Dave Taylor's African Safari: Ngorongoro July 8: A Day in the Life of an African Eden - 09:22-09:45 Flamingos

Ngorongoro July 8: A Day in the Life of an African Eden
09:22-09:45 Flamingos
Page 11

As a backdrop to the game of cat and mouse played out by the lions and hyena, stand the flamingos. Most are of the lesser variety. They are smaller and pinker than the other flamingo species found here. The greater flamingo is a pale pink and only when it flies does it show the brilliant colors associated with these birds.

Neither species of flamingo nests here. They come and go at night to their nesting grounds at Lake Natron which is located to the north, outside of the conservation area. They can be heard honking as they fly over the lip of the volcano. Ngorongoro's Lake Magadi attracts the flamingos to feed. The lake is also known as Lake Makat. Both names, Magadi and Makat are local words meaning "salt". Later in the day, when the land has warmed and the winds rise, a white, fog-like cloud of dust will blow off the lake. Anyone passing through this dust storm will fully appreciate the wisdom of the lake's name. The fine dust tastes salty and unpleasant.

Munge Creek and other streams that feed the lake carry dissolved chemicals into it. Since the lake has no outlet, these chemicals (alkaline and soda) remain in the lake's basin, gradually increasing the salinity of the water as the water evaporates.

This chemical environment is ideally suited to producing abundant food for the flamingos. Their beaks have fine filters, much like a whale's baleen, that strain the water, capturing diatoms and algae. There can be up to 50,000 lesser flamingos here and they remove 5 tonnes (5 tons) of food per day!

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