Empowering Communities Manyara Area Tanzania

Africa Bridge Launches Pilot Program in Tarangire–Manyara Wildlife
Corridor to Conserve Wildlife by Empowering Local Communities
Partnership with Manyara Ranch Management Trust aims to reduce extreme
poverty and strengthen conservation across one of Tanzania’s most vital wildlife
corridors.

TARANGIRE–MANYARA WILDLIFE CORRIDOR, TANZANIA February 2026— Africa
Bridge today announced the launch of a new pilot initiative in Tanzania’s
Tarangire–Manyara Wildlife Corridor designed to protect wildlife by helping local
communities move out of extreme poverty.

Working in partnership with the Manyara Ranch Management Trust (MRMT), the
program will guide 12 villages through a proven five-year pathway that strengthens
household income, improves food security, and empowers communities to become
long-term stewards of the land and wildlife around them.

Across Africa, wildlife conservation and economic opportunity are deeply linked. Wildlife
populations on the continent have declined by 76 percent over the past 50 years, while
nearly 70 percent of Africans are under age 30 and youth unemployment in some
regions reaches 58 percent. At the same time, 90 percent of people living in extreme
poverty—defined as surviving on less than $2 per day—live in Sub-Saharan Africa,
most of them in rural communities.

“Conservation cannot succeed unless the people who live alongside wildlife have the
opportunity to prosper,” said Barry Childs, Founder of Africa Bridge. “When families
have stable incomes, food security, and the ability to save and invest, they become the
strongest protectors of wildlife and the land they share.”
The Tarangire–Manyara Wildlife Corridor connects two of Tanzania’s most important
ecosystems and serves as a critical migration route for elephants, wildebeest, zebra,
and other iconic species. More than 50,000 people live in the surrounding ecosystem,
many in conditions of extreme poverty. When families struggle to survive, pressures
such as land clearing and wildlife poaching can increase not out of neglect, but
necessity.

Africa Bridge’s approach focuses on changing that dynamic. Through the pilot program,
communities will form agricultural cooperatives, women-led savings groups, and local
social service committees that support vulnerable children and strengthen community resilence.

Links:

• Africa Bridge Website