MILLIONS OF PINK FLAMINGOS AT LAKE NAKURU, KENYA

Millions of pink flamingos

at Lake Nakuru, Kenya

Kenya Lake Nakuru - one of the lakes of the East African Rift Valley, which stores a unique pristine natural world. In addition, it is considered one of the most beautiful and vibrant places on the continent.

The lake lies at an altitude of 1754 m above sea level, is located south-west of the town of Nakuru in the Rift Valley of Kenya and is protected by the national park "Lake Nakuru".

The area of ​​the lake is about 40 km ² and a maximum depth - about 3 m. It is fed by the waters of two great rivers - Niro and Nderit. In the language of the Maasai "Nakuru" means "dusty place" or "dust."

Once there was a large freshwater reservoir. About 10 thousand years ago the climate in this region became drier, resulting in the pond became shallow, and is divided into three lakes Naivasha and Nakuru Elmenteyta.

The living organisms that could not settle down in this fairly aggressive environment are six species of phytoplankton, some species of zooplankton, one type of fish and small crustaceans.

In very large quantities here lives a little blue-green alga Spirulina platensis, coloring the local waters in the dark green color and makes them sticky and thick. That algae attracted to the area huge number of flamingos - small and large.The lake and the surrounding area are known not only an abundance of these beautiful birds, but also more than 400 species of other birds.

Lesser flamingos more than their larger representatives - on one large accounts 200 small animals. Despite this difference in the number of birds get along very well with each other as members of one family, and did not even compete for food as eat different kinds of food.

Flamingo - graceful, long-legged bird, recognized as one of the most beautiful on the planet. This fact was brought to Nakuru large number of scientists and tourists.

In order to protect this pristine area, in 1957 the lake was placed under protection, and in 1960 its southern coast proclaimed reserve small flamingos. A year later, the pond got the status of National Park in Kenya.