Elephant numbers and distribution in the Tsavo-Amboseli ecosystem, south-western Kenya

We assessed how elephants use two Maasai group ranches-Kimana and Kuku-that straddle Tsavo West, Chyulu Hills and Amboseli National Parks in south-western Kenya, and investigated their relative distribution, numbers and ranging patterns.Elephant sightings, fresh elephant dung counts and questionnaire interviews with local people revealed that elephants were widely distributed.Kimana Community Wildlife Sanctuary was reported as the place elephants were most likely to be found within the two communal areas.Acacia xanthophloea riverine woodland and Acacia tortilis woodlands were the habitats highly associated with elephants during the dry season.Bull elephant groups were dominant in the wet and dry seasons.Elephant movement from Kuku Group Ranch into Kimana Group Ranch was restricted by an electric fence and other human activity into two narrow strips, 1.66 km and 0.45 km wide, to the north and south of Kimana fence.We believe that the future of Kuku and Kimana Group Ranches as an elephant dispersal area depends on how fast initiatives are made to halt the continuing loss and fragmentation of the critical elephant habitat in the area.Immediate interventions need to explore options that enlist landowners' support in conserving these habitats within the ecosystem.