The flamingo, which is the main attraction for tourists at Lake Nakuru National Park, has moved from its main sanctuary in the Rift Valley to other areas, including the minute Lake Simbi Nyaima in Western Kenya. Lake Nakuru, which local Senior Game Warden Alfred Mayoli says has lost more than two thirds of its water, is the focal point of all tourism business in town. The flamingos’ attractive colours, grace, beauty and numbers are the talk of all tourists – local and international.

Mr. Mayoli’s contention that the flamingos are migrating to Lake Simbi Nyaima and elsewhere due to drought has, however, been challenged by some experts. They argue that the birds are moving because of the contamination of water by local factories which release untreated waste into the lake.

The worrying thing about the flamingos in Nakuru is the unexplained deaths of the birds that have moved to ponds around the town’s sewage treatment plant under rehabilitation. It is believed that the birds are dying after consuming toxic waste.

In October, last year, Mr. Mayoli says, a scientist was sent to the lake to probe the cause of the birds’ deaths. The outcome of the probe is yet to be released.

A team of Japanese construction experts working on the multi-million sewerage project has declined to comment on the deaths of the flamingos at the sewage ponds. However, a worker at the site said that every morning they fill a pick-up with dead flamingos.

On the current migration of flamingos, Mr. Mayoli says it is not the first time the birds have moved. He says: “This is not the first time the lake has substantially dried up as we were faced with a similar situation in 1987. We also have recorded incidents of the drying up of the lake in the past.”

“Since flamingos are water birds”, he says, “they are definitely bound to seek a new home when there is drastic change in their physical environment”.

The deaths at the ponds, another expert argues, cannot deplete the flamingo population because they hatch in large numbers and live for long.

A bird expert from the National Museums of Kenya, Mr. Oliver Nasirwa, argues that with a life expectancy of over 50 years and an annual breeding of over 250,000 a few deaths will not make a difference since everything is being done to contain the situation.

Mr. Nasirwa observes that flamingos breed every two years at Lake Natron in Tanzania, and out of the 500,000 hatchlings more than 300,000 survive. “Considering that the average lifespan of the flamingo is 50 years the few that are dying can only be considered at this stage as normal.”

As a measure to ensure the flamingo deaths are not “abnormal” the National (Kenya) Water Fowl Census team has appealed to people to report any deaths to the nearest wildlife offices. Mr. Nasirwa agrees with Mr. Mayoli that the migration of the flamingo to places like Simbi Nyaima is nothing new.

“Considering some of the birds that went to that lake [Simbi Nyaima) when drought at Lake Nakuru threatened their existence in 1988 are still alive, it’s no wonder they have led others there”, Mr. Nasirwa said.

The bird census that was done on the shores of Lake Nakuru on January 14, drew a team of bird lovers, water fowl experts and several volunteers who with their powerful equipment counted the birds starting from 6 am to 6 pm. Tourists joined in for the love of the birds.

Friends of Lake Nakuru (FLN), a local conservation group, has noted that the reduction of the birds’ numbers posed a threat to tourism in the country.

The group’s vice chairman, Mr. Joseph Muya, attributes the decline in numbers to a reduction in the level of algae in the lake that is drying up.

During an international symposium in Portugal last September, the conservation group presented a paper on “Threats to Water Fowl and their Habitat” with reference to lakes Nakuru and Elementaita.

The symposium had been organised by Portugal’s Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources in collaboration with the International Bird Protection.

Meanwhile, scientists from Egerton University have announced that they will soon launch a Sh10 million (US$175,439) research project to establish the cause of the birds’ deaths.

A member of the team, Dr. L. A. Onek, a bio-chemist, says his team suspects that the birds are migrating to western Kenya due to the quality of Cyano-bacteria which might be deteriorating due to pollution. Cyano bacterium is the flamingos’ staple diet.

The scholar says the dominant species of Cyano-bacteria in Lake Nakuru is Spiruline Platensis.

Dr. Onek says that his team has collected samples from both Lake Nakuru and Lake Simbi Nyaima for a comparative study.

While Nakuru residents are busy speculating as to why the birds are running away from their considered natural habitat, 200 kilometres away, Simbi Nyaima people are thrilled with their new visitors.

At Simbi Nyaima flamingo “invasion” is treated with the reverence accorded a miracle. The lake itself is believed by the residents to have come into being miraculously.

Long time ago, according to local folklore, there came to Kanyadhiang Village a hungry and tired old woman called Ateku. She found the villagers celebrating – eating, drinking and dancing.

One caring woman welcomed her with food, drink, and a bed to rest her frail body.

After the magnanimous action, Ateku ordered water to spring from the ground.

Since areas adjacent to the lake are so dry, it is believed the water came into being as a token of appreciation by Ateku to the woman.

With some die-hard flamingo lovers now travelling all the way to Simbi Nyaima, 200 km away, residents of the area believe a second miracle is taking place, and treasure the event with the hope that tourism will germinate and take root in the area.

source

The Rhinoceros, often colloquially abbreviated rhino, is the common name used to group five extant species of odd-toed ungulates in the family Rhinocerotidae. Two of these species are native to Africa and three to southern Asia. Three of the five species—the (Javan, Sumatran and Black Rhinoceros)—are critically endangered. The Indian is endangered, with fewer than 2700 individuals remaining in the wild. The White is registered as Vulnerable, with roughly 14,500 remaining in the wild, he rhinoceros family is characterised by large size (one of the few remaining megafauna alive today) with all of the species capable of reaching one ton or more in weight; herbivorous diet; and a thick protective skin, 1.5–5 cm thick, formed from layers of collagen positioned in a lattice structure; relatively small brains for mammals this size (400–600g); and a large horn. They generally eat leafy material, although their ability to ferment food in their hindgut allows them to subsist on more fibrous plant matter, if necessary. Unlike other perissodactyls, the African species of rhinoceros lack teeth at the front of their mouths, relying instead on their powerful premolar and molar teeth to grind up plant food.
(Source Wikipedia).

It’s Amazing
6 year’s ago, we are going to Ujung Kulon National Park with Archeopteryx Team, Bang jay, Bang Irvan, Mbak Dini, Puger, Manasye, Pak Nani, and Pak Nana from RMPU (Rhino Monitoring Protecting Unit), we walking every days inside the jungle.Sleeping at the tower in “Cidaun”, crossing Cikeusik River, and I never forget somebody always say, “time to make jus jus guys”, he…he…he…. Just for looking this animal.
I miss u guys…..long time not see u guys.

Sepenggal kalimat yang mungkin biasa bagi sebagian orang, dan mungkin tidak bagi sebagian lagi, memang dalam hidup selalu ada pertemuan dan perpisahan, selasa lalu masih teringat jelas baris demi baris kata-kata yang dalam sms itu, “be prepare guys we are going to Nakuru”, but when the time his come this guys not coming with us, his going back to his country, I hope nothing happen with ur wife and ur child, we are here pray for you bro, I know its very hard for you, be calm and cool bro, Allah SWT bless you bro.

And for someone who will leave this project in the end of this month, he always say “This Crazy Project Man”, why you don’t want extend ur contract bro?… (U can answer by email bro) he…he…he… this a nice experience for us, everywhere we are always go together, like nothing happen in this project.ha…ha…ha… I hope u want stay for support this project man, and if not, maybe we can meet again somewhere in the world in another project.

Nakuru National Park (188 km²), created in 1961 around Lake Nakuru, near Nakuru Town. It is best known for its thousands, sometimes millions of flamingos nesting along the shores. The surface of the shallow lake is often hardly recognizable due to the continually shifting mass of pink. The number of flamingoes on the lake varies with water and food conditions and the best vantage point is from Baboon Cliff. Also of interest is an area of 188 km around the lake fenced off as a sanctuary to protect Rothschild giraffes and black rhinos.

The park has recently been enlarged partly to provide the sanctuary for the black rhino. This undertaking has necessitated a fence – to keep out poachers rather than to restrict the movement of wildlife. The park now has more than 25 rhinos, one of the largest concentrations in the country, so the chances of spotting these survivors are good. There are also a number of Rothschild’s giraffe, again translocated for safety from western Kenya beginning in 1977. Waterbuck are very common and both the Kenyan species are found here. Among the predators are lion and leopard, the latter being seen much more frequently in recent times. The park also has large sized pythons that inhabit the dense woodlands, and can often be seen crossing the roads or dangling from trees.
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 fuchsia pink flamingos 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 changes in water quality which makes the lake temporarily inhospitable. Usually, the lake recedes 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 ground waters 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 flamingos 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, pelicans and cormorants. 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 grebes and white winged black terns are frequently seen as are stilts, avocets, ducks, and in the European winter the migrant waders. Also they have a bunch of Zebra.