Africa report
Kenya: climate change impacts the lives of residents of the shores of Lake Turkana [4/5]
Audio 02:16
Remains of a bathroom that flooded at the Eliye Springs Hotel on Lake Turkana.
© RFI/Albane Thirouard
By: Albane Thirouard
3 mins
In Kenya, the Turkana region is bearing the brunt of the effects of climate change.
Pastoral communities are suffering from the consequences of the drought.
But the populations on the shores of Lake Turkana also have to deal with disturbances to their environment.
At the end of 2020, major flooding on the shores of the lake caused the displacement of 24,000 people.
According to a report co-produced by the Kenyan government and the UN, its area has increased by almost 4% between 2010 and 2020. The town of Kalokol, on the western shore of the lake, is among the most affected.
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From our special correspondent in Turkana,
While sailing along the edge of the lake, it is difficult to imagine that a village stood there before.
Reinhard Lukwawi is a fish dealer.
Where his house used to be, there is now only water.
“
I used to live somewhere around there before.
There was the beach there, with houses, restaurants, hotels… Everything is under water now.
The current shoreline is so far from what it was.
It's simple, to go from this village to the other lower down, we paid less than 50 cents by water taxi, now it's more than 1.50 euros
,” he explains.
In Kalokol, 200 people had to be rehoused three times.
“
In 2019 or 2018, we were first pushed back to here, where we see the trees sticking out.
2020 we had to move even further.
And in 2021 we ended up where we are now.
In fact, people move with the water, there are no more permanent dwellings
”, adds Reinhard Lukwawi.
► To read also: Kenya: in Turkana, drought leads to food insecurity
People are struggling to understand this rising water.
A report co-produced by the Kenyan government and the UN points to several factors… An increase in rainfall over the watersheds causing a greater influx into the lake.
Tectonic movements along the Rift Valley… affecting the level of several bodies of water in Kenya.
Or an increase in deforestation, causing more discharge into these lakes.
A risk of disruption of the rainy seasons over the next 20 years
The consequences are in any case hard to feel and the hotel sector is not at half mast.
Rolf Gloor is the owner of the Eliye Springs Hotel on the shore of Lake Turkana.
“
It was in January 2020 that it seriously started to increase.
But it didn't come suddenly, it was gradual over the year.
And that is accompanied by many storms.
That's also how we lost our two boats
,” says Rolf Gloor.
► To read also: Kenya: in Turkana, the impact of drought on livestock
Remnants of the old huts linger on the new shore.
The hotel lost 7. “
That group of palm trees on the surface over there was the beach bar.
And yet he was 100 meters from the shore.
This is the last room we tried to save.
There remains the bathroom.
You can see how the walls have been polished by the waves.
We have access to three ruins, the rest is under water somewhere…
”, he says.
Like the inhabitants of the lake, Rolf hopes that the level will stabilize.
But in one of its reports, the United Nations Environment Program warns of a risk of disruption of the rainy seasons over the next 20 years.
Which would lead to more and more flooding around Lake Turkana.
► To read also: Kenya: in Turkana, women organize themselves to meet their needs
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