I went to Nakuru National Park for the first time in a while. It has changed so much compared to when I visited more than 10 years ago, so I would like to tell you about it.
■
Lake Nakuru is famous for its flamingos and is a World Heritage Site.
The water level has risen since about 2000, and the flamingos have dropped sharply.
Lake Nakuru is located about 150 kilometers northwest of Nairobi.
It used to take about two and a half hours from Nairobi, but recently the traffic volume has increased despite the improved pavement, and it often takes more than four hours during the day. There are many trailers that slowly go on the road with one lane on each side, and there are many oncoming vehicles even if you pull out, so it is difficult to overtake. Even if I overtake, I immediately hit the trailer slowly again. Even if you do your best to overtake, you will only waste fuel and it will not save you much time. If you divide it and go slowly, you will have more room for your heart.
Lake Nakuru is full of water, and we don't really appreciate it. October 2019
The caretaker went to the lake for the first time in November last year.
A safari with his wife and three children, the youngest is only one year old. I started staying in the city of Nakuru, but I entered the park after noon.
I didn't have enough time to stay in the park only in the afternoon, but I was able to fully enjoy Lake Nakuru for the first time in a while.
Even if flamingos are seen these days, only a few are seen here and there.
Flamingoes eat algae that breed in alkaline lakes, but it seems that the environment has become unsuitable for flamingos, probably because of the rising water level. As you can see in the photo above, all the grasslands around the lake are submerged and the water surface reaches the forest.
Greater flamingo
There are two types of flamingos found in Kenya: Greater flamingos and Kogata flamingos. The photo above is Greater flamingo.
The caretaker has participated in several flamingo count surveys on Lake Nakuru before, and has some idea of the flamingo situation on Lake Nakuru.
Kogata flamingos are overwhelmingly predominant in Lake Nakuru. The feeding habits of Kogata flamingos depend on the algae that grow in alkaline lakes. Lake Nakuru used to be a place like an algae factory, so it was a great place to relax and eat. It is said that the carotene component contained in this alga produces the pink color of flamingos. When it is born, it is white, but the pink becomes darker year by year, and it grows in about 7 years. The flamingos in zoos often have a stronger pink color than the wild ones, probably because of the overfeeding of carotene. Should it be well received by customers?
Greater flamingos do not depend only on algae and eat a lot of meat, so you can see them in freshwater lakes.
It was said that flamingos bred in Lake Nakuru long ago, but for flamingos who are nervous about breeding, they stopped breeding in Lake Nakuru after a large number of tourists came. It seems.
Flamingoes eat algae that grow on the shallow waters around the shore. Perhaps now the water level is rising by a few meters compared to a decade ago, so the places where flamingos used to walk and eat algae have become very, very difficult to walk. As the water level rises, the degree of alkalinity decreases, and the depth of the water becomes deeper, so the sunlight, which is indispensable for the growth of algae, does not reach the bottom of the water sufficiently, making it unsuitable for algae breeding.
It's certainly no longer a favorite flamingo place anyway.
The caretaker did not see the flamingos this time either. The photo above is a flamingo previously taken in Arusha National Park, Tanzania.
The gate of the national park is already submerged
According to the ranger, the water level began to rise about 10 years ago, and various measures were taken to prevent water from entering. After all, the rise in water level did not stop, and he moved out of this gate seven years ago.
Currently, a small gate is installed in the middle of the slope in front of you, where you do not have to worry about submersion.
When I went there a dozen years ago, the water level was not so high and it was a pelican paradise.
Since pelicans eat fish instead of algae, it tells us that there were a lot of fish in Lake Nakuru at that time. Originally, there were no fish in Lake Nakuru, but in the 1960s, a type of tilapia that inhabited Lake Magadi was released, and since this fish also eats algae and grows like flamingos, there are no foreign enemies in the water and there is plenty of food. It probably proliferated in large numbers on Lake Nakuru in. At that time, when I was looking at the surface of the water at the water's edge, I could see that there were so many fish that the surface of the water was moving. I witnessed a few pelicans this time, but not in a large flock, but only in a few small flock. Perhaps the algae are not overgrown and the number of released fish is decreasing.
About 10 years have passed since the water level rose and the forest was submerged, and now the trees in the forest, which were celebrating greenery, have died, creating a strange atmosphere.
Dead waterfront forest
The fact that the surface of the lake was completely filled with flamingos seems to have become the glory of the past.
Extreme weather always tells us why this happened.
Currently, the media wants to connect with abnormal weather and climate change, but the long history of the earth has been repeated many times.
In some cases, the huge Sahara Desert was covered with greenery, and in other cases, northern Europe was covered with glaciers.
As factors that cause climate change, the focus is only on carbon dioxide emissions from human activities, but changes in the amount of solar radiation due to changes in the earth's orbital elements, changes in solar activity, changes in the cosmic dose that falls on the earth, and so on. .. There is also the fact that the huge ocean, which occupies 70% of the earth's surface, breathes so much that it is incomparable to human activity. In Japan, on the premise that global warming is progressing, only convenient information is transmitted according to it, and inconvenient information is disliked to be hidden. If you swallow only the information that is being sent from the media, you will move away from the truth. When dinosaurs were walking on the earth, they were more than five times as expensive as they are now, and it was an era when there were no humans.
It's good to be environmentally friendly, but the current situation is that it is directly linked to businesses such as carbon dioxide transactions, and the situation is overwhelming.
Last year I was in Kericho, Kenya, but it rained a lot.
Considering the climate of the last few decades, is it a little unusual all over the world? You may think that, but considering the long history of the earth, it is not a big deal. I think it's good for humans to try to do something about it, but there seems to be no problem that humans can do something about it. The climate change mentioned above also happened in an era when there was no human industrial activity.
But considering the life span of human beings, the last few decades are the most important.
The story went awry, but the cause of the rise in the water level of Lake Nakuru is not clear.
Everyone knows that the heavy rains last year contributed significantly to the rise in water levels, but the fact that the rise began long before that.
Macaria Falls where water flows only during the rainy season
The caretaker saw the waterfall flowing for the first time.
This waterfall is located far south from the main gate in the north of Nacle National Park and is located in the southernmost part.
Let's change the topic,
Nakuru National Park has so many rhinos that it can be said that it is a rhino zoo in a sense.
In some respects, it is functioning well as an endangered rhino sanctuary. The rhinos were artificially brought in, but they have succeeded in breeding and the number is steadily increasing.
Nakuru National Park is completely fenced on all sides to prevent conflicts between wildlife and people's activities. But what I am most concerned about is the measures taken by poachers. The area around Nakuru National Park is immediately a place for people to work, and in the north there is also Nakuru, Kenya's fourth most populous area. People in the park's neighborhood can go poaching every day in the park within a few minutes' walk from the house without a fence. Rhinoceros horns are a good target for poachers, as they trade at very high prices.
Since it is surrounded by an electric fence, wild animals cannot enter and exit, and the probability of inbreeding increases, so it is difficult to say that it is a healthy wild. Thanks to the electric fence, Nakuru National Park may be functioning well as a rhino sanctuary.
To give another example, there are less than 10 rhinos in Serengeti, and GPS is embedded in the corners of all rhinos. It is said that the ranger will drive to Sai and drive him back. Despite that, one of the precious rhinos was poached a few years ago.
I can't say which one is better, but in terms of increasing rhinos, Nacle National Park is one of the most successful examples.
Please join us!
A child rhino that snuggles up to her mother's rhino and doesn't try to leave.
The rhino on the right is probably the dad's rhino.
Is this a white rhino? Black rhino? Or is it white black?
There are white rhinos and black rhinos, but they are not separated by color.
This is a white rhino.
I will talk! ?? Baboon kid
Most mammalian mothers are always the happiest moments when they are with their children.
This baboon kid seems to be talking to his mom. "Hey, hey, mom! What was that? I forgot."
Can't you talk because you're still a baby?
African fish eagle
I hear that the number of wild birds that have never been seen has increased due to the sharp decrease in flamingos. The correct answer may be that the water level rises and becomes closer to fresh water.
Well, it is natural that various situations are intertwined and everything is connected.
On the right is the African fish eagle, a bird of prey that is also a national bird in Zambia. I don't know now, but back in 1996, the news on state radio began with the screaming bird.
When I went to Zambia five years ago, I think I heard the same scream from the radio.
Fish is the staple food, but flamingos can also be hunted. It seems that this African fish eagle is still wondering, "Where did the flamingo go?"
Have you ever seen a lake surface filled with flamingos since you were born?
Evosim Mataka, Long-Crested Eagle
I wonder if it corresponds to the nature conservation group that counts the flamingos of Lake Nakuru, commonly known as "Nature Kenya", or the "Wild Bird Society of Japan" in Japan. A bird that is also the symbol mark of the group.
It features feathers on the head like a comb.
The manager was also a member of "Nature Kenya" and was doing bird watching. It's also a free pass to museums, so it's very useful.
After finishing such a short safari, I thought that nature would change dynamically, and the whole family enjoyed the safari and arrived home.
■
It's been a long time, but thank you for watching until the end.
Related article
Lake Turkana
Luma National Park, an unexplored park with few people
Commentaires