lesser flamingoes at dusk
Ol Oldien is a little-known soda lake separated by a sliver of land from its more famous cousin, Lake Naivasha. It’s a contrast of tapestries between the two water bodies in the Rift Valley, surrounded by beautiful massifs which watch over them in silent gaze.
Yet the Great Rift crafted by millennia of turbulent quakes and shakes has only been silent for a short while.
Years back, it spewed tongues of red hot molten lava and fires to produce one of the world’s greatest landmarks which is visible from outer space. It is lined with lakes full of lore and mystery, dynamic and as mysterious as the valley.
The secret shores of Ol Oldien with its crusted shoreline is as bare as the lunarscape yet it belies the stranger walking in its midst. Tiny mounds of clay between the water’s edge and the green glade of grass and acacias show that the pretty pink birds busy with their beaks tipped upside down in the alkaline water have built the clay nests to lay their eggs.
Yet there are no eggs on the mounds, and if there were, it would have set ornithologists around the world in a frenzy of celebrations for these very choosy birds only nest in secluded places like Lake Natron in Tanzania.
“I only started seeing flamingos here a few years ago,” says Tony Kennaway of the Ol Joto clan.
“This lake was attached to the main lake until a few years ago.” A resident recalls a time when he could swim to the middle of the lake and even drink the water. In a span of three decades, Ol Oldien shrank from a depth of 25 metres to five with the water turning alkaline.
Part of it has to do with Naivasha’s fresh water attracting scores of flower farmers to its pristine shores to siphon the precious liquid to water their buds.
A polite list of do’s and don’ts in the cosy cottages of the Ol Joto clan asks guests not to walk within 100 metres of the water’s edge as the finicky birds that colour Africa’s skies pink start a stampede when disturbed and in the process can break a leg or two.
Walking down the garden with its short cropped grass that’s never seen a lawn mower but is kept trim thanks to the hippos living at the edge of the garden in the lake, we follow their enormous footprints pattering the crusted dry shores, which until the drought happened, was blue and underwater.
Like I said, it’s a tapestry of colour and contrast. Africa patterned by its wildlife. The hardy grass is turning a hue of green with the few showers of rain.
Towering yellow-fever acacias stand like sculpted towers of twig and thorn on totem poles and in the silence of the glades, towering giraffes browse on the thorn trees.
It’s a special world in the cool evening with the rising crepuscule moon rising in the skies.
The giraffes are close but camouflaged, and we can hear them moving amongst the trees. The forest opens up to the clear glade of grass where herds of zebras browse. Longonot peeps over the Ol Karia hills with the Mau stretching on the western side.
The flamingos keep a lively twitter. The water is not too salty for the hippos that lie in it waiting for the night to descend for their midnight feast on the savanna sprawl, which extends way beyond the Ol Joto and over the high point of Eburru, which is taller than Longonot’s peak.
After a sumptuous dinner on the verandah and a read by the log fire in the lounge, it’s time to retire.
In the middle of the night, a hyena laughs and out by the window stands a lone giraffe browsing on the tall acacia under a sprinkle of stars – it’s just awesome.
Now just in case you’re wondering what clan of Maasai the Ol Joto is – it’s a very special clan made up of the Kennaway family with the first letter of the two daughters and the parents making the Ol Joto clan – Olivia, Lindsay, Joey and Tony.
Oasis Camp
A fantastic landscape opens like a flip of a page – a liquid blue lake profiled amidst the lush green and mountains of Elementeita – a dramatically different scenario from the growing slum that is Keekopey from where we turn in to reach Oasis Eco Camp in the great Rift Valley.
Millions of butterflies’ escort you to the camp flitting like animated flower petals. With the ongoing rains, everything is in bloom – the forest, the flowers and the lake filled to the brim tempting you to walk its shores while the sky teases you with its moods which are changing from a clear sun-blazed blue to clouds of heavy purple-grey.
Armed with umbrellas, we walk through the yellow fever tree forest and into the clearing to reach the shores of Elementeita with the walls of the Great Rift Valley surrounding it in the distance.
Mist rises from the earth giving it an ethereal air. It’s the Keekopey hot springs. A young man relaxes in the water heated from within the earth’s core as we stride into it.
The hot spring is delicious against the cold of the late afternoon. The bubbles ripple the shallow pools reputed to have medicinal properties and it’s quite an effort to leave the natural spa.
Lush tall reeds line the shore where the water is fresh and it’s a busy scene with many a species of water birds in the marshes.
Tiny fish make for the reeds, where the Tilapia grahami breed, a species reported to have been accidentally introduced by the pelicans from Lake Nakuru where the fish were originally introduced in the 1960s to combat the mosquito menace.
A lone African fish eagle, resplendent in its crisp mantle of copper red feathers and white chest searches the waters for a catch.
We round the hillock littered with black obsidian and lava rocks where the field is filled with a carpet of white flowers reaching Delamere’s nose and the saddle-shaped hills.
A dense forest of croton trees fills another hillock – we’re more used to driving around croton bushes in the Mara for they are a favorite haunt of the lions who like to take refuge in them during the heat of the day.
Our guide Patrick Parsen Ole Kodonyo, points to a tiny acacia bush protected by its long sharp thorns. Nestled within on the ground is a cache of tiny eggs.
“Every time you walked nearby, the birds would try and scare you away,” says Patrick. On closer investigation, it showed the reason – the parent birds were protecting their eggs.
Back at Oasis, we meet up with David Chege and his wife Magdalene, an enterprising young couple who built their dream lodge for people who love nature like them. “I’m a civil engineer by training and my wife is an electrical engineer,” narrates David.
However, by the time he had completed his degree from the Nairobi University in 1998, the job market was saturated soDavid branched off into IT and Magdalene worked as an accounts manager for another IT firm.
On their breaks, the two spent time exploring the country and came up with the idea of organising affordable camping trips which they did for a while until they found the spot on the lake.
At first, they wanted to keep it as a camping ground but with their engineering backgrounds, the two drew up plans and after waiting for NEMA’s approval, put up the Oasis Eco Lodge which blends in perfectly with the natural surroundings – the three grass-thatched bandas sit in the natural forest grove each fitted with an upper deck that doubles up as a verandah from where one can relax and watch the tidings of the lake, the forest and the night sky.
Opened in December 2009, the Chege’s have fitted the tiny paradise with solar panels for all its energy consumption, septic tanks to take care of its waste water and its solid non biodegradable waste is transported to Nairobi because Nakuru does not have a good disposable system.
All the vegetables are sourced from the nearby villages and Peter Maina, the chef, fills the table with gourmet meals.
“We’re members of the Greater Lake Elementeita Conservation Association (GLECA),” says Magdelene.
“Lake Elementeita is a shallow lake, only about 1.2 metres at its deepest with a span of about 25 square kilometres. We don’t want it becoming degraded.
Story courtesy of Rupi Mangat – Daily Nation
Buffalos amoungst flamngoes in Lake Nakuru
Arriving at sunset with no time for a game drive, we meet a group of youngsters who are members of a club called Pathway to Peace on their first camping safari.
Their mentors take them through the drill on the grounds of the Wildlife Clubs of Kenya (WCK) – how to pitch the tents (and they are doing it in darkness by torch light with gigantic bloodsucking mosquitoes having a great time on their human prey) and how to behave in the wild.
“Pathway to Peace is a project that’s using the environment as a bridge to peace,” explains Eric Deche, WCK’s programmes’ officer. “When there’s peace, the environment is pretty much safe but in times of wars and calamities, the environment suffers.”
On the wall of the WCK resource centre, hangs a tri of posters dated 1930, 1960 and 1990 of L. Nakuru and its environs.
In the first one Nakuru town is a tiny square a distance from the lake and a large green patch of forest and grassland surrounds the lake with a smaller brown patch for the ranches.
In 1960, the tiny square is considerably bigger but the 1990 poster is the complete reverse – the town surrounds the park on the northwestern side with a tiny patch of forest and the farmland increased.
However, the lake and the park surrounding it are still stunning and full of wildlife – which makes it one of Kenya’s most visited parks.
It’s early morning and the lake is full and glistening with the good rains we’ve had since the beginning of this year. Where the previous year, Makalia waterfall had been reduced to a trickle, it’s now thundering over the cliffs and feeding into the lake.
The rivers, too, are brimming to the banks and the animals are all fat and happy –the drought before the rains had claimed thousands of animals.
The flamingoes, dressed like flamenco dancers, in stunning hues of pink and luscious red underwing fill the lake. There’s plenty of algae for them to feed on – one of the reasons why they frequent the lake in their millions.
The light of the rising sun from behind Lion Hill casts a gold hue on everything while the air, now warmed, rises in a white mist over the blue water reflecting the golden orb and the hills. I get Firoz Dharani to pose for a picture holding the sun in his hand – a perfect illusion.
There’s so much life everywhere – a herd of 100 or so buffaloes walk to the lake for a drink. A gigantic white rhino is in deep slumber where the salt crust pan of the lake meets the tall grass.
The oxpeckers are no problem to it as they flit on its heavy frame pecking away at the ticks. Behind the acacia forest is thick and Flamingo hill so statuesque.
Up on Baboon Cliff, the baboons are awake and all over the place with the naughty little ones swinging from the vines. I’m almost getting out of the car when what happens next has me frozen in shock.
A huge baboon climbs on to the car and through the window on my side brushing against my arm. At close quarters, he’s gigantic. He then sits next to me and my heart literally stops beating.
I’m paralyzed with fear – just a bite from his massive jaws fitted with long canines or a swipe from his massive paws with its long sharp nails could do considerable damage to me – any sign of panic would be disastrous.
The baboon is joined by his mate and the two sitting on the same seat next to me look at me with no interest and proceed to shake the shuka obviously looking for food. That’s when I make my escape screaming – but that is no deterrent.
They eventually get out of the car. I guess they look meaner than they are and I recall the researcher Shirley Strum’s work with baboons in Kenya where she writes about her experience – they would come menacingly towards her to frighten her away until one day she stood her ground and they did nothing to her.
It’s an old adage but one we normally forget – keep your calm around wildlife and they will leave you alone.
Finally, with the sun now high, we make our way to the WCK cottage to be met by a pair of Silver back jackals and striped zebras on their way to the lake.
Fat waterbucks with white bums – Defassas’s waterbucks are only found in Lake Nakuru while the common waterbuck with rings on their bums are found everywhere else, stand not far from a mother impala with a suckling foal at her teat.
Source: Rupi Mangat – Daily Nation
