Ethnomedicine of the Kagera Region, north western Tanzania. Part 2: The medicinal plants used in Katoro Ward, Bukoba District

Background

The Kagera region of north western Tanzania has a rich culture of traditional medicine use and practices. The dynamic inter-ethnic interactions of different people from the surrounding countries constitute a rich reservoir of herbal based healing practices. This study, the second on an ongoing series, reports on the medicinal plant species used in Katoro ward, Bukoba District, and tries to use the literature to establish proof of the therapeutic claims.

Methodology

Ethnomedical information was collected using Semi-structured interviews in Kyamlaile and Kashaba villages of Katoro, and in roadside bushes on the way from Katoro to Bukoba through Kyaka. Data collected included the common/local names of the plants, parts used, the diseases treated, methods of preparation, dosage, frequency and duration of treatments. Information on toxicity and antidote were also collected. Literature was consulted to get corroborative information on similar ethnomedical claims and proven biological activities of the plants.

Results

Thirty three (33) plant species for treatement of 13 different disease categories were documented. The most frequently treated diseases were those categorized as specific diseases/conditions (23.8% of all remedies) while eye diseases were the least treated using medicinal plants (1.5% of all remedies). Literature reports support 47% of the claims including proven anti-malarial, anti-microbial and anti-inflammatory activity or similar ethnomedical uses. Leaves were the most frequently used plant part (20 species) followed by roots (13 species) while making of decoctions, pounding, squeezing, making infusions, burning and grinding to powder were the most common methods used to prepare a majority of the therapies.

Conclusion

Therapeutic claims made on plants used in traditional medicine in Katoro ward of Bukoba district are well supported by literature, with 47% of the claims having already been reported. This study further enhances the validity of plants used in traditional medicine in this region as resources that can be relied on to provide effective, accessible and affordable basic healthcare to the local communities. The plants documented also have the potential of being used in drug development and on farm domestication initiatives.     

Plants used in traditional medicine by hayas of the Kagera region,Tanzania

This paper provides a brief account of 31 plants associated with herbal remedies among the Hayas, a tribe of Kagera region, Tanzania. Reports from informants were obtained during field studies in June 1987. For each species are given the botanical name, vernacular name, collection number, locality, habit, dis-tribution and medical uses. The data are compared with information from literature for medical uses, and listed isolated constituents and pharmacological effects. The Hayas have had a rich herbal folklore, but this is fading due to increasing acculturation and depletion of plant cover.     

The chimpanzee of Filabanga,western Tanzania

The chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) of western Tanzania is found in one of the driest habitats of this species where openland vegetation, especially theBrachystegia, Julbernardia, andIsoberlinia woodlands, is dominant, while the evergreen or semi-evergreen rain forests (the riverine forests) are less developed, being confined to river basins. The chimpanzee seems to adapt to this dry country better than any of the other forest primates living there. The results of the study in Filabanga indicate that there are some methods of adaptation which enable the chimpanzee to survive in this harsh environment.

1. The chimpanzee uses openland vegetation to a comparatively large extent. TheBrachystegia bussei woodland especially, is utilized as a habitual nesting place and doubtless as an important feeding place.
2. In the Masito Hills, which comprises Filabanga, the localities where food is abundant change seasonally. The chimpanzees migrate over a wide range, estimated to be between 200 and 400 square kilometers, from an area where food has become scarce to an area where food is plentiful.
3. Areas where food is plentiful are shared by two or more unit groups of chimpanzee.
4. The grouping patterns of the chimpanzee enable it to utilize both the areas where food is scarce and those where it is abundant.

     

Ethnomedicine in the Maroantsetra Region of Madagascar

Ethnomedicinal information was collected from the Betsimisaraka—the inhabitants of the Maroantsetra Region in the northeastern part of Madagascar—during a recent expedition to the region. In spite of the inhabitants’ rich knowledge of and willingness to discuss medicinal uses of plants, from both disturbed areas and undisturbed primary rainforests, it was found that much ethnomedicinal information has not been documented. There is an urgent need to further develop and document this ethnomedicinal information and also to protect the medicinal plants, some of which could be lost as a result of deforestation and invasion by foreign weed species.     

Impact of eucalyptus and pine growing on rural livelihood: the lesson from Bukoba area, north western Tanzania

Sustainable resource management intends to allocate resources in such a way that unnecessary deterioration of biophysical and socio-economical systems is avoided. In Bukoba Area where rainfalls are plenty, evergreen grasslands were expansive and forests were limited, eucalypts ( eucalyptus spp.) and pines ( pinus spp.) were grown on grasslands for preventing land degradation through deforestation and for providing additional source of income for rural poor. This study shows that in addition to detrimental consequence of eucalyptus and pine forests on soil resources, conversion of Bukoban grasslands to forests has negatively impacted livelihood of the rural poor. Growing eucalypts and pines on grasslands prevented a farming system that enabled integration of grasslands, cattle keeping and crop production. Consequently, the grasslands role of nutrients cycling was disrupted, food crop production reduced, home-gardens productivity declined, majority deprived important livelihood asset and foreign income flow into the area reduced.     

The pattern of poaching signs in Ugalla Game Reserve,western Tanzania

Illegal harvesting of wildlife resources is an important challenge facing protected areas in Africa. A better understanding of its nature would improve the way in which it is managed. We investigated the degree of poaching into different types of natural resources and its management implications in Ugalla Game Reserve, western Tanzania, using data on spatial distribution of poaching signs. Poaching signs were distributed nonrandomly through the reserve, which suggested that poachers targeted particular resources at certain areas of the reserve. Logging was the predominant illegal activity, followed by bushmeat hunting and illegal fishing. Logging signs were widespread at Ugalla east and Ugalla south. The latter also contained the highest encounter rate of bushmeat signs. Illegal fishing was extensive around the main rivers in the reserve. For improved conservation enforcement in western Tanzania and similar ecosystems, conservation efforts should take into consideration the distribution and composition of different types of poaching.     

The Making and Unmaking of the Haya Lived World: Consumption, Commoditization, and Everyday Practices

The Making and Unmaking of the Haya Lived World: Consumption, Commoditization, and Everyday Practices. Brad Weiss. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1996.250 pp.     

Challenges facing the introduction of SMART patrols in a game reserve,western Tanzania

The spatial monitoring and reporting tool (SMART) is being implemented in Tanzania's protected areas to help improve the efficiency of ranger patrols. Unfortunately, there has been no attempt to understand users' perspectives regarding site‐specific factors likely to affect its use. In this study, we investigated the perspectives of staff in Ugalla Game Reserve, a protected area in western Tanzania, to understand the challenges that affect the use of SMART in the reserve. The main challenges included a lack of motivation to use SMART, limited knowledge of SMART among game scouts, insufficient ranger capacity, difficulty collecting data during night patrols, limited resources for patrolling, and difficulty accessing some remote sections of Ugalla. The presence of trophy hunting company patrol teams has led Ugalla rangers to concentrate their effort in less‐patrolled areas. We recommend introducing incentives to encourage game rangers to use SMART alongside improving patrol coverage in wet seasons. Advanced and regular refresher trainings in SMART should be conducted to enhance data collection. Furthermore, game scouts should be trained and equipped to participate effectively in the SMART process. Although SMART is now becoming increasingly popular in Tanzania, understanding local factors that influence its implementation will be important to improve uptake.     

Factors influencing conservation attitudes of local people in Western Serengeti,Tanzania

Attitudinal studies are increasingly being adopted as tools for evaluating public understanding, acceptance and the impact of conservation interventions. The findings of these studies have been useful in guiding the policy interventions. Many factors affect conservation attitudes positively or negatively. The factors inspiring positive attitudes are likely to enhance the conservation objectives while those inducing negative attitudes may detrimentally undermine these objectives. The magnitude of the resultant effects of each particular factor is determined by the historical, political, ecological, socio-cultural and economic conditions and this may call for different management interventions. In this study we examined how conservation attitudes in western Serengeti are shaped by the following factors: level of conflicts with protected areas; wildlife imposed constraints (inadequate pasture, water, diseases, loss of livestock during migration, theft and depredation); participation in the community based project; and socio-demographic factors (age, education level, wealth, immigration, gender and household size). The results indicated that the level of conflicts, participation in the community based project, inadequate pasture, lack of water, diseases, wealth and education were important in shaping peoples’ attitudes. However, in a stepwise linear regression analysis, 59% of the variation in peoples’ attitudes was explained by three variables i.e., conflict level with protected areas, lack of water and participation in the community based project. In addition to these variables, level of education also contributed in explaining 51% of the variation in people’s attitude regarding the status of the game reserves. Five variables (lack of water, level of education, inadequate pasture, participation in the community based project and diseases) explained 12% of the variation in people’s attitude towards Serengeti National Park. The paper discusses the implications for conservation of these results and recommends some measures to realise effective conservation of wildlife resources.     

On vegetable love: gardening, plants, and people in the north of England

La comparaison du corps humain à une machine est une métaphore dominante dans la pensée occidentale depuis le Siècle des Lumières au moins. À partir de recherches menées dans le Nord de l'Angleterre auprès de jardiniers, l'auteure explore un autre ensemble d'associations. Elle examine les implications des pratiques et connaissances du jardinage en Angleterre qui mettent l'accent sur des parallèles réciproques entre le corps et l'intentionnalité des humains et ceux des plantes. Bien que les humains ne soient pas assimilés aux végétaux, les plantes sont intégrées dans une vision du monde qui n'est pas rigoureusement mécaniste. L'auteure examine les implications qu'aurait une approche «simplement>> métaphorique de ces liens entre plantes et personnes et avance qu'il faut, pour les décrire, un cadre théorique dont l'espace analytique irait au-delà de la métaphore.     

Effects of fire on sward structure and grazing in western Serengeti, Tanzania

In Serengeti fire is used as a management tool to improve the forage quality for large herbivores. However, little is known of the effects of fire on grazing resources particularly sward structure, its influence on herbivore forage patch selection and utilization to the relative amount of phytomass consumed in burnt and nonburnt patches. From September 2003 to July 2004, consumption of phytomass by large herbivores was assessed with eight samplings in six grassland sites in the Western Corridor in Serengeti National Park. Each site had burnt and nonburnt plots. Movable cages were used to exclude grazing between samplings and plant material harvests were used to assess phytomass and sward structure changes in time. Nonburnt grasslands had consistently larger phytomass at all sampling events whereas the ratio for live leaf/total phytomass was higher in burnt grassland at early postfire stages, but declined later in the season. Moreover, periodic consumption of both total phytomass and different phytomass components shifted between burnt and nonburnt grasslands, but there were also large site-specific responses. The shift appears to be related to the balance between the amount of phytomass available and the quality of the forage in terms of the ratio between live and total phytomass. The study highlights the significance of maintaining mosaics of burnt and nonburnt areas with an adequate provision of forage amount and quality all year round.     

Legal subsistence hunting trends in the Ugalla ecosystem of western Tanzania

Sustainable legal subsistence hunting has a place in conservation. Nonetheless, the long-term success of such schemes depends on them being well managed. We assessed the effectiveness of legal subsistence hunting in the Ugalla ecosystem of western Tanzania using data from the local legal hunting scheme. The hunting in the ecosystem is conducted within the partially protected areas around Ugalla Game Reserve. The Wildlife Division of Tanzania supervises hunting activities in the area via local conservation authorities. We analysed hunting success (animals shot per quota per licence) across species in the period from 1997 to 2004. Our results revealed that 10,511 and 5,991 animals were licenced and shot, respectively. There were considerable variations in hunting success across wildlife species. With the exception of common duiker (Sylvicapra grimmia), hunting success trends for most of the species were declining. The documented decline in wildlife off-take should be further investigated to ensure the sustainable management of this area.     

Rimularia fuscosora, a new corticolous sorediate lichen from north western Europe

Rimularia fuscosora is described on the basis of material from Sweden, Norway. and Scotland. This new species is characterized by a sorediate thallus containing norstictic acid, apothecia with a well developed excipulum, asci of Rimularia-type . branched paraphyses and a corticolous habit.     

Termite fishing by wild chimpanzees: new data from Ugalla, western Tanzania

Chimpanzees manufacture flexible fishing probes to fish for termites in Issa, Ugalla, western Tanzania. These termite-fishing tools are similar in size and material to those used by long-studied communities of chimpanzees in western Tanzania (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) and in West Africa (P. t. verus), but not central African populations (P. t. troglodytes). This report adds to the patchwork of evidence of termite-fishing tool use behaviour by chimpanzees across Africa.     

Butterfly species richness and abundance in the Katavi ecosystem of western Tanzania

We sampled butterflies in six different habitat types in and around Katavi National Park, a remote reserve consisting primarily of miombo woodland and seasonal lakes in western Tanzania. Blendon traps set for 531 trap days and 143 h of butterfly netting at 35 sites yielded 186 species from five families over a 4‐month period during the wet season. Eight of these species constituted possible range extensions. Butterfly abundance and species richness were low in cultivated habitats but high in open riverine habitats; many butterfly species were found only in seasonally flooded grassland. This study constitutes the first butterfly species inventory from this poorly‐known national park, shows that protection of dry season water sources provides an important conservation service for invertebrates as well as large mammals, and that increased cultivation outside miombo parks can reduce local butterfly diversity.     

Thicket clumps: A characteristic feature of the Kagera savanna landscape,East Africa

Question: What are the genesis and development of thicket clumps within a savanna landscape at geomorphically different locations and what are the driving forces? Location: The Kagera Region, in the border area of Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania. Methods: The vegetation of 32 dry evergreen thicket clumps and their surrounding savannas have been analysed at different geomorphic locations. At each vegetation plot Na⁺, K⁺, Mg²⁺, Ca²⁺, Al³⁺, Fe^2+/3+, H⁺, P, C, N, bulk density and particle size were determined for each soil horizon. The impact of soil and termite mounds on thicket clump dynamics on seasonally waterlogged plains, gentle slopes and stony hillsides were assessed. Results: Thicket clumps and their surrounding savannas have a distinct structure and floristic composition. They also have distinct soil properties although parent materials are the same. On seasonally waterlogged plains, new thicket clumps can develop on Macrotermitinae mounds; on stony hillsides, Trinervitermes and Macrotermes show a uniform distribution pattern and may initiate the genesis of thicket clumps. Conclusions: Geomorphology broadly determines the significance and interactions of the main factors affecting site‐specific vegetation dynamics. On seasonally waterlogged plains, thicket clumps are restricted to termite mounds. Since intra‐species competition dictates a minimal distance between neighbouring Macrotermitinae colonies, thicket clumps do not coalescence. By contrast, on stony hillsides, the vegetation mosaic is highly dynamic and determined by the interplay of several factors. The growth of thicket clumps is mainly a function of the fire regime and the browsing intensity. At the present time, frequent cool, early dry season fires and the near absence of large browsers have favoured the advance and coalescence of thicket clumps and forest patches on stony hillsides.