KENYA: BUSH FIRES have destroyed swathes of one of Kenya's most famous national parks. Smoke was still rising yesterday from Lake Nakuru National Park, home to more than a million flamingos.
Rangers however said the worst was over after three days of blazing fires fanned by strong winds.
Charles Muthui, the park's senior warden, said there was still a risk of embers reigniting fires, particularly as buffalo dung could continue burning for days.
"At least last night we all had a good sleep. Now we have men there with a water bowser putting out the last stumps that are burning," he said.
Lake Nakuru National Park is one of the must-see destinations for Kenya's safari tourists.
The lake's alkaline waters are rich in blue-green algae, making it a favourite feeding ground for lesser flamingos.
At times as many as 1.5 million congregate around its salt-encrusted shore, giving the water a shimmering sheen of pink when viewed from a distance.
It is also a sanctuary for the highly endangered black rhino, and leopards can sometimes be spotted asleep in trees.
There was none of the usual tour vans yesterday, only rangers trying to extinguish the last few flames licking charred tree stumps.
"The worst is over because there's simply nothing left to burn," said Jayne Nguatah, front office manager of Sarova Lion Hill Game Lodge, as she sat in the hotel's empty bar.
After two months of political and ethnic strife in Kenya, she said it was yet another blow to the region's embattled tourist industry. "When people imagine the place to be burnt, they will not come here," she said. "We didn't need this."
The alarm was first raised on Thursday, as a bush fire on the neighbouring Soysambu estate - owned by the fifth Baron Delamere - crossed into the park. It was started by someone burning litter. The flames, fanned by a strong wind, spread easily across land parched at the end of the dry season.
Rangers, helped by soldiers, volunteers from Nakuru town and road-grading equipment from a nearby construction site, cleared firebreaks and brought the blaze under control within hours. However a second fire, started by someone burning branches just outside the park, erupted the following day.