Explore The Rift Valley
One of the least-visited lakes in the Rift Valley, despite being a globally recognized Ramsar wetlands site since 2002, Lake Bogoria is a sliver of saline water – unbelievably foul-tasting – entrenched beneath towering hills, 60km north of Nakuru. With the increasing pollution of Lake Nakuru, Lake Bogoria has become the adopted feeding ground of tens (at times hundreds) of thousands of lesser flamingos, and the lakeshore is one of the few places where greater kudu antelope can easily be seen. The chief warden, William Kimosop (t0720 317760), is a local authority on birds and, with prior arrangement, may be able to accompany you into the reserve. But the lake is worth visiting as much for its physical spectacle as for the wildlife: a largely barren, baking wilderness of scrub and rocks, from which a series of furious hot springs erupts on the western shore, and the bleak walls of the Siracho range rise from the east.
Read More-
Lake Bogoria’s wildlife
Lake Bogoria’s wildlife
Although there’s plenty of wildlife in and around Lake Bogoria, it tends to make itself scarce, with the exception of the flamingos at the hot springs. Most animals – including buffalo, hyena, klipspringer, impala, dik-dik, zebra, warthog and Grant’s gazelle – prefer the remote and inaccessible eastern shore, though you may see greater kudu just about anywhere. The flamingos, for some curious reason – possibly chemical – tend to flock in their greatest numbers to the shallows on the western shore, where the hot springs flow into the lake (they appear immune to the heat). The Bogoria fish eagles have made a gruesome adjustment to their fierce, fishless environment: they prey on flamingos. Other birds to look out for include avocets, transitory pelicans and migratory steppe eagles.
-
The case of the Endorois
The case of the Endorois
The Endorois are a small tribe of Kalenjin pastoralists, closely related to the Tugen. They used to range over a large area around Lake Bogoria, but were evicted from the narrow shores of the lake when the reserve was created in 1974 (see wtinyurl.com/ybezkjt). Although they lost little of their traditional grazing lands within the reserve’s narrow confines, what they did lose was precious and fertile, including land along the wooded southern shore, where several streams provided valuable fresh water, and at Loboi in the north, where the ill-conceived spa-hotel owned by the family of former president Daniel Arap Moi expropriated the warm springs. They also lost valuable honey and sources of herbal medicine. Like every one of Kenya’s indigenous groups, they had valid claims, and the four percent share of the gate receipts allotted to them was pitifully low – especially since Bogoria rarely figures on safari itineraries. Inspired community leadership saw them pursue restitution of their lands and compensation as far as the African Union’s Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, which ruled in their favour in 2010, setting a new precedent for minority rights across the continent. However, as of 2012 the decision had yet to be implemented, and the Endorois were still waiting to reclaim their land.
