Tanapa Communications Manager, Pascal Shelutete
Responding to the report, Tanapa Communications Manager Pascal Shelutete said the incident never took place in the park.
“It is absolutely not true that the event took place in Serengeti
National Park. We’re drafting a statement to counter the issue,”
Shelutete said.
Contacted for comment, an experienced tour guide in the northern
tourist circuit, Aaron Joseph, said: “I doubt if the incident ever
happened in Serengeti as the tourist van seen in the background is a
South African registered vehicle. In Tanzania we do not have such kind
of trucks for tourists. We have been using War Bus, mostly built in
Tanzania,” he said.
Joseph also said that Serengeti National Park lions have no
tendency to attack tourists or people, adding: “They are more friendly
to human beings compared to those in southern wildlife sanctuaries.”
A researcher at the Arusha-based Tanzania Wildlife Research
Institute (Tawiri), Dr. Victor Kakengi, once said: “There are different
studies on lions’ behaviour across Tanzania, and some of the findings
show that lions found in the northern circuit such as Serengeti National
Park are friendly to humans compared to those in the southern circuit.”
The report, which has been going viral on social networks, quotes
an Arusha-based tour guide, Emmanuel Bayo, as saying that he witnessed
the encounter close by and snapped off a few shots showing the lions in
attack mode in the world renowned Serengeti national Park.
“It was quite scary, really. The lions are very hungry in the park
and hadn’t had a kill for a while,” Bayo is quoted as telling Caters
News, the UK's oldest independent press agency.
According to the report, Bayo added: “The truck was driving past
with people inside and the lions smelt the humans. Then they tried to
get inside the truck for about an hour during which they wreaked havoc.”
According to the report, in addition to puncturing the tyres, the lions attempted to smash the windows too.
Fortunately, the truck was said to be equipped with reinforced glass and so the animals failed to smash them.
“It would have been a disaster if we it hadn’t had reinforced
glass,” the tour guide said, adding: “It was scary but exhilarating. I
think everyone should come on safari with me to have these experiences.”
Such a frightening scene might have the opposite effect and keep
would-be tourists away for a country that earns much of its forex
through tourism.
According to a recent World Bank report, Tanzania earned $1.9bln
(Sh4.08tn) from tourism in 2014, accounting for 22 per cent of the value
of all exports in the same period.
It says the country can earn an average of $16bln annually in the
next decade if the government takes serious measures to reform the
sector.
SOURCE:
THE GUARDIAN
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