The threats to East Africa’s magnificent savannas come in many forms and Amboseli faces most of them.By far the gravest danger lies in the fragmentation of the 10,000 square kilometer ecosystem and collapse of the migratory herds of zebra, wildebeest, elephants and pastoral livestock. The seasonal migrations and movement of wildlife through habitats of the Amboseli Basin each dry season has kept the savannas productive and animals able to ride out droughts and recover in good years. The migrations and free-ranging movements of wildlife and pastoral livestock in response to local conditions and each other have allowed them to coexist in the Amboseli ecosystem for millennia:

ACP over the years has documented the patterns of migration in Amboseli and explained how so much wildlife and so many livestock thrived in the same area and maintained the richness of habitats and productivity of pastures. The information is given in the report titled The Ecology and Changes of the Amboseli  Ecosystem: Recommendations for Planning and Conservation (see under Amboseli Ecosystem).

The report lays out the minimum conditions needed to sustain the wildlife and biodiversity of the Amboseli ecosystem and the array of threats its faces from rising population, the spread of farming, water diversion, subdivision of land, habitat loss, falling pasture productivity and poaching.

The combined pressures on the ecosystem over the last three decades have seen the late season pastures shrink and decline. Severe forage shortages in the national park and surrounding Maasai ranches have grown more frequent and intense. The shrinking pastures culminated in precipitous declines in Amboseli’s wildlife and Maasai herds in 2009 (See The Worst Drought: Tipping Point or Turning Point).

The recovery from the drought is far slower than in previous droughts. Our ACP website reports on the slow pace of recovery as well as the likely causes and consequences in an update below.

 In the last two years new threats have arisen in Amboseli.

The gravest threat stems from the inexplicable government plans to build a Nairobi Metropolitan township on the boundary of the park and a new highway through the migratory routes northwards from Amboseli. Why Nairobi Metropolitan Area needs Satellite Township 150 kilometers away speaks to political intent rather than rational planning. Both the proposed town and road have been floated with no reference to the Amboseli Ecosystem Management Plan and or public hearings in the region.

Yet another threat arises from the rapid pace of subdivision of land on the eastern border of Amboseli, a rash of new lodges and land sales to outsiders speculating on rising property prices.

The resurgence of ivory poaching that killed off over 100,000 of Kenya’s elephants in the 1970s and 1980s also threatens the Amboseli herds. Further details can be found on the Big Life and Amboseli Elephant Trust websites.

The surge in ivory demand in China since 2010 and the rise in price to an all-time high of $1,000 a kilo has sent poachers in pursuit of elephants across Africa, accounting for 25,000 dead in 2011. Tanzania is losing 10,000 elephants a year. Kenya, at close to 400 officially last year, and certainly more in unaccounted elephants, has fared better. The difference comes down to superior KWS anti-poaching and intelligence capacity and strong community conservation initiatives and scouting patrols. In Amboseli community conservation efforts have kept down poaching as they did in the 1980s. The success is in large part due to the 350 community scouts who patrol the areas outside the park.

Despite the security network, poachers have infiltrated Amboseli several times in the last three years. Big money, ivory cartels, small arms, corruption and rural farmers and herders out to make do in hard times add up to a formidable threat to elephants in Amboseli. And Amboseli’s elephants link up with other herds across the entire Kenya-Tanzania borderlands where one of the largest bushed savanna populations move between and beyond the world famous national parks from Serengeti-Mara to Tsavo.

The following reports give a thumb-nail sketch of the threats to Amboseli ecosystem and some of the responses underway. Regular updates will be posted on the ACP website.