Wildlife under threat

The majestic sight of elephants roaming beneath Mount Kilimanjaro has long lured throngs of wildlife lovers to Amboseli National Park on Kenya's border with Tanzania. Yet the free movement of some 2,000 elephants, along with two dozen other wildlife species plus cows owned by local Maasai people, may be under threat - from avocados.

A Kenyan agricultural company is building nurseries for the fruit, the popularity of which is soaring worldwide due to its high nutritional value. But conservationists say the plans and an electric fence on the farm will block the crucial Kimana Wildlife Corridor, where elephants move between Amboseli, the Tsavo and Chyulu Hills parks, and strangle one of the region's most important safari parks. The dispute is now pending at Kenya's environmental tribunal.