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We used a long-term herbivore removal experiment where paired exclosure–open treatments were established at the Mpala Research Centre, Laikipia, Kenya, in 1999 to examine changes in soil nitrogen (N) at nutrient-rich glades and adjacent nutrient-poor bushland sites after almost two decades of herbivore removal. Glades in this landscape are created by large inputs of dung and urine from previous long-term corralling of cattle in an otherwise nutrient-poor matrix of woodland (bushland). We predicted (1) a net gain of soil nutrients at bushland sites (that is, inputs of nutrients > losses) and (2) a net loss of soil nutrients at glade sites (that is, inputs of nutrients < losses) following herbivore exclusion. As expected, soil N increased (by 28% after 17 years) with herbivore removal, but remained largely unchanged in the presence of herbivores at low-nutrient bushland sites. However, contrary to our expectations …