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Daily Nation (subscription), Kenya - 22 hours ago

Story by FRANCIS MWAURA
Publication Date: 8/12/2007

The migratory flamingo is one of the high-value bird species in Kenya’s tourism industry. All flamingo species in the world are listed in CITES Appendix II for species that need protection.

The Rift Valley lakes of East Africa are home to a large population of greater and lesser flamingos. The lesser flamingo, which is probably the most spectacular, is also listed by IUCN as “near threatened” with extinction.

The flamingos usually operate in a wide range of saline water environments which include lakes Nakuru, Bogoria, Elementaita, Magadi, Logipi Swamp and some coastal sites especially Mida Creek and Rasini Bay in Kenya and lakes Natron, Manyara, Eyasi, Burungi, Bahai and Empakai Crater in Tanzania.

Lake Natron in northern Tanzania at the border with Kenya has remained the only breeding site for the lesser flamingos in East Africa for many years. Lake Natron (850 km²) is a shallow (0.5 m) closed basin soda lake on the floor of the Rift valley with no direct outlet, which means it can easily suffer accumulation of contaminants.

The flamingo tourism in Kenya and Tanzania is connected to the environmental security of Lake Natron because the lake is probably the world’s most important breeding site for the lesser flamingo, hosting over 75 per cent of the total population in East Africa between October and December every year.

As a result, Tanzania in 2001 designated the lake as the country’s first Ramsar Site or a lake of international importance. Kenya has five such sites, with Lake Nakuru as the oldest having been designated in 1995. Any interruption of the environment at both Lake Natron and Lake Nakuru is likely to seriously affect the regional population of flamingos in East Africa and ultimately birdlife tourism.

Kenyans and indeed the whole world should therefore demand that Tanzania reconsiders the proposed large-scale commercial production of soda ash in Lake Natron by Tata Chemicals Ltd, which is an affiliate of the largest industrial conglomerate in India, which will jointly undertake the project with the Tanzanian Development Cooperation in a 60-40 per cent share arrangement.

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