The ambitious plan for a pioneer top quality golf course built near the world-renowned Africa’s premier national park of Serengeti was unveiled, with an 18-hole golf course being constructed within 400 acres at Fort Ikoma, an area that serves as a buffer zone for Serengeti District and the Serengeti National Park. It will be among the world’s few golf courses within or near a national park.
Billed to be one of the world’s exclusive and longest golf courses with an array of challenging features, new golf course promises the ultimate African golfing experience, where golfers share fairways with giraffe, zebra, impala and monkeys, while viewing a bigger game behind the park. During a round of 18 holes, golfers are likely to encounter aquatic life at various watering holes, while majestic, yet inquisitive giraffe, zebra, cheetah nonchalantly observe their swing from their unique vantage points.
William Mwakilema, the Deputy Conservation Commissioner in-charge of Conservation and Business Development at TANAPA, said: “For those who crave for a world-class golf course and the ultimate leisure in breath-taking landscapes and awe-inspiring wildlife, then the Serengeti National Park’s golf course could soon be their destination. At the Serengeti National Park’s golf course, they will enjoy fresh air, birds singing, awe-inspiring wildlife migration, breath-taking landscapes, peace and tranquillity that we all crave for.”
The Serengeti National Park’s golf course project bankrolled by the TANAPA Investment Ltd, a commercial wing of the conservation agency, to the tune of Sh7.5 billion ($3.2 million), is expected to be completed in June 2023. Environmental Impact Consideration, feasibility study and business plan have concluded that the Serengeti National Park’s golf course ticks all the boxes as a viable project.
Mr. Mwakilema said the golf course would attract around 3,000 global golfers annually, who, in turn, will leave behind an average of $857,632.93, equivalent to Sh2 billion and leapfrog other economic sectors with substantial multiplier effects to a critical mass of poor people around. Laying the foundation stone, the TANAPA Board Chair, retired General George Marwa Waitara, said the proposed ultra-modern Serengeti National Park’s golf course is part of the nation’s comprehensive strategy for diversify its mainstream tourism products as it seeks to boost tourist numbers, extend length of stay and revenue.
Chair of Tanzania Golf Union, Mr. Gilman Kasiga, welcomed the project, appreciating TANAPA Investment Ltd, for the great innovation, saying the recreational facility would go a long way in spurring sports tourism in the country. The United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) says tourism and sports are interrelated and complement each other.
Serengeti National Park is undoubtedly the best-known wildlife sanctuary in the world, unequalled for its natural beauty and scientific value, it has the greatest concentration of plains game in Africa.
