Complicating narratives of changing livelihoods and shared lands in Southern Kenya

Narratives about Amboseli National Park in southern Kenya often frame it as an “ecological island” in the centre of the wider Amboseli landscape that is threatened by fragmentation. This semi-arid landscape is well known as home to an abundance of mammalian and avian biodiversity, thanks to a mosaic of grasslands, savannas, swamps, and volcanic soil forests, not to mention long-standing Maasai pastoralist land use practices. There have long been similarities in patterns of both wildlife and Maasai with their livestock, migrating across this landscape and benefitting from different areas, depending on the season. However, exclusion from formerly accessed national parks, conservancies within Maasai land, and privatised land has limited pastoralist mobility, and farming, fencing, and extractive industry pose very real threats to wildlife populations.