Thinking Allowed: The enigma of Lake Naivasha

Lake Naivasha is a lake North-west of Nairobi in the Great Rift Valley. We were fortunate to get to spend a few days by the lake at a camp that is home to many hippos. Aside from hippos the lake area is full of wildlife conservatories and flower farms. An odd mix of white greenhouses and lush native flora and fauna. Kenya is the world's fourth largest exporter of cut flowers and 75% of that is due to lake Naivasha. Our interest in the area was more the natural flora and fauna. We spent a day on Crescent Island reserve. A small lake island where animals were brought in for the filming of Out of Africa and never taken away. Now tourists can pay to wander among the giraffe, zebra, wildebeasts, impala, warthogs, ostrich and such. It was such a great day of wandering by foot among these animals. We spent another day bicycling to the animal corridor (where animals go from the national park to the lake). The mix of busy road, dusty bumpy road, and then scenic paved road really gave us a feel for the Kenya road life. Our stops by a grassy fishermans launch spot and at a hillside farmhouse were equally representative.

And I would write so much more about all of it but really somehow my mind has become captivated by a more ecological part of the lake. For the past 10 years Lake Naivasha has been growing. Significantly. Along the shore are rows of dead submerged trees where there once was no water. A whole town has been flooded, greenhouses have been flooded, and the many nature conservancies are shrinking. As the lake is endorheic (no water flowing out), naturally most people will blame global warming for the increase in lake size. This could make sense as there is more rainfall and the lake has no outlet. But this is a simplified understanding. Our driver let us know that the lake was increasing in size as water was entering the lake from below. A guide I spoke to gave me a more complicated explanation involving lake drainage via an under lake crack, tectonic shifts causing the cracks to seal and thus making the lake finally truly endorheic. Add in the increased rain to the lack of drainage and bam you get a bigger and bigger lake. Some think this is an issue that will self resolve. The lake grows and then the lake shrinks. And in fact the lake has shrunk so much in the past that it was a sad two meters deep. Others are doomsday about global warming and feel the lake will continue to grow. Still, once upon a time the Great rift valley was full of water. Perhaps with tectonic shifts, unrelated to global warming, there will be a return to that. The other Kenyan lakes in the Great Rift Valley are also growing in a similar manner. As people and animals shift their lives away from the water's edge, everyone is left unsettled by the mystery.