The Monduli District

The Monduli District in Tanzania is almost half the size of the Netherlands and very thinly populated with 160.000 inhabitants. The biggest population is the Maasai, a rather isolated tribe with a pastoral lifestyle. The capital is Monduli town. Monduli District lies in the vicinity of a number of tourist attractions: Mount Kilimanjaro (almost 6000 meter altitude), Mount Meru (almost 4500 meter altitude), Arusha town, important as tourist and economic centre in Northern Tanzania, and the National Parcs: Serengeti, Ngorongoro, Lake Manyara and Tarangire. Annually thousands of tourists visit this beautiful environment. 

Despite the fact that Monduli District is near all these attractive places, the number of tourists is very limited within Monduli district itself. Thousands of tourists travel through the district without really visiting it. Due to this Monduli District can’t benefit the income out of tourism.
Beside this Monduli District is facing lots of other problems: thinly populated, water shortages and overgrazing, marginal agriculture, very little economic activity, very poor infrastructure and very erratic rainfall.
Civil servants consider a transfer to the Monduli District as a degradation or even as a punishment.
Within this District the Maasai people live their lives in their own isolated way.

In short: a district with considerable problems.