Day: November 3, 2022

Report: Tanzania’s Elephant Population Recovering 

Tanzania’s Ministry of Tourism released a census this week showing the country’s elephant population has stabilized.

Tanzania’s elephants were among the hardest hit by poaching in Africa, with numbers dropping 60 percent between 2009 and 2014. But authorities say joint efforts with conservation groups and local communities have drastically reduced poaching and helped to attract tourist dollars.

Just under 20,000 elephants were recorded in a survey that covered about 90,000 square kilometers of the Katavi-Rukwa and Ruaha-Rungwa landscapes in western Tanzania, including parks, game reserves and other protected areas.

The government said the results confirm that the landscape remains the most important in East Africa in terms of elephant numbers and contains the largest population on the continent outside Zimbabwe and Botswana.

Ernest Mjingo, a managing director of the Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute, a department of the Ministry of Tourism, said the world would now see Tanzania as very serious about conservation and doing well at it. And if the world does see that, he said, it would be a credit to the government and would also increase revenue, because Tanzania will become a prime destination for tourists because of the animal population. He added that it could also become a U.N. World Heritage Site, since it would have species that would not be available in other places.

The report said poaching had dramatically decreased over the last few years.

In the last report, conducted in 2018, the ratio of elephant carcasses to live animals was 14 percent. Now, it’s just 1.4 percent, thanks to government and stakeholders’ efforts in strengthening wildlife protection.

Tourism experts such as Makubi Mabula see the results of the census as a good sign for Tanzania’s economic prospects.

“Honestly, the results show a green light toward the future of tourism in our country,” he said through a translator. ” … Many tourists come to see animals like elephants, lions, rhinos and others. So, with the elephant population stabilizing, the national income will increase. It really gives us the peace we tourist stakeholders need to believe that the tourism industry will grow fast.”

Along with elephants, the survey also confirmed that the populations of 25 other key mammal species in Tanzania have stabilized, including buffaloes, zebras, hartebeests, impalas and giraffes.

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SpaceX Scores Style Points, Sends Secret Satellites to Space

A private spaceflight giant has a busy week sending satellites into orbit. Plus, massive meteor strikes on Mars, and the Pillars of Creation get an eerie makeover. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi brings us The Week in Space.

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Movies Return to Kashmir After 33 Years

The movies have returned to Indian-administered Kashmir after an absence of more than three decades.

A new multiplex cinema, INOX Srinagar, lit up its three screens for the first time on September 30, almost 33 years after all of the region’s theaters shut down in the face of a campaign by armed militants opposed to cinemas, beauty parlors and liquor shops.

Even today, the threat of violence remains high for the several dozen theatergoers who visit the multiplex each day, seeking a novel experience in the case of the younger generation or, in the case of their elders, a nostalgic reminder of times past.

Would-be patrons must pass through a tight security cordon, having their cars checked by a rifle-bearing policeman, and then being frisked at the main gate before entering the theater. An armored truck with at least a dozen policemen is stationed near the entry gate, and an elevated security tower stands next to the ticket counter.

The Kashmir Valley boasted some 15 movie theaters until 1989, when militants opposed to Indian rule in the region demanded their closure. All were shut down on January 1, 1990.

Some were turned into malls, some into hospitals, and some into bunkers now occupied by Indian paramilitary forces. Several, subjected to grenade or firebomb attacks, are nothing more than piles of bricks. A few short-lived attempts to reopen theaters since 1990 failed in the face of heavy security and militant threats.

None of that history has dampened the enthusiasm of INOX Srinagar owner Vikas Dhar, whose family has owned movie theaters in Srinagar since the 1960s. He told VOA that for him, the opening of his multiplex marks the realization of a dream.

So far attendance has been sparse, with a little more than 5,000 patrons visiting the 524-seat complex in its first month of operation. But Dhar is already looking ahead.

“It is not a big figure, but it will increase with the passage of time when people will come out of their houses without being afraid of anyone,” he said.

“We are planning to provide a wholesome entertainment for the entire family, and it requires more development,” Dhar continued. “The launch of multiplex is generating interest among people and will surely increase in the near future. We are also thinking of developing a play area for children and food court for the adults next year.”

A peek at the past

For Mahjabeen Ashai, a homemaker in her early 60s, a visit to the cinema brought back the past. “Though hard but I visited INOX Srinagar just to recollect memories of old times when I used to watch movies in halls with my husband,” she told VOA.

But for a younger generation of Kashmiris who have never visited a movie theater, there is the question of why they should put up with the security risks when they can enjoy the same films in their own homes on streaming video – commonly referred to in the region as OTT (Over The Top).

“I like watching stuff from the comfort of my home,” said Tayba Gulnar, a 27-year-old lawyer. “Almost all of us have big TV screens with OTT subscriptions at home. Cinema is a public place and is different from what it used to be 10-15 years ago.

“Why should I go to the cinema to watch a movie?” she asked. “I would only watch an animated movie in cinema, if I ever go there.”

But Dhar is convinced that even younger Kashmiris will learn to appreciate the unique experience of watching a film in a cinema. He said that movies such as “Avatar” and “Avengers” with their dramatic special effects can only be fully enjoyed on the big screen.

Dhar’s optimism is shared by Manmohan Singh Gauri, whose Palladium Cinema was perhaps the best-known theater in the region before shutting down with the others at the beginning of 1990. India’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, was photographed shaking hands in front of the theater with Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, then prime minister of Jammu and Kashmir, not long after independence from Britain.

Gauri told VOA that he hopes to open his own two-screen multiplex if he is granted permission by the government. He said he expects his bid could make a big impact, adding that the return of cinema to the valley can give younger Kashmiris access to more information about what is happening around the world.

Despite the strict security measures, the threat of violence remains a concern; just in the past week four militants were killed in twin encounters with Indian forces in Kashmir.

But Dhar said he is taking steps to keep his patrons safe. “At present we are running three to four shows in a day and don’t have any plans for late evening shows,” he said.

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