To adapt to and mitigate the impact of rapidly increasing concentrations of atmospheric CO2 across the globe, it is critical that we improve our understanding of the land carbon cycle – how carbon dioxide (CO2) is incorporated, stored, and released by land plants. In sub-Saharan Africa, savannas are receiving increasing attention due to their potential to reduce atmospheric concentrations of CO2; however, the importance of savannas in the global carbon cycle has remained difficult to resolve. This owes to the challenge of translating the complex grass-tree dynamics into a coherent carbon cycling framework. Fundamental to this challenge – but greatly understudied – is uncovering how different groups of wild herbivores alter grass-tree dynamics and influence the savanna carbon cycle. This is especially pressing to resolve as wild herbivore communities decline: the consequences of these declines for savanna vegetation, the distribution of nutrients, and carbon storage across the landscape are unclear. Here, I will utilize an experimental setup at Mpala Research Center in Kenya uniquely capable of evaluating the influence of different groups of wild herbivores on the plant dynamics across a landscape exposed to varying amounts of rainfall. My investigation of the influence of vulnerable wild herbivore communities on the globally vital, yet under-studied, savanna carbon cycle will help prepare the communities of sub-Saharan Africa for an uncertain climate future.