Lake Nakuru National Park was created in 1961 to protect the dense wildlife area in and around Lake Nakuru located in Kenya's rift valley area. The lake is one of Kenya's rift valley soda lakes, which have natural dissolved minerals giving it an alkaline or saline content. It is pretty wild to see a salty lake this far inland and at an elevation of 1754m above sea level. The lake gained fame for the thousands, sometimes millions of pink flamingos that feed along its shores, sometimes giving the illusion that the entire lake is pink. If you ever watch the movie 'Out of Africa' you can see a beautiful overview of Lake Nakuru as Robert Redford flies over it.
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| A bleak sight at Lake Nakuru |
Even though Lake Nakuru National Park is home to rhinos, lions, leopards, and buffalo, it's the hoards of flamingos that are the real draw. However since 2013 there has been an alarming rise in the level of the lake. The rising waters have covered roads, killed trees, and shifted the ecology in the lake itself. I was shocked to see that almost all of the flamingos have disappeared from the shorelines, leaving only a hundred or so in place of a hundred thousand. Apparently the flamingos have translocated to other rift valley lakes down in Tanzania, leaving the stakeholders of Nakuru in a rather dire situation as far as tourism is concerned.
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| 2005 |
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| 2015 |
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| 2005: Pink Lake Nakuru |
Different theories as to why the sudden rise in lake level abound. Some people claim it is on a 50 year cycle, others say a burp from the rift below, while others claim it is the change of the surrounding landscapes into huge agricultural farms which don't allow the soil to soak up the rains that is causing the rise. Whatever the cause may be, the cyanobacteria that the flamingos feed on has largely disappeared which in turn has done the same to the flamingos themselves.
The dead trees and partially submerged National Park structures give the lake an ominous feeling. Although as we drove around on the newly formed roads we saw herds of buffalo, giraffes, and zebras thriving. Baboons were all around the aptly named Baboon Lookout, and a mother lioness fed on a fresh buffalo kill while her three new cubs tumbled over each other in their play.
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| 2005 View from Baboon Lookout |
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| 2015 View from Baboon Lookout |
I tried to capture a few
pictures here of how the area has changed. These two pictures are from Baboon Lookout Point, which was touted as the best lookout point to see the shifting pink mass of flamingos. Maybe someday the lake will find its balance and we will be able to see this pink phenomenon again. As of now it is one of those stories that starts with "I'm lucky to have seen this a decade ago..."
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| Pensive Baboon |
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| Mother lioness eats while her cubs play nearby |
Even though Lake Nakuru National Park is home to rhinos, lions, leopards, and buffalo, it's the hoards of flamingos that are the real draw. However since 2013 there has been an alarming rise in the level of the lake. The rising waters have covered roads, killed trees, and shifted the ecology in the lake itself. I was shocked to see that almost all of the flamingos have disappeared from the shorelines, leaving only a hundred or so in place of a hundred thousand. Apparently the flamingos have translocated to other rift valley lakes down in Tanzania, leaving the stakeholders of Nakuru in a rather dire situation as far as tourism is concerned.
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