Lake Elmenteita is a soda lake, in the Great Rift Valley, about 120 km northwest of Nairobi, Kenya.

Geography

Elmenteita is derived from the

Maasai Maasai may refer to: * Maasai people *Maasai language * Maasai mythology * MAASAI (band) See also * Masai (disambiguation) * Massai Massai (also known as: Masai, Massey, Massi, Mah–sii, Massa, Wasse, Wassil or by the nickname "Big Foot" Mas ...

word , meaning "dust place", a reference to the dryness and dustiness of the area, especially between January and March. The town of Gilgil is near the lake. In the south-to-north sequence of

Rift Valley lakes The Rift Valley lakes are a series of lakes in the East African Rift valley that runs through eastern Africa from Ethiopia in the north to Malawi in the south, and includes the African Great Lakes in the south. These include some of the world's ...

, Elmenteita is between Lake Naivasha and Lake Nakuru. The major Nairobi- Nakuru highway (

A104 Road This is a list of roads designated A104. Roads entries are sorted in the countries alphabetical order. * A104 road (England), the road from Islington Green to Epping in London, England * A104 road (Kenya), the road from Nairobi, Kenya to the Ta ...

) runs along the nearby escarpment affording motorists a spectacular vista towards the lake. Today the lake is a protected area due to its bird life, and has been named as an UNESCO heritage site together with Lake Nakuru and Lake Bogoria. At the southern end of the lake are the "Kekopey" hot springs, in which an introduced fish, the

Lake Magadi tilapia ''Alcolapia grahami'', the Lake Magadi tilapia or Graham's cichlid, is a vulnerable species of fish in the family Cichlidae. It is specialised to live in hot, alkaline waters in springs and lagoons around hypersaline lakes. Description ''Alcola ...

, breed. The reed beds nearby are fishing grounds for night herons and

pelican Pelicans (genus ''Pelecanus'') are a genus of large water birds that make up the family Pelecanidae. They are characterized by a long beak and a large throat pouch used for catching prey and draining water from the scooped-up contents before s ...

History

The Lake Elmenteita area saw its first white settlement when

Lord Delamere Hugh Cholmondeley, 3rd Baron Delamere, (28 April 1870 – 13 November 1931), styled The Honourable from birth until 1887, was a British peer. He was one of the first and most influential British settlers in Kenya. Lord Delamere was the son of ...

(1879-1931) established Soysambu, a ranch, on the western side of the lake. Delamere gifted the land on the other side of the lake to his brother-in-law, the Honorable

Galbraith Lowry Egerton Cole Galbraith Lowry Egerton Cole (1881–1929) was an Anglo-Irish pioneer settler and farmer (1905) of the East Africa Protectorate. Part of his Kekopey Ranch on Lake Elementaita, Kenya, where he is buried, is preserved today as the Lake Elementait ...

(1881-1929), part of whose "Kekopey Ranch", where he is buried, is preserved today as the Lake Elementaita Lodge. Soysambu ranch is still occupied by Lord Delamere's descendants, including the controversial Thomas Cholmondeley who has been instrumental in setting up the Soysambu conservancy. The conservancy covers 2/3 of the shoreline and is home to over 12000 wild animals. Lake Elmenteita has been a

Ramsar site A Ramsar site is a wetland site designated to be of international importance under the Ramsar Convention,8 ha (O) *** Permanent 8 ha (P) *** Seasonal Intermittent < 8 ha(Ts) **

flamingoes, both the greater and

lesser Lesser, from Eliezer (, "Help/Court of my God"), is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Adolf Lesser (1851–1926), German physician * Aleksander Lesser (1814–1884), Polish painter and art critic * Anton Lesser (born 1952), Bri ...

varieties, which feed on the lake's crustacean and insect larvae and on its suspended blue-green algae, respectively.

were introduced to the lake from Lake Magadi in 1962 and since that time the flamingo population has dwindled considerably. The tilapia attract many fish-eating birds that also feed upon the flamingo eggs and chicks. Over a million birds that formerly bred at Elmenteita are now said to have sought refuge at Lake Natron in Tanzania. The lake's shores are grazed by zebra, gazelle,

eland Eland may refer to: Animals *''Taurotragus'', a genus of antelope ** Common eland of East and Southern Africa ** Giant eland of Central and Western Africa Places * Eland, Wisconsin, United States * An old spelling of Elland, West Yorkshire * Ela ...

and families of warthog. The lake is normally very shallow (less than 1 m deep) and bordered by trona-encrusted mudflats during the dry seasons. During the late Pleistocene and early Holocene, Lake Elmenteita was at times united with an expanded Lake Nakuru, forming a much larger dilute lake. Remnants of the former joined lake are preserved as sediments at various locations around the lake basins, including former shorelines. Recently the lake level and number of flamingoes has receded as increased human activity has dried up catchment areas.''Daily Nation'', December 8, 2009
A lake lies on its deathbed
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Associated sites

Nearby is the Kariandusi Museum, at an important prehistoric site where stone handaxes and cleavers were discovered in 1928 by

Louis Leakey Louis Seymour Bazett Leakey (7 August 1903 – 1 October 1972) was a Kenyan-British palaeoanthropologist and archaeologist whose work was important in demonstrating that humans evolved in Africa, particularly through discoveries made at Olduvai ...

Elmenteita Badlands The Elementeita Badlands, also known as the Otutu Forest or Ututu Forest, is a lava flow in Kenya that covers approximately . The area was previously covered in thick dryland forest characterized by cedar trees, (''Juniperus'' spp.), and Leleshwa ...

is a lava flow to the south of the lake, covered in bush and including some spectacularly scenic peaks.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Elmenteita Lakes of Kenya Saline lakes of the Great Rift Valley World Heritage Sites in Kenya Ramsar sites in Kenya