The Exhibition and Workshop to Commemorate The 30th Anniversary of Chimpanzee Research atMahale

Photo by T. Nishida: The Hon. Juma Ngasongwa, M.P., the Ministry of Tourism, Nature Resources and Environment addresses the gathering

by Toshisada Nishida(Kyoto University)

To commemorate the 30th anniversary of the chimpanzee research at Mahale, an exhibition wasopened in the National Museum at Dar-es-Salaam on December 4th of 1995. The opening ceremonywas held by Mr. Costa Mlay, the Director General of the Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute(TAWIRI) and addresses were made by the Hon. Juma Ngasongwa, M.P., the Minister of Tourism,Natural Resources & Environment, Mr. Shigeyuki Suzuki, the Deputy Ambassador of Japan, Dr.D.N. Manyanza, the Principal of the College of African Wildlife Management and Mr. HiromasaKawasoe, the Director of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Dar es-Salaam. Asarranged by Prof. Hosea Kayumbo, the Chairman of the Mahale Wildlife Conservation Society, ateam of girls and boys danced and sang a song to commemorate the success of the research. Manypeople from the Ministry, various embassies, the University of Dar-es-Salaam, conservation-orientedNGO's, newspaper offices, various aid agencies and the general public gathered for the ceremony.Among the distinguished guests were Mr. B.N.N. Mbano, Director of Wildlife, and the BritishAmbassador.

After a 40 minute ceremony, the VPs had the priviledge of previewing the various panels in theexhibition which illustrated chimpanzees, birds, fish, forests and other wildlife at Mahale, actual plantspecimens and brand new videotapes accompanied by Prof. Toshisada Nishida's narration. Thepanels were prepared by Prof. Shigeo Uehara of Sapporo University, Mr. Michio Nakamura, Dr.Michael A. Huffman, Dr. Michio Hori and T. Nishida of Kyoto University, while video tapes wereshot and edited by Anica Production, Tokyo. Live botanical specimens were collected at Mahale andtransported to Dar by T. Nishida. The exhibition continued for a week.

On the afternoon of December 4th, a workshop on research and conservation began with Mr.Costa Mlay's keynote address at the Simba Grill of the Kilimanjaro Hotel. The workshop hadoriginally been planned by Professor Kayumbo and T. Nishida and further organized by TAWIRI,Tanzania National Parks (TANAPA) and JICA. Mr. Mlay emphasized the importance of wildlifemanagement officers, reasearchers and NGO's who rarely, if ever, have the chance for discussion,gathering together. Mr. Mlay, who visited Japan in November of last year, delivered a letter on behalfof Prof. Junichiro Itani to congratulate everyone on the 30th anniversary and to suggest theestablishment of a game reserve in the area peripheral to Mahale.

Following Mr. Mlay's address, Ambassador Job Lusinde, Board Chairman of TANAPA, andProfessor Kayumbo each made a brief address. Then, one of the major contributions was madejointly by Mr. Lota Melamari and A.R. Kajuni, Director General and Manager of the Planning Unit ofTANAPA, respectively. They emphasized one of the important roles played by scientific research, inparticular that of ecosystem study, in wildlife management. This was followed by my own lengthyspeech on the past and future prospects of Mahale research, and then by a presentation on the currentdistribution of chimpanzees in Tanzania by Mr. Edeus Massawe, the Director of the Mahale WildlifeResearch Centre.

The second day's morning session (December 5th), chaired by Dr. Anthony Collins of theGombe Stream Research Centre, began with Dr. George Sabuni's speech on research policies that arerelevant to wildlife conservation, followed by Professor K. Tambila's presentation on socio-economic implications of wildife conservation. Prof. Tambila whose ancestor was from Mahale(Tambila is the name for one of the main peaks of the southern range of the Mahale Mountains)emphasized the importance of local people participating in the decision-making regarding planningwithin and outside of protected areas. Then, two presentations by Mahale rersearchers took place. Dr.Huffman introduced brand-new findings on chimpanzee medicinal plant use, while Prof. Ueharapresented a detailed analyses of hunting behavior by wild chimpanzees. After the lunch break, underthe chairmanship of Dr. Huffman, Dr. Fatima Mturi of the University of Dar-es-Salaam discussed theloss of habitat of endangered Zanzibar red colobus monkeys. Then, Dr. Fumio Fukuda, the JICAconsultant to Mahale, explained his long term attempt to habituate the B group of chimpanzees tohuman observers without resort to provisioning. The session was closed by two eloquent speakers:Dr. W.A. Rodgers of F.A.O. spoke on the diversity of primate fauna in Tanzania, while Dr. KimHowell of the University of Dar-es-Salaam summarized the biodiversity of the Mahale area. After theafternoon session, attendees met and enjoyed a reception at the swimming pool of the KilimanjaroHotel.

The third day (December 6th) began with Dr. Manyanza's presentation on the role of protectedareas (PAs) for the development of the well-being of local people. He pointed out the difficulty of theconcept of "neighboring community" which is variously defined as geographical, sociological orecological. The rest of the morning was dedicated to the summary and discussion of all topicspreviously raised. Mr. Melamari and Dr. Jane Goodall who had joined the workshop from theprevious evening's reception, chaired the enire morning session. This final session was extremelyproductive: Participants discussed basic versus applied research, better use of indigenous talent in PAplanning and community conservation, the problem of inadequate scientific advisory services tomanagement, capacity building by TAWIRI, systems plans and biodiversity, community participationin resource conservation, roles of NGOs in creating awareness in conservation and othe topics. The closing address was delivered by Mr. Takashi Komori, the deputy Director of JICA whothanked participants for their contribution to the tremendously successful workshop. I have heard thatall contributions were collected by Mr. Mlay and Dr. Sabuni of TAWIRI by the beginning ofFebruary, 1996 and an anthology will be published in the near future.

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