BACKGROUND.
HAPA Tanzania was founded in the Fall of 2001 by Daniel Yamat, who is committed to ensuring a future for Tanzania's indigenous peoples, its wildlife and wild places. Daniel, who is a member of the Maasai tribe, saw the need to integrate communities into habitat and wildlife conservation plans. He graduated from the world-renowned Mweka School of Wildlife Management based at the base of Mount Kilimanjaro. His research included the study of aquatic birds at Lake Manyara National Park, not far from the HAPA project site. Daniel has a degree in large animal veterinary medicine. He has served as the district veterinary officer in the Simanjiro Plains, where he cared for livestock, and initiated terrace farming and tree plantations for soil conservation. Daniel has also worked extensively as a safari guide for both tourist companies and US universities such as the School for International Training. Through Daniel's efforts, HAPA was established as an official non-governmental organization recognized by the Tanzanian government. He is fluent in English, Swahili, and Maasai.

Daniel recruited his friend Dr. Joel Trachtenberg, MD to help establish HAPA as an international organization. Joel is an Infectious Diseases and Internal Medicine specialist working in Salt Lake City, Utah, in the United States. Joel and Daniel met when Joel spent a year in Tanzania working at the Afya Bora Medical Clinic and volunteered at the National Natural History Museum in Arusha, Tanzania. In college, Joel became conversant in Swahili, and worked in the Serengeti trying to locate the African wild dog. As a doctor, Joel has worked in hospitals in Arusha and Kampala, Uganda. His African research projects has included work on Schistosomiasis in Tanzania and HIV and meningitis in Uganda. With Joel's help, HAPA has been established as an official US non-profit organization.

Project Site.
Our project site is located in the village of Loibor Soit in the Simanjiro Plains just outside the border of Tarangire National Park. This area is inhabited by people of the Maasai tribe, who use the surrounding area for grazing