LAKE NAIVASHA

In southwestern Kenya, northwest of the city of Nairobi, is Lake Naivasha. Naivasha is one of many large and small lakes that occupy eastern Africa’s long Rift Valley.

The increase in agricultural development, particularly the flower industry is blamed for the rapid decline in water levels in the lake. The lake also experiences wide year-to-year fluctuations in surface area because it is shallow and highly dependent on rainfall. Indeed, the apparent general decrease in “greenness” around the lake’s perimeter in the 2000 image may be linked to year-to-year variability, since much of the surrounding terrain is less green as well.
The increasing development of the land surrounding the lake is evident in this pair of images from the Landsat satellite from 1986 (top) and 2000 (bottom).

Vegetation appears green, bare ground or low vegetation appears in shades of pink. Urban development appears purple, and water appears deep blue.

Images by Jesse Allen, based on data provided by University of Maryland Global Land Cover Facility