By David Western, Victor N. Mose and ACP team

We wish to give a brief update on the drought before the holiday break. We shall give a fuller account and outlook in the New Year.

Having understood from forecasts that the short rains were over when we posted our last report on 2nd December, Amboseli did get some expected scattered showers. Good rains fell on the Chyulus Hills and the foot slopes of Kilimanjaro around Endonet.
How will these welcomed and unexpected rains affect the outlook for livestock and wildlife in the coming three months or so before the long rains?

For livestock, the green flush in the Chyulus and slopes of Kilimanjaro has relieved the immediate pressure on herds moving there. Herders can cut back on the amount of supplementary feed for now, but not for long. The brief bursts of rain elsewhere have barely greened up pastures heavily degraded by the drought. Further, large herds of cattle have once again moved in from Matapatu to the west. The heavy concentrations are grazing down the grasses in the Chyulus and Endonet as fast as they grow.

Unless there are outlier rains in January, the drought will harden quickly and herders will have to feed the cattle hay and grain once more to get them through to the long rains. The Amboseli Ecosystem Trust and NGO partners met in early December to take stock of the outlook for livestock keepers. Reports from the field noted herders losing hope of saving many animals in the coming few months. With the school feeding program ending and children and families facing harsh times ahead, AET resolved to resume the program until the long rains. An appeal is being sent out to NGO partners.

The outlook for wildlife is somewhat better than livestock, given their far smaller herds, flexibility in tracking the green flushes, and ability to get by on sparser forage. Zebra and wildebeest have taken advantage of the green flush in the Chyulus and the scattered showers around Amboseli. Large numbers of cattle, wildebeest and zebra attracted by the green flushes left Amboseli. The exodus has temporarily relieved the pressure on the Amboseli swamps. On 13th December when David Western and David Maitumo did a count of the Amboseli Basin, they found few wildebeest and zebra and counted only 152 elephants, the lowest in years. They noted almost no new wildlife deaths.

​With few animals left in the park, the pastures in and around the swamps are bouncing back. By the time the wildlife herds return, the swamp grazing is likely to be sufficient to sustain the herds for some while, perhaps until the long rains.

By Victor N. Mose

ACP, ACC, and NAU launched a NASA-funded One Health survey using GEDI and local monitoring for ecosystem health.

By David Western, Victor N. Mose, David Maitumo, Immaculate Ombongi, Sakimba Kimiti, Winfridah Kemunto, Samuel Lekanaiya, Paul Kasaine and Sunte Kimiti

The heavy prolonged El Niño rains boosted pastures across the Amboseli ecosystem

By David Western, Immaculate Ombongi and Victor N. Mose

Our study traces the transition from traditional livestock practices based on seasonal migrations to permanent

A brief drought update

Authored by : David Western, Victor N. Mose and ACP team
Posted on December 21, 2022

We wish to give a brief update on the drought before the holiday break. We shall give a fuller account and outlook in the New Year.

Having understood from forecasts that the short rains were over when we posted our last report on 2nd December, Amboseli did get some expected scattered showers. Good rains fell on the Chyulus Hills and the foot slopes of Kilimanjaro around Endonet.
How will these welcomed and unexpected rains affect the outlook for livestock and wildlife in the coming three months or so before the long rains?

For livestock, the green flush in the Chyulus and slopes of Kilimanjaro has relieved the immediate pressure on herds moving there. Herders can cut back on the amount of supplementary feed for now, but not for long. The brief bursts of rain elsewhere have barely greened up pastures heavily degraded by the drought. Further, large herds of cattle have once again moved in from Matapatu to the west. The heavy concentrations are grazing down the grasses in the Chyulus and Endonet as fast as they grow.

Unless there are outlier rains in January, the drought will harden quickly and herders will have to feed the cattle hay and grain once more to get them through to the long rains. The Amboseli Ecosystem Trust and NGO partners met in early December to take stock of the outlook for livestock keepers. Reports from the field noted herders losing hope of saving many animals in the coming few months. With the school feeding program ending and children and families facing harsh times ahead, AET resolved to resume the program until the long rains. An appeal is being sent out to NGO partners.

The outlook for wildlife is somewhat better than livestock, given their far smaller herds, flexibility in tracking the green flushes, and ability to get by on sparser forage. Zebra and wildebeest have taken advantage of the green flush in the Chyulus and the scattered showers around Amboseli. Large numbers of cattle, wildebeest and zebra attracted by the green flushes left Amboseli. The exodus has temporarily relieved the pressure on the Amboseli swamps. On 13th December when David Western and David Maitumo did a count of the Amboseli Basin, they found few wildebeest and zebra and counted only 152 elephants, the lowest in years. They noted almost no new wildlife deaths.

​With few animals left in the park, the pastures in and around the swamps are bouncing back. By the time the wildlife herds return, the swamp grazing is likely to be sufficient to sustain the herds for some while, perhaps until the long rains.

By David Western, Victor N. Mose and ACP team

We wish to give a brief update on the drought before the holiday break. We shall give a fuller account and outlook in the New Year.

Having understood from forecasts that the short rains were over when we posted our last report on 2nd December, Amboseli did get some expected scattered showers. Good rains fell on the Chyulus Hills and the foot slopes of Kilimanjaro around Endonet.
How will these welcomed and unexpected rains affect the outlook for livestock and wildlife in the coming three months or so before the long rains?

For livestock, the green flush in the Chyulus and slopes of Kilimanjaro has relieved the immediate pressure on herds moving there. Herders can cut back on the amount of supplementary feed for now, but not for long. The brief bursts of rain elsewhere have barely greened up pastures heavily degraded by the drought. Further, large herds of cattle have once again moved in from Matapatu to the west. The heavy concentrations are grazing down the grasses in the Chyulus and Endonet as fast as they grow.

Unless there are outlier rains in January, the drought will harden quickly and herders will have to feed the cattle hay and grain once more to get them through to the long rains. The Amboseli Ecosystem Trust and NGO partners met in early December to take stock of the outlook for livestock keepers. Reports from the field noted herders losing hope of saving many animals in the coming few months. With the school feeding program ending and children and families facing harsh times ahead, AET resolved to resume the program until the long rains. An appeal is being sent out to NGO partners.

The outlook for wildlife is somewhat better than livestock, given their far smaller herds, flexibility in tracking the green flushes, and ability to get by on sparser forage. Zebra and wildebeest have taken advantage of the green flush in the Chyulus and the scattered showers around Amboseli. Large numbers of cattle, wildebeest and zebra attracted by the green flushes left Amboseli. The exodus has temporarily relieved the pressure on the Amboseli swamps. On 13th December when David Western and David Maitumo did a count of the Amboseli Basin, they found few wildebeest and zebra and counted only 152 elephants, the lowest in years. They noted almost no new wildlife deaths.

​With few animals left in the park, the pastures in and around the swamps are bouncing back. By the time the wildlife herds return, the swamp grazing is likely to be sufficient to sustain the herds for some while, perhaps until the long rains.

By Victor N. Mose

ACP, ACC, and NAU launched a NASA-funded One Health survey using GEDI and local monitoring for ecosystem health.

By David Western, Victor N. Mose, David Maitumo, Immaculate Ombongi, Sakimba Kimiti, Winfridah Kemunto, Samuel Lekanaiya, Paul Kasaine and Sunte Kimiti

The heavy prolonged El Niño rains boosted pastures across the Amboseli ecosystem

By David Western, Immaculate Ombongi and Victor N. Mose

Our study traces the transition from traditional livestock practices based on seasonal migrations to permanent

Posted on December 21, 2022

By David Western, Victor N. Mose and ACP team

We wish to give a brief update on the drought before the holiday break. We shall give a fuller account and outlook in the New Year.

Having understood from forecasts that the short rains were over when we posted our last report on 2nd December, Amboseli did get some expected scattered showers. Good rains fell on the Chyulus Hills and the foot slopes of Kilimanjaro around Endonet.
How will these welcomed and unexpected rains affect the outlook for livestock and wildlife in the coming three months or so before the long rains?

For livestock, the green flush in the Chyulus and slopes of Kilimanjaro has relieved the immediate pressure on herds moving there. Herders can cut back on the amount of supplementary feed for now, but not for long. The brief bursts of rain elsewhere have barely greened up pastures heavily degraded by the drought. Further, large herds of cattle have once again moved in from Matapatu to the west. The heavy concentrations are grazing down the grasses in the Chyulus and Endonet as fast as they grow.

Unless there are outlier rains in January, the drought will harden quickly and herders will have to feed the cattle hay and grain once more to get them through to the long rains. The Amboseli Ecosystem Trust and NGO partners met in early December to take stock of the outlook for livestock keepers. Reports from the field noted herders losing hope of saving many animals in the coming few months. With the school feeding program ending and children and families facing harsh times ahead, AET resolved to resume the program until the long rains. An appeal is being sent out to NGO partners.

The outlook for wildlife is somewhat better than livestock, given their far smaller herds, flexibility in tracking the green flushes, and ability to get by on sparser forage. Zebra and wildebeest have taken advantage of the green flush in the Chyulus and the scattered showers around Amboseli. Large numbers of cattle, wildebeest and zebra attracted by the green flushes left Amboseli. The exodus has temporarily relieved the pressure on the Amboseli swamps. On 13th December when David Western and David Maitumo did a count of the Amboseli Basin, they found few wildebeest and zebra and counted only 152 elephants, the lowest in years. They noted almost no new wildlife deaths.

​With few animals left in the park, the pastures in and around the swamps are bouncing back. By the time the wildlife herds return, the swamp grazing is likely to be sufficient to sustain the herds for some while, perhaps until the long rains.

Recent Posts

By David Western, Victor N. Mose, David Maitumo, Immaculate Ombongi, Sakimba Kimiti, Winfridah Kemunto, Samuel Lekanaiya, Paul Kasaine and Sunte Kimiti

The outlook for livestock and wildlife in the short dry season normally stretching from January to the long rains

By Victor N. Mose

ACP, ACC, and NAU launched a NASA-funded One Health survey using GEDI and local monitoring for ecosystem health.

By David Western, Victor N. Mose, David Maitumo, Immaculate Ombongi, Sakimba Kimiti, Winfridah Kemunto, Samuel Lekanaiya, Paul Kasaine and Sunte Kimiti

The heavy prolonged El Niño rains boosted pastures across the Amboseli ecosystem

By David Western, Immaculate Ombongi and Victor N. Mose

Our study traces the transition from traditional livestock practices based on seasonal migrations to permanent

By Victor N. Mose, PhD, ACC/ACP, Nairobi, Kenya.

The MOSAIC field mission to the Amazon region, following a previous mission to East Africa

By Victor N. Mose, PhD, ACC/ACP, Nairobi, Kenya.

In a recent community meeting held at the Amboseli Ecosystem Trust offices in southern Kenya.

By Victor N. Mose and David Western

The Amboseli Conservation Program (ACP) has conducted regular aerial sample counts of Amboseli and eastern Kajiado

By Victor N. Mose, David Western and the ACP Team

The Amboseli Conservation Program (ACP) continued to monitor the conditions of the rangelands, livestock and wild

By Victor N. Mose

A notable discussion at the forum focused on disparities in data availability between the Global North and South.

By Victor N. Mose, David Western and the ACP Team

The effects of the good short rains have been felt in the Amboseli area.

Contact Us

Amboseli Conservation Program
P.O Box 15289-00509 or 62844-00200
Nairobi, Kenya.

Tel/Fax: +254 20 891360 / 891751
Email: acc@acc.or.ke