Lake Nakuru

We arrived at Lake Nakuru late in the afternoon so immediately raised the roof and took off driving through the park...when the sun goes down it's DARK so you want to use the daylight! Now, I'm not really a bird person. In fact, I usually don't pay them much mind at all. Here, however, they were everywhere. I don't believe I've ever seen as many birds since the movie "The Birds", though fortunately these were quite docile and didn't swarm...well, most of them didn't. 

The lake is famous for its flamingos, and at times, the entire area is covered by pink birds. Unfortunately, they have had some strange climate shifts that are affecting the region. The area of the Great Rift Zone has experienced far greater than normal rainfall, increasing the incoming water and flooding the lake. (meanwhile, Mount Kilamanjaro had almost NO snowfall this winter - it is virtually bare and spring has just arrived) 

Back to the lake...the road you usually drive around the lake on is underwater and the new one is severely eroding already -a third new road is being put in (we are talking dirt roads here). It is also affecting the salinity of the water and the algae’s not growing. The lack of algae, the food for the flamingos, means the flamingos haven't come this year in their normal numbers.  There were still quite a few, interspersed with spoonbills, pelicans, the versatile gulls and more. 


I mentioned mobs of birds...we were crossing an area where the gulls had massed in the middle of the road. We started to go through. The gulls took to the air en-mass, swung around the car and dropped down behind us. They continued over and over, no matter how many vehicles came through. There were so many they filled the windshield as they took off. Never learned...when we came back through later, they were still doing the same thing.