Unveiling mystical Amboseli

New interpretative panels erected inside the park helps to bridge up the tourists’ knowledge gap in Amboseli, writes William Mpetu.

Mt Kilimanjaro squats in the distance, her peaks covered by dark, foreboding clouds. For the first-time visitor, the surrounding landscape looks equally bleak, desolate.

Dust bowls hurtle across the distance, camouflaging the odd wildebeest and the Maasai herdsman watching over his cattle. The soils, loose, dusty and volcanic, are baked dry by the scorching sun, revealing drying tufts of grass, interposed with fallen acacia trees.

Could this really be the Amboseli, touted as ‘Kilimanjaro’s Royal Court’ and one of Africa’s finest wildlife spectacles?

The scepticism that plagues the tourist as he or she pulls up at one of the park gates in a tour van, however, changes to awe as the dusty landscape opens up to a wide assemblage wildlife species. How, the shocked tourist now wonders, do all these animals survive in this dusty landscape?

Nobel idea

That is what the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) and Kenya Wildlife Service have answered in a series of colourfully designed park interpretative panels mounted at all the gates in Amboseli and atop Observation Hill — an open vista into one of Kenya’s most spectacular wildlife havens.

“Contrary to common view,” reveals Amboseli Park tourism warden Kitavi Kaloki, “Not all tourists headed to Kenya want to loll around on sandy beaches, taste local beer, and ogle at the Big Five. Some want to understand the meaning and the connections behind the things they see.”

“They want to know what Kenya is doing to protect elephants and rhinos. They want to learn the inter-relationships between indigenous communities and our rich wildlife heritage.”

This, according to the warden, is achieved by providing a ranger guide, using brochures, or erecting signs or panels at strategic points in parks — a process he terms ‘park interpretation’.

“The new panels that we have put up are informative and beautiful to the eye. They offer rare charm and enhance touristic value for our visitors by explaining Amboseli’s rich history and biodiversity. They also highlight the challenges facing the park and what needs to be done.  It is our way of telling visitors what to expect while challenging them to support us to care for fragile park resources,” says Kaloki.

Through these panels, for instance, the story of Kilimanjaro, one of Africa’s most majestic mountains, is told.

Water from snow-capped peaks sips underground and meanders through porous volcanic rocks to emerge in several swamps in Amboseli National Park. It is these swamps that support the amazing biodiversity in this semi-arid landscape, underscoring the need to protect Kilimanjaro, what one panel describes as ‘the life-giving mountain’.

Apart from Kilimanjaro, other signs interpret Amboseli’s birdlife, geology and key mammals such as elephants and lions,plants, the historical role of the local Maasai in its preservation and its uniqueness as a Unesco Man and Biosphere Reserve.

Wild feel

Steve Stratakos of Texas, United States — formerly head exhibit planner and designer for Texas Parks and Reserves — who designed the panels, says Kenyans should be proud because American parks rarely feel as ‘wild’ as Kenyan parks.

“Most of our parks are tarmacked, which creates a more controlled, urban feel. A big plus that Kenya has over most parks in US are your large mammals, which are easy to find and great to view and photograph. The more Kenyan parks have to fence and control due to habitat pressures and animal conflicts, the more you will lose that ‘wild’ feel,” he says.

Written in easy and scintillating prose, the signs offer little known but interesting facts, amusing anecdotes and memorable conservation quotes from global historical figures. Mounted on stonewalls or poles made from recycled plastic, the panels, which borrow colours and patterns popular with Maasai fabrics, are made of special material to withstand the harsh African elements.

“We commissioned these panels, which have a lifespan of a minimum of ten years, to help visitors to understand how critical and fragile Amboseli is as an ecosystem and what needs to be done to conserve it for posterity,” says Elizabeth Wamba, IFAW’s Regional Communications Manager for East Africa.

As a result, what was once a laboured climb up Observation Hill, or a boring wait at the park gate, has been rewarded by beautiful, informative panels as tourists pause to gleam through facts, admire a graphic or pose for pictures.

So don’t wait — run along and explore because, as one panel says, Amboseli is mystical and inexplicable!