When zebras die on Amboseli’s dry lakebed, nearby Maasai worry. Reliant on scant rainfall and Kilimanjaro spring water, Amboseli’s villages, ecosystems and wildlife are increasingly facing more droughts deepened by climate change. A 2009 drought decimated Amboseli NP species already vulnerable to poachers, Furadan poisoning and fragmented habitats. With no water that year, Amboseli lost 10% of its elephants, 70% of its zebras and wildebeest and 50% of Maasai cattle. Another drought occurred in 2017. To preserve Amboseli’s biodiversity, Maasai culture and livestock and already-fragmented habitats, improved long-range weather forecasting, Maasai livestock husbandry and landscape rehabilitation must be addressed., East Africa, Kenya’s Greater Amboseli Region (Category: Conservation)
© Alison M. Jones