El Niño brings flamingos back to lake in Kenya

More than a million flamingos have recently flocked to the lake   El Niño rain makes Lake Nakuru an attractive new home for African flamingos

February 14, 1998
Web posted at: 9:16 p.m. EST (0216 GMT)

NAKURU, Kenya (CNN) -- El Niño has brought floods, blizzards and other types of severe weather to all parts of the globe.

In Kenya, it has brought flamingos back to an ancient lake.

See the flamingos
	1.4M/25 sec./320x240 960K/25 sec./160x120 QuickTime movie

Lake Nakuru, a shallow salt lake in Kenya's Rift Valley, had long attracted flamingos until the mid-1980s when a drought hit.

The flamingos deserted the lake for richer feeding in the more remote waters to the north.

El Niño last year brought heavy rains the lake, a once drought-stricken salt lake.

With the lake's water level higher because of the rains, the environmentally sensitive flamingos returned. An official count in January put the number at 1.5 million.

The amount of rain also means the lake is not in danger of drying up again for a few years.

Experts predict that the flamingo population could top the two million mark, which hasn't been seen since the mid-1960s.

Related site:

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• Lake Nakuru - Tour of Kenya

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