Flamingos Ditch Bogoria On Flooding.
Baringo county is experiencing a near death blow as flamingos leave for other lakes due to flooding. Early this year, over a million of the birds moved to the lake. After breeding in Lake Natron in Tanzania, the birds migrated. This was the largest number ever recorded in East and Central Africa. However, thousands have migrated to Lake Nakuru, Elementaita and Lokipi in Turkana. Owing to the drastic rise in water levels that has greatly hampered their feeding and perching.
In January this year, more than a million of the birds moved to the Lake earlier than anticipated. It was the only lake in Rift Valley hosting flamingos then. This unique spectacle usually takes place in May. The lake hosts half of the world’s flamingo population after breeding. The birds then migrate to Tanzania in November for breeding.
This is not the case this year. Thousands have left for other options. This is what Mr. Kimaru has to say about the issue.“We were banking on reaping big from the tourism sector this year after millions of flamingos migrated to the Lake from Tanzania in January earlier than anticipated. We have never received such a high number for close to two decades. However, the flooding at the Lake has made the birds migrate because of limited food and where to perch.
Contributing Factors
The rise in water levels can be attributed to deforestation.”The water comes from the rivers, bringing down huge amount of flash flooding with sediments which fill the bottom of the lake.” says Meyerhoff. This was after a tour on a boat which is the new normal in these parts of Baringo. Climate change and unusually heavy rains this year have also contributed to the problem. The rising waters have displaced more than 5,000 people in 2020, according to government officials, submerging homes, schools, roads, hospitals, farmland and even entire islands. The lake has expanded from 34 square kilometres in 2017 to 43 square kilometres in 2020.
