Lake Elmenteita

{{Short description|Lake in Kenya}} {{Infobox lake | name = Lake Elementaita | image = Elementaita2.jpg | caption = | image_bathymetry = | caption_bathymetry = | location = | coords = {{coord|0|27|S|36|15|E|region:KE_type:waterbody_source:GNS-enwiki|display=inline,title}} | type = | inflow = | outflow = | catchment = | basin_countries = Kenya | length = | width = | area = {{convert|18|km2|abbr=on}} | depth = | max-depth = | volume = | residence_time = | shore = | elevation = {{convert|1,670|m|abbr=on}} ASL | islands = | cities =  | pushpin_map = Kenya#Africa | pushpin_label_position = | pushpin_map_alt = Location of Lake Elmenteita in Kenya. | pushpin_map_caption =  | website = | reference = |embedded = {{Designation list | embed = yes | designation1 = Ramsar | designation1_date = 5 September 2005 | designation1_number = 1498<ref>{{Cite web|title=Lake Elmenteita|website=[[Ramsar Convention|Ramsar]] Sites Information Service|url=https://rsis.ramsar.org/ris/1498|accessdate=25 April 2018}}</ref>}} {{Infobox UNESCO World Heritage Site | child = yes | Official_name = Kenyan Lake System of the Great Rift Valley | Criteria = Natural: vii, ix, x | ID = 1060 | Year = 2011 }} }}

'''Lake Elmenteita''' is a [[soda lake]], in the [[Great Rift Valley, Kenya|Great Rift Valley]], about 120 km northwest of [[Nairobi]], [[Kenya]].<ref>{{Citation|last=Scoon|first=Roger N.|title=Lakes of the Gregory Rift Valley: Baringo, Bogoria, Nakuru, Elmenteita, Magadi, Manyara and Eyasi|date=2018|work=Geology of National Parks of Central/Southern Kenya and Northern Tanzania|pages=167–180|publisher=Springer International Publishing|doi=10.1007/978-3-319-73785-0_15|isbn=978-3-319-73784-3}}</ref>

== Geography ==

[[File:Elementaita1.jpg|thumb|350px|left|Lake Elmenteita from the Nairobi-Nakuru highway]] Elmenteita is derived from the [[Maasai language|Maasai]] word {{lang|mas|muteita}}, meaning "dust place", a reference to the dryness and dustiness of the area, especially from January to March. The town of [[Gilgil]] is near the lake. In the south-to-north sequence of [[Rift Valley lakes]], Elmenteita is between [[Lake Naivasha]] and [[Lake Nakuru]]. Along the nearby [[escarpment]], the major [[Nairobi]]-[[Nakuru]] highway ([[A104 road (Kenya)|A104 Road]]) gives motorists a spectacular vista of the lake. Today the lake is a protected area due to its bird life and has been named as a [[UNESCO World Heritage Site]] together with Lake Nakuru and [[Lake Bogoria]].

About 10,000 years ago, Lake Elementaita, together with the neighboring Nakuru and Bogoria, formed one single, deep freshwater lake that eventually dried up, leaving the three lakes as remnants.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Lake Nakuru {{!}} Lake Nakuru {{!}} World Lake Database - ILEC |url=https://wldb.ilec.or.jp/Display/html/3588 |access-date=2025-03-11 |website=wldb.ilec.or.jp}}</ref>

At the southern end of the lake are the "Kekopey" hot springs, in which an [[Introduced species|introduced]] fish, the [[Lake Magadi tilapia]], breed. The reed beds nearby are fishing grounds for [[night heron]]s and [[pelican]]s.

It is a [[soda lake]] (high alkalinity, high biodiversity).<ref>{{cite journal |last1= Duckworth |first1= Alexander W. |last2= Grant |first2= William D. |last3= Jones |first3= Bryan E. |last4= Van Steenbergen |first4= Robert |date= 1996 |title= Phylogenetic diversity of soda lake alkaliphiles |journal= FEMS Microbiology Ecology |volume= 19 |issue= 3 |pages= 181-191 |bibcode= 1996FEMME..19..181D |doi= 10.1111/j.1574-6941.1996.tb00211.x }}</ref>

[[File:Lake Elmenteita satellite image.png|thumb|250px|right|Lake Elmenteita, as seen from space.]]

== History ==

The Lake Elmenteita area saw its first white settlement when [[Hugh Cholmondeley, 3rd Baron Delamere]] (1879−-1931) established the [[Soysambu Conservancy|Soysambu ranch]] on {{convert|48000|acre|km2|sing=on|disp=flip}} of land on the western side of the lake. He gifted land on the other side of the lake to his brother-in-law, [[Galbraith Lowry Egerton Cole]] (1881−1929), part of whose Kekopey ranch, where he is buried, is preserved today as the Lake Elementaita Lodge.

The Soysambu ranch, which is still owned by the [[Baron Delamere|Delamere family]], covers two-thirds of the shoreline and is home to over 12,000 wild animals. The lake itself has been a [[Ramsar Convention|Ramsar site]] since 2005.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ramsar.org/wn/w.n.kenya_elmenteita.htm |title=Lake Elmenteita added to the Ramsar List |last=Peck |first=Dwight |date=17 September 2005 |publisher=The [[Ramsar Convention]] on Wetlands |accessdate=2009-04-19 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20081114201824/http://www.ramsar.org/wn/w.n.kenya_elmenteita.htm |archivedate=November 14, 2008 }}</ref>

== Ecology ==

Over 400 bird species have been recorded in the Lake Nakuru/Lake Elmenteita basin. Elmenteita attracts visiting [[flamingo]]es, both the [[Greater flamingo|greater]] and [[Lesser flamingo|lesser]] varieties, which feed on the lake's crustacean and insect larvae and on its suspended [[blue-green algae]], respectively. [[Lake Magadi tilapia]] 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]], [[Common Eland|eland]] 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.<ref>''Daily Nation'', December 8, 2009: [http://www.nation.co.ke/News/-/1056/819794/-/item/1/-/fvmhvq/-/index.html A lake lies on its deathbed] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120915191006/http://www.nation.co.ke/News/-/1056/819794/-/item/1/-/fvmhvq/-/index.html |date=2012-09-15 }}</ref>

== Associated sites ==

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

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

== See also == *[[List of World Heritage Sites in Kenya]]

== References ==

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