Bonyeza hapa ili kusoma ripoti hii kwa Kiswahili.

A photo of a giraffe lying on a road in front of a damaged truck has been circulating on social media since 24 May 2019.


“An over speeding truck hit and killed a giraffe in Mfuwe National Park as it was trying to cross the road! So sad for the giraffe,” one Facebook user said of the photo, posted on a Zambian page with more than 19,000 followers.  

Another user posted a the photo to a Zambian group with over 280,000 members, incorrectly calling the animal “an elephant”.

It was again called an elephant on a Kenyan Facebook page. Here the incident was said to have happened in Naivasha, a town about 90 kilometres west by road from Nairobi, Kenya’s capital.

Accident in Tanzania’s Mikumi National Park

But where did it really happen? There’s a clue in the truck’s number plate, clearly visible in the photo. It’s from Tanzania, not Kenya or Zambia.

Several media houses in Tanzania carried the story in late May, saying the accident happened in their country.

The Clouds FM radio station reported that the giraffe was knocked dead by a lorry at Mikumi National Park in Tanzania’s Morogoro region.

Anasteria Ndaga, one of wildlife officials in the area, said the driver fled after the incident.

“Ni kweli huyo mnyama amegongwa na tulikuwepo pale jana. Hadi ninapoongea na wewe dereva amekimbia na hajapatikana,” Ndaga can be heard saying on Clouds FM in a recording uploaded on YouTube.

That's Kiswahili for: “We went to the scene and verified that indeed the animal was knocked down. As I speak to you the vehicle’s driver, who escaped after the incident, is still at large. - Dancan Bwire

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Twiga aliyekufa – sio tembo – aligongwa Tanzania, sio Kenya wala Zambia

Picha ya twiga aliyelala barabarani mbele ya lori iliyoharibiwa imekuwa ikizunguka kwenye mitandao ya kijamii tangu tarehe 24 Mei 2019.

“Lori lenye kasi mno lilipiga na kuua twiga kwenye Hifadhi ya Kitaifa ya Mfuwe wakati alikuwa akijaribu kuvuka barabara! Nasikitika sana kwa sababu ya twiga,” mtumizii mmoja wa Facebook alisema kuhusu picha hiyo, iliyochapishwa kwenye ukurasa huko Zambia wenye wafuasi zaidi ya 19,000.

Mtumizi mwingine alichapisha picha hiyo kwa kikundi cha Zambia kilicho na wafuasi zaidi ya 280,000, akiita mnyama huyo “tembo” kimakosa.

Mnyama huyo aliitwa tena tembo kwenye ukurasa wa Facebook kule Kenya. Hapa, tukio hilo linasemekana lilitokea Naivasha, mji ulio karibu kilomita 90 magharibi kwa barabara kutoka Nairobi, mji mkuu wa Kenya.

Ajali katika Hifadhi ya Kitaifa ya Mikumi nchi Tanzania

Lakini tuko hili lilitokea wapi hasa? Kuna kidokezo kwenye nambari ya lori, inayoonekana wazi kwenye picha. Inatoka Tanzania, wala sio Kenya au Zambia.

Nyumba kadhaa za habari nchini Tanzania zilichapisha hadithi hiyo mwishoni mwa Mei, zikisema ajali hiyo ilitokea katika nchi yao.

Kituo cha redio cha Clouds FM kiliripoti kwamba twiga huyo aligongwa na lorry na kufariki kwenye Hifadhi wa Taifa wa Mikumi katika mkoa wa Morogoro, Tanzania.

Anasteria Ndaga, mmoja wa maafisa wa wanyamapori katika eneo hilo, alisema dereva alikimbia baada ya tukio hilo.

“Ni kweli huyo mnyama amegongwa na tulikuwepo pale jana. Hadi ninapoongea na wewe dereva amekimbia na hajapatikana,” Ndaga anaweza kusikika akisema kwenye Clouds FM katika rekodi kwa mtandao wa video wa YouTube. – Dancan Bwire

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