The Selous Game Reserve will be used for uranium mining.

The Tanzanian government’s request to change the Selous Game Reserve’s borders was granted by the UN World Heritage Committee. The purpose of the application was to permit uranium mining within the game reserve.

A subsidiary of a uranium mining company with headquarters in Toronto, Canada, will carry out the mining project in Selous. A memorandum of understanding was signed by the business and the Tanzania Wildlife Division.

As per the terms of the Memorandum of Understanding, Tanzania has committed to collaborating with the Ministry of Tourism to combat poaching, which is an issue in numerous Tanzanian parks, particularly in the southern region of the Selous Game Reserve. Mantra Tanzania Limited is set to allocate US$800,000 towards anti-poaching endeavors and the creation of innovative concepts and ideas aimed at curbing poaching in Tanzania’s Selous Game Reserve. The business is prepared to begin a number of projects, including outfitting game scouts, supplying vehicles and equipment, communications, navigation, bushcraft instruction, and counterpoaching strategies. The funding for anti-poaching operations will go toward gyrocopters or light sport aircraft for aerial surveillance, as well as a few trials of unmanned aerial vehicles fitted with GPS, night vision cameras, and video transmitters.

Tanzania’s minister of tourism and natural resources, Mr. Lazaro Nyalandu, claims that the government has delineated a 350-kilometer radius around the Lion Cubs in Selous Game Reserve, which is where the uranium mining is going to occur. It is anticipated that the mine will yield 139 tons of uranium and almost 60 million tons of radioactive waste that is toxic.

Situated in the southern Tanzania Safari Circuit lies the Selous Game Reserve. In 1896, it was designated as a protected area. One of the world’s biggest protected animal habitats is the reserve. Its 50,000 square kilometres are covered in a diverse range of plants and terrain. It is home to a wide variety of species and features steppes, mountain ranges, riverine thickets, and woods. Up until recently, when uranium mining began, it was essentially an uninhabited African wilderness. About 70,000 elephants, more than 500,000 antelopes, more than 120,000 buffaloes, about 2000 large carnivores, cheetahs, black rhinos, hippos, elephants, crocodiles, and countless other creatures can be found in Selous.

In addition to the uranium mining, there are plans to construct a dam on the River Rufiji, which will increase human disturbance within the reserve and compound the ongoing poaching in Tanzania. Many of the park’s elephants have perished as a result of the widespread poaching epidemic, which the Tanzanian government is making every effort to eradicate.