Latest News

Biomathematics workshop

2011-11-14T07:41:30Z

Rently ACP staff helped to organize and participated in a five day biomathematics modelling workshop facilitated by the French Institute for Research and Development (IRD), the University of Nairobi School of Mathematics (UNSOM), Kenya Wildlife Service, African Conservation Centre (ACC), and the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology. Anna Sakellariadis joined the participants at the public day on 4th November at the KWS and offers the following impressions:

An Update on the Wildlife and Livestock Picture in Amboseli Basin

2011-09-25T20:47:50Z

The restocking of wildlife numbers in Amboseli after the drought of 2009 was given an initial boost by the immigration of wildebeest and zebra from adjacent populations. The dry season following the drought, which left fewer than 300 wildebeest and 2,600 zebra out of the 7,000 or so starting numbers for each species, saw an influx of some 1,400 wildebeest and several hundred zebra from adjacent populations, most likely Tsavo and northern Tanzania.

The fluctuating fortunes of wildlife, predators and pastoralists in Amboseli

2011-03-24T14:28:36Z

In this report we review the counts of large herbivores in and around Amboseli National Park since the 2009 drought and consider some ecological and social consequences. The sample ground counts and total aerial counts (Fig. 1 and Fig 2) show the heavy drought losses wildebeest, zebra and buffalo, the main prey species of Amboseli’s large carnivores, suffered in the last four months of 2009 drought. The remaining herds moved out with the rains of December 2009, leaving a few dozen animals in the park. In the following dry season we had expected only the remnant herds surviving the drought to return to Amboseli. Quite unexpectedly, the remnant herds were accompanied by an influx of over 1,400 wildebeest and several hundred zebra from adjacent populations, most likely Tsavo and northern Tanzania. The herbivore populations built up to a peak of some 1,500 wildebeest and 2,500 zebra in the late dry season of 2010. During the November-December rains the numbers fell sharply again with the migrations. The migrants were expected back at the beginning of the dry season in January of 2011, but unexpected cyclone rains fell across the region and kept them out of the park in the wet season dispersal areas.

Dry Season Count of eastern Kajiado

2010-12-03T13:43:29Z

In early October 2010, the Amboseli Conservation Program conducted a dry season aerial census of the Greater Amboseli Ecosystem. As with the wet season count in February, this count builds on the long history of wildlife monitoring in the area and provides an insight into the nature of the post drought recovery in Amboseli. In particular, it highlights the role of Amboseli National Park as a dry season reserve and the importance of connectivity between ecosystems for herbivore recovery following catastrophic drought.

Click here to download the October count report - PDF

Continuing signs of recovery for Amboseli

2010-08-02T06:55:40Z

Amboseli continues to recover from the devastation of the 2009 drought. In this update we describe some of the highlights of Amboseli’s road to recovery and identify the persistent challenges facing the ecosystem...

Aerial census report for eastern Kajiado released

2010-07-25T18:37:40Z

We conducted an aerial census of eastern Kajiado in early February 2010. The area counted matched the area monitored regularly by the Amboseli Conservation Program (ACP) since 1973. The count gives an independent check of the drought mortalities recorded on ground counts in the Amboseli basin during 2009. The February count covered the entire Amboseli ecosystem and extended well into adjacent wildlife concentration areas. The February count gives a measure of wildlife and livestock mortalities for the whole of eastern Kajiado when compared to the 2008 pre-drought count.

Click here to download complete count report - PDF

Carcass counts stabilize as Amboseli begins the long road to recovery

2010-02-05T17:42:00Z

Regular counts of live and dead animals within Amboseli National Park conducted by the Amboseli Conservation Program indicate that the extremely rapid drought induced loss of wildlife over the last few months of 2009 has begun to taper off in the first few week of 2010.

Drought ends in Amboseli but its impact deepens

2010-02-02T18:42:00Z

The rains arrived in Amboseli right after the emergency meeting to discuss the collapse of the herbivore populations and its likely consequences held at Serena Lodge on December 9th . As soon as the rains began, the wildebeest and zebra survivors moved out of Amboseli to the surrounding ranches. On December 15th, when ACP flew an aerial count, there were no wildebeest and few zebra in the park. Buffalo, which seldom migrate, had moved out of the swamps onto the grasslands in the park. We counted very few wildebeest and widely scattered zebra herds in the wet season dispersal areas north of Amboseli. As anticipated at the Serena workshop, the herbivore migrations from the park have created an acute prey shortage for the carnivores.

Amboseli drought effects compared to South Rift

2009-12-28T16:40:32Z

Samantha Russell of African Conservtion Centre reports on the effects of the 2009 drought on the South Rift ecosystem, and compares them to the effects in Amboseli ecosystem. Download the report here.

Amboseli drought call-to-action answered quickly

2009-12-17T18:10:11Z

On 17th December the Carnivore Task Force met at the African Conservation Centre to implement the top priorities recommended by the Amboseli workshop of 9th December.

Kenya Wildlife Service, ACC, Amboseli Conservation Program, Lion Guardians, and the Amboseli Elephant Research Programme mapped out an integrated program to track and monitor lion and hyena activities over the next three months. The monitoring will focus on changes in lion and hyena prey selection, livestock predation, and competion between lions and hyenas. The program will be jointly funded by the participating organizations and launched the week of 21st December.

The second priority project has also been agreed on and will be underway during the week of December 21st. This entails expanding the Maasai Preservation Trust's carnivore-livestock abatement program to the vicinity of Amboseli National Park. Six meetings are slated with the communities most vulnerable to carnivore attacks as lions and hyenas move beyond the park in search of prey. The meetings will establish the protocols for alerting communities to predator attacks and improving protection of their herds. The procedures for contacting Kenya Wildlife Service on a hotline in the event of predator attacks wil be established, along with measures for offsetting the costs herders suffer from livestock depredations.

The monitoring and conflict abatement programs will be none too soon. With recent rains falling around the park, the remaining herbivores have migrated out, leaving the predators with few prey animals. Two attacks on cattle have been recorded in the last week as a result of lions moving out of the park in search of prey.