>\n
\u201cOikos EA has been our true partner in terms of conservation of natural resources. For instance it has been able to mobilise and empower the community to engage directly in conservation and human-wildlife conflict resolution\u201d Mr Lukumay explained.<\/p>\n
He implored the Longido Cultural Tourism Program beneficiaries to use the eco-tourism equipment as a catalyst not only to do tourism business, but also to be the good ambassadors of conservation drive.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe believe that these eco-tourism gears will not only strengthen your outfit economically, but also will be the catalyst for you to ensure Wildlife and ecosystem are safe for sustainable tourism trade\u201d he noted.<\/p>\n
Longido Cultural Tourism Program (LCTP) with its base in Longido District, Arusha Region in partnership with Longido Tourism Trekkers are operating within and beyond the cultural-rich District of Longido.<\/p>\n
Mr Ahmadou said his program has been able to create 15 decent tour guiding job opportunities for the local youths and now is working overtime searching for artifacts market for women.<\/p>\n
The local Maasai, for the benefit of their community, runs the Longido cultural program, under the Tanzania Association of Cultural Tourism Organisers (TACTO) and close guidance of the State-run Tanzania Tourist Board (TTB)\u2019s unit of Cultural Tourism Program (CTP).<\/p>\n
It organises the tour to the extensive plains around Longido Mountains, 80 km north of Arusha, features an insight into the traditions of Maasai culture.<\/p>\n
The lush area is home to rare birds and mammals.<\/p>\n
The tour includes a nature trail to spot birds\u2013walking safari through the Maasai plains an over the slopes of Longido mountain \u2013 a visit to a traditional Maasai villages\u2013a tour of historical sites dating back to British colonial times, Lake Natron visit among others.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
IN an effort to spur tourism in the sprawling rural northern Tanzania, a non-profit organisation has furnished the Longido Cultural Tourism Program (LCTP) with the equipment to strengthen its efficiency. Oikos East Africa, through the European Union funded Conserving Neighbouring Ecosystems in Kenya and Tanzania (CONNEKT) project has supplied the state-of-the art eco-tourism gears to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":4564,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,5,8],"tags":[2425,2426,425],"class_list":["post-4591","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-economy","category-homepage-english","tag-alliy-ahmadou-mwako","tag-connekt","tag-tourism"],"yoast_head":"\n