BARINGO, Kenya — Rising water levels in Lake Baringo and other lakes in Kenya’s Rift Valley have displaced tens of thousands of people and increased encounters between residents and wildlife as extreme rainfall drives the lakes to levels not seen in at least 50 years, according to officials and scientists.
Lake Baringo has expanded by about 70% since 2010, growing from roughly 138 square kilometers to 234 square kilometers, according to an analysis of Copernicus Sentinel and NASA Landsat satellite imagery.
Neighboring Lake Bogoria has also expanded by 21% during the same period, from about 34 square kilometers to 41 square kilometers.
The rising waters have forced families and businesses to move to higher ground and brought crocodiles and hippos closer to homes and other populated areas.
At a holiday resort near Lake Baringo, a crocodile recently rested on the roof of a conference hall that rising water had submerged.
Kenya Wildlife Service senior warden Jackson Komen said wildlife attacks have increased as the expanding lake reaches areas closer to homes.
“We’ve seen a rise in crocodile attacks not because there are more crocodiles, but because the lake is now close to the homesteads,” Komen said.
He said the expansion also eliminated parts of the riverbank ecosystem that previously provided pasture, contributing to more hippo encounters.
Mary Milka Tiren, 40, lost her husband in 2011 after a hippo attacked him as he returned from work at a tourist resort that now sits underwater.
Years later, her 9-year-old son survived a crocodile attack that sent him to a hospital for three months and left a scar on his right arm.
The expanding lakes have also raised concerns about their ecological impact. Lake Baringo provides drinking and irrigation water and supports a fishing industry, while Lake Bogoria has high levels of sodium.
Komen warned that mixing the two lakes could affect fish, crocodiles and hippos and create an ecological crisis.
The lakes now sit about 10 kilometers apart. Scientist Mathew Herrnegger of Austria’s University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences said satellite measurements show that Lake Bogoria has reached a level that allows water to flow toward Lake Baringo.
Herrnegger said scientists still do not know how much water will reach Lake Baringo or what effects the overflow will have.
The rising waters have also affected tourism and wildlife conservation. Komen said communities have lost about 80% of their wildlife conservancies, prompting the relocation of giraffes, ostriches, warthogs and impalas to safer areas.