Lake Kamnarok National Reserve

Lake Kamnarok National Reserve is the host of the only ox-bow lake in Kenya. The Lake Kamnarok National Reserve is located in Kerio valley in rift valley Kenya. The reserve is just next to Lake Bogoria. It was opened in the month of June 1983. The Lake Kamnarok National Reserve is a highly diverse landscape having a deep valley of 4, 000ft. The place is also covered with dry thorny bushes at the base and on the slopes of the valley is a totally contrasting scene having semitropical vegetation.

The Lake Kamnarok National Reserve is the home of various wild animals such as dik dik, bush pigs, waterbuck, elephant, buffalo, warthog, and Rothschild’s giraffe. Abundant varieties of birds are also found in Lake Kamnarok National Reserve mainly the water birds such as grebe and pelicans. Until five years ago the Lake Kamnarok National Reserve was well known for being the host of more than 15,000 crocodiles but now the lake is drying up and very few crocodiles still survive.

The Lake Kamnarok National Reserve was a place which attracted a lot of tourist. It was a place where elephants quenched their thirst and site which was famous due to   bird watching. The lake is basically drying up fast and something has to be done to save the Lake Kamnarok National Reserve.

Those visiting the Lake Kamnarok National Reserve should be aware that there is no accommodation. The reserve is found 262 Kms from Nairobi. Access to the Lake Kamnarok National Reserve is by road though not all that smooth. The reserve has savannah landscape and spectacular mountains.

There is need to train and educate the locals on how to reserve the Lake Kamnarok game reserve because through their destruction, the reserve will be lost. Their lives will be in damage because they will lack water for their domestic use and for livestock. Activities such as cutting down trees, poisoning of the lake,   excessive irrigation and diverting the source of water to the Lake Kamnarok National Reserve has to be prevented. The local community has for since time immemorial relied on the treasured water of Lake Kamnarok game reserve but it is sad to witness how this lake has dried up   so fast in the last five years.

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The lake was the home of animal water like crocodiles and waster birds , it was also the source of water for other wild animals even from the neighboring Rimoi Game Reserve in Keiyo District and livestock of the local people. This is however not the case today. The lake has dried up and the crocodiles that ones lived there are no more. Therefore people have to be educated to stop tampering with the catchment areas especially among people who reside in the Turgen hills which is the major source of water for Lake Kamnarok National Reserve. These people are very much engaged in the burning of charcoal which is a common trend that has worsened the situation in the reserve.

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Also other streams from, Pemwai , Seretunin and Morop forest have dried up due to deforestation yet they were the streams which feed Lake Kamnarok and Kirandich dam. It is mainly sad to see a lake which covered 13.5 square kilometers being reduced to nothing. It was the second largest lake with a high capacity of crocodiles in Africa.

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The largest was Lake Chad which is also experiencing a danger of drying up as a result of prolonged drought. Lake Kamnarok National Reserve conservation is a matter of working towards the preservation of the water catchment areas because without water there will no longer be wild animals such as crocodiles and water birds and this will greatly tamper with tourism.

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