Another Take: In Tanzania, the Maasai may lose their land – again
The Take
Al Jazeera
4.7 • 748 Ratings
🗓️ 9 August 2025
⏱️ 23 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Every Saturday, we revisit a story from the archives. This originally aired on July 11, 2022. None of the dates, titles, or other references from that time have been changed.
In the shadow of Serengeti National Park, some 70,000 people may soon lose the land that is their home. They’re Maasai, an indigenous semi-nomadic people living alongside safari tours and game hunters. The Tanzanian government says an area where they live, Loliondo, is overpopulated and that it is threatening a precious ecosystem famed for its wild animals. It looks like a classic case of human vs animal – but the animals are also attractive to trophy hunters, and for the Maasai, the story goes much deeper.
In this episode:
- Joseph Oleshangay (@Oleshangay), Human Rights Lawyer
- Anuradha Mittal (@Mittaloak), Executive Director, Oakland Institute
- Parselelo Kantai, Journalist and Writer
Episode credits:
This episode was updated by Tamara Khandaker. The original production team was Alexandra Locke, Negin Owliaei, Amy Walters, Ruby Zaman, Ney Alvarez, and our host Malika Bilal.
Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Our engagement producers are Adam Abou-Gad and Vienna Maglio. Aya Elmileik is lead of audience engagement. Alexandra Locke is The Take’s executive producer, and Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera’s head of audio.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Al Jazeera Podcasts. |
| 0:09.5 | Hey, I'm Tamara Kandacher. |
| 0:12.0 | I'm a producer with the take, back with another take, where we resurface stories from our archives. |
| 0:19.6 | The Maasai have lived in northern Tanzania for centuries, herding cattle, raising families, |
| 0:26.8 | and coexisting with the wildlife that draws in tourists from around the world. |
| 0:33.2 | But for years now, their way of life has been under threat. |
| 0:37.9 | They're being forced off their land, often violently. |
| 0:41.9 | And the Tanzanian government says it's about protecting nature. |
| 0:46.1 | It's part of a global pattern that experts call fortress conservation, |
| 0:51.4 | a model that treats indigenous people as a threat to the land that |
| 0:56.4 | they've protected for generations. When we first aired this episode, the government had just |
| 1:02.9 | started evicting Maasai families from Loliando. Since then, thousands more people have been |
| 1:09.5 | displaced, and tens of thousands more are at risk of displacement. |
| 1:14.5 | It originally aired July 11, 2022. |
| 1:18.4 | All dates and references are from that time. |
| 1:26.9 | Joseph Olo-Sanghai grew up living in one of the most beautiful places on earth. |
| 1:32.3 | Ngo-Norongoro Tanzania. |
| 1:35.3 | It's right next to Tanzania's Serengeti National Park. |
| 1:38.3 | Millions of wildebeest, zebras and antelope traverse the Serengeti National Park every year in the largest mammal |
| 1:46.1 | migration in the world. Look at those elephants on safari in Africa right now in the Angoro |
| 1:51.7 | Angoro Crater. The Serengeti is home to more large predators per square kilometer than any other |
| 1:57.1 | place in the world. Joseph calls it a paradise, and not just for wildlife. |
... |
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