Kenya Rift Valley Lakes — Flamingo Congregation Aerial
193.60 £
Lake Bogoria in Kenya’s Rift Valley photographed from 200 metres during the lesser flamingo congregation — the lake’s hot spring shoreline pink with hundreds of thousands of birds visible as a continuous living carpet at the water’s edge.
Description
Kenya’s Rift Valley alkaline lakes are the seasonal home of the world’s largest lesser flamingo congregations — the birds gathering to feed on the blue-green algae that thrive in the highly alkaline conditions. At peak congregation, Lake Bogoria’s shoreline can hold over a million birds, the pink mass continuous along the entire 30km shoreline. This aerial photograph was made at 200 metres during a peak congregation in December, capturing the northern lake section where the hot spring input creates the warmest, most algae-rich feeding conditions. From altitude, the individual birds are not resolved, but the continuous pink texture of the flamingo mass is clearly distinguished from the lake’s alkaline blue water and the surrounding brown savanna. The hot spring geysers are visible as white steam columns rising from the shoreline at the lake’s eastern edge.
