Lake Nakuru: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 18:59, 10 June 2007

Revision as of 03:06, 27 June 2007

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==Habitat and Wildlife==

Lake Nakuru, a small (it varies from 5 to 45 square kilometers) shallow [[alkaline]] lake on the southern edge of the town of [[Nakuru]] lies about 160 kilometers north of [[Nairobi]]. It can therefore be visited in a day tour from the capital or more likely as part of a circuit taking in the [[Masai Mara]] or [[Lake Baringo]] and east to [[Samburu]]. The lake is world famous as the ___location of the greatest bird spectacle on earth - myriads of fuschia pink [[flamingo]]s whose numbers are legion, often more than a million - or even two million. They feed on the abundant [[algae]], which thrives in the warm waters. Scientists reckon that the [[flamingo]] population at Nakuru consumes about 250,000 kilos of [[algae]] per hectare of surface area per year. There are two types of [[flamingo]] species: the Lesser flamingo can be distinguished by its deep red carmine bill and pink plumage unlike the greater, which has a bill with a black tip. The Lesser flamingos are ones that are commonly pictured in documentaries mainly because they are large in number. The number of Flamingos has been decreasing recently, perhaps due to too much tourism, pollution resulting from industries waterworks nearby who dump waste into the waters or simply because of short and changes in water quality which makes the lake temporarily inhospitable. Usually, the lake receeds during the dry season and floods during the wet season. In recent years, there have been wide variations between the dry and wet seasons' water levels. It's suspected that this is caused by increasing watershed land conversion to intensive crop production and urbanization, both which reduce the capacity of soils to absorb water, recharge groundwaters and thus increase seasonal flooding. Pollution and drought destroy the flamingos' food, [[Cyanobacteria]], or blue-green algae, and causing them to migrate to the nearby Lakes, more recently lakes Elmenteita, Simbi Nyaima and Bogoria. Local climate changes have also been hypothesized to contribute to the changing environmental conditions in the lakes catchment. Recent media reports indicate increasing concern among stakeholders, as mass flamingo migrations and deaths could spell doom to the tourism industry.

The [[flamingo]]s feed on [[algae]], created from their droppings mixing in the warm [[alkaline]] waters, and [[plankton]]. But [[flamingo]] are not the only avian attraction, also present are two large fish eating birds, [[pelican]]s and [[cormorant]]s. Despite the tepid and [[alkaline]] waters, a diminutive fish, ''[[Tilapia]] grahami'' has flourished after being introduced in the early 1960s. The lake is rich in other birdlife. There are over 400 resident species on the lake and in the surrounding park. Thousands of both little [[grebe]]s and white winged black [[tern]]s are frequently seen as are [[stilt]]s, [[avocet]]s, [[duck]]s, and in the European winter the migrant waders.