The killing spree in Amboseli necessitated by political tensions between Kenya Wildlife Service and political leaders had a devastating effect to both wildlife and the community. Community leaders met and took stock of the killings within all of the Group Ranches. The results were shocking, but would have been worse were it not for the…
Human-wildlife conflict in any pastoralist environment is inevitable and has existed since time immemorial therefore Amboseli ecosystem is no exception. The negotiations leading to the creation of the Amboseli National Park in the early 1970’s were not smooth and due to the political tensions and resulting hunting, the rhino population was decimated. In the early 1990’s, populations…
With the current well distributed short rains having made the whole terrain verdant, wild ungulates found perfect reason for a holiday outside Amboseli National Park. They streamed out as they usually do into the open plains and ranches adjacent to the Park. Hundreds of elephant families from the park were the first to make forays…
Since the devastating drought in 2009 that created an imbalance between predators and plains game and which wiped out a very big percentage of both livestock and wildlife, the entire ecosystem has been trying to return to equilibrium. This year, the heavens have been very good in giving us the much needed rain, almost exceeding…
Throughout my life as a moran and as a conservationist, I have had close encounters with many different species of wildlife. Most encounters especially with lions have been very serious. But I have never really felt both scared and defenseless at the same time. I always had a plan B, but not yesterday. First, after…
During our expansion to Southern Olgulului, on the way back from a visit to Amboseli National Park’s headquarters we found a baboon acting like a traffic policeman! He was sitting in the middle of the road and stayed there for half an hour with vehicles passing right by him. It was a fascinating sight. You…
You might remember that a while ago a rather inquisitive elephant took a liking to one of my shoes, which I had foolishly left outside my tent one night. The elephant took it into the bush and investigated it thoroughly before deciding that it was inedible and threw it away into a thorn tree, where…
Foolishly I left my shoes outside my tent in the Eselenkei Lion Guardians camp overnight. The next morning I woke up to find only the left one remaining. Perplexed, I investigated the scene to discover what had happened. It became quickly evident that an elephant had come through in the night. But why would…
Last night was full of noise and disturbance. No, it wasn’t some rowdy Maasai warriors having a party… it was elephants! In the last few days the elephants have decided to come to our camp and are spending their time breaking branches, pulling up trees and causing a tremendous racket! But the strangest thing that we…
On Monday we received a report from one of the guides from Amboseli Porini Camp, which is near our new project on Eselenkei Group Ranch. (Thank you so much for the report Amboseli Porini!) They told us they had seen a collared lion in Amboseli National Park, so we rushed over to see who it…