The Tanganyika National Parks Ordinance CAP [412] of 1959 established the organization now known as Tanzania National Parks (TANAPA), and Serengeti became the first National Park. Currently TANAPA is governed by the National Parks Ordinance Chapter 282 of the 2002 revised edition of the Laws of the United Republic of Tanzania. Conservation in Tanzania is governed by the Wildlife Conservation Act of 1974, which allows the Government to establish protected areas and outlines how these are to be organized and managed. National Parks represent the highest level of resource protection that can be provided.
Conservation of eco-systems and tourism development in all areas designated as national parks is the core business of the organisation.
Nature-based or wildlife tourism is the main source of income that is ploughed back for management, regulation and fulfilment of all organisational mandates in the national parks.
Principal activities
The primary role of Tanzania National Parks is conservation. The 16 national parks, many of which form the core of a much larger protected ecosystem, have been set aside to preserve the country’s rich natural heritage and to provide secure breeding grounds where its fauna and flora can thrive, safe from the conflicting interests of a growing human population.
TANAPA is particularly charged with functions of:
VISION
Sustainable Conservation and Tourism Excellence
MISSION
Sustainable Conservation for Development
MANDATE
To manage and regulate the use of areas designated as National Parks by such means and measures to preserve the country’s heritage, encompassing natural and cultural resources, both tangible and intangible resource values, including the fauna and flora, wildlife habitat, natural processes, wilderness quality and scenery therein and to provide for human benefit and enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for future generations.
