TANZANIA 2010: Elephants in Amboseli (Kenya)

We began our trip in Amboseli National Reserve, south of Nairobi, on the Kenya-Tanzania border. Mount Kilimanjaro (above), Africa’s highest peak at 19,341 feet, and the highest free standing mountain in the world, lies just across the border in Tanzania, yet it dominates the Amboseli landscape.

Elephants abound in Amboseli National Reserve, and large tuskers (above) are a common sight. Prolific herds can number in the hundreds, and sadly in their wake the landscape has been altered, with vast areas desolate of trees. However, this is a little misleading as about a third of this flat park is taken up with a seasonal salt lake (which while we were there had water). Acacia scrub and woodlands also border some of the parks perimeter.  Though Amboseli means “open plain” the Maasai originally called this area, Empusel, meaning “salty, dusty place.” Indeed, columns of towering dust devils, created from ancient volcanic ash, are a common sight as they twist their way effortlessly across the dry landscape.

Contrasting with these arid areas are two year-round swamps that create a green belt cutting through the center of the park. These springs are fed from the melting snow-caps of Kilimanjaro and wind their way underground, filtered by volcanic rocks. It is these swamps that not only draw myriad wildlife but help in sustaining the surrounding community.

As Erica’s t-shirt says…….in the jungle anything is possible. Well out here is isn’t the jungle but the savanna, and I’ve learnt that anything is possible. We marveled at our close proximity to a huge herd of Elephants lumbering their way across the short grass to a favorite feeding area. Just as impressive was the David and Goliath encounter between theses behemoths and the diminutive, though very demonstrative and vocal Crowned Plover (below), that realized its nest was right in their path!

Following all kinds of ranting and raving, and obviously realizing that it had no effect, she decided that the best way to protect her eggs was to sit on them. Nature works in mysterious ways and we’ll never know how it was that tons of pachyderm without changing their step, were able to so nimbly avoid the shorebird cowering beneath them.