Pink flamingos return to Kenya’s Lake Nakuru after an eight-year absence, offering hopes of a tourism rebound
- Huge flocks of flamingos used to attract crowds of visitors to Lake Nakuru in Kenya, until eight years ago when they vanished
- The birds left when rising water levels reduced their feeding and breeding grounds, but they have started to return
Eight years ago, rising water levels in Kenya’s Lake Nakuru drove away the clouds of pink flamingos that were the park’s biggest draw. Rangers say their disappearance triggered a drop in visitor numbers by for the Nakuru National Park.
Now they’re back.
The return has rekindled hopes of a gradual rebound in an area heavily reliant on tourists for employment and revenues.
On a recent visit, flocks of flamingos could be seen foraging for food in the lake’s turquoise waters, while others flapped in a sine-wave formation above. A rhinoceros grazed nearby.
“With the increase in the number of flamingos, we have started seeing visitors also increasing,” Caroline Mwebia, the park’s tourism warden, said. She declined to give visitor numbers and the Kenya Wildlife Service did not return calls seeking comment. But nearly a quarter of a million visitors came in 2011, the last year figures are publicly available for.