Having lived in Tanzanian for 30 years, Baker is the author of Important Bird Areas in Tanzania.Īccording to Baker, the sensitive lesser flamingo “depends on successful large-scale breeding events at Lake Natron to augment the population,” making the lake the “only significant” breeding site for these birds in East Africa and the most important in the world. However, conservationists are skeptical. “The disruption on the surface of the lake by workers and pipes will prevent most of the breeding and reduce the success rate,” Neil Baker told. Soda ash would then be moved from the lake to the factory via pipelines, which the president assures would save flamingos from disturbance. To protect the flamingos, Kikwete has promised the factory will not be built on the lake itself, but 70 kilometers away. In fact, the East African reports that Tanzania’s Minister for Industry and Trade, Cyril Chami, has recently stated that even if a current Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) finds against construction of a soda ash factory, the government will build it anyway. Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete recently resurrected the plan to mine in Lake Natron after it was abandoned in 2008 due to concerns from Tanzania’s National Environmental Management Council that mining would impact the birds’ breeding success. “There is no need for further delay,” Kikwete said, “because experience shows that the excavation can continue without any disturbance to the ecosystem there, environmental activists want people to believe that the move will wipe out the flamingo population, which is not true.”īut Tanzania isn’t planning on simply re-considering the US$450 million mine, which would be constructed by Indian company Tata Chemicals, they want its approval ‘fast-tracked’. But conservationists worry that plans to mine soda ash – also known as sodium carbonate, which is used in making glass, chemicals, and detergents – would disrupt the sensitive birds’ breeding grounds, threatening the species and putting a damper on East Africa’s tourism industry. This shallow salt lake provides the optimal habitat for flamingos and their chicks as the caustic environment keeps mammal predators at bay. © Anup Shah.Īstoundingly, over half of the world’s lesser flamingos (between 65-75%) are born in a single lake in northern Tanzania: Lake Natron. Lesser flamingo (Phoenicopterus minor) with egg. However one describes it, this biological wonder may be under threat as Tanzania plans to mine in a flamingo breeding ground that is not only regionally important, but globally. ‘Spectacle’ comes to mind, but even this is not wholly accurate for the surreal pink crowd. It’s not easy to find a single word to describe witnessing hundreds of thousands of flamingos filling up a shallow lake in the Great Rift Valley of East Africa.
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