Issues

Salinity testing of a groundwater fed watering hole in Lewa Wildlife Conservancy, Isiolo District, Laikipia County, north-central Kenya. Maasai counterparts are investigating water chemistry to determine the hydro-chemical signature, origin, recharge processes and travel times of a groundwater fed perennial watering hole, as part of a conservancy-wide water scarcity assessment and resilience planning initiative in the northern foothills of Mount Kenya, following severe droughts in the region. Springs discharging from Pleistocene basalts on the northern flank of Mount Kenya support year round stream flows and wetland ecosystems, which sustain one of the largest black and white rhino populations in East Africa, in addition to more than 300 zebra, 500 elephants, innumerable wildebeest and gazelle, as well as more than 40 wild cats including lions, cheetahs and leopards. The springs and local boreholes also provide drinking water supplies to more than 6000 people living within and around the conservancy.

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Photograph by: C. Carpenter, GWP Consultants LLP.