Current view: Text account
Site description (2001 baseline):
Site location and context
Lake Turkana lies across the Ethiopia–Kenya border in South Omo Zone. Omo Rate is the closest settlement, 70 km north of Lake Turkana. Omo Rate is the lowest ferry-crossing on the Omo river and comprises a police post and a village of the Geleb people. The lake takes its name from the Turkana people who live round it (although it has previously been called Rudolph). The main part of the lake is in Kenya. Only the northern arc with about 52 km of shoreline is within Ethiopia. There is no direct access by road to the western shores of Lake Turkana from the Ethiopian side. The maximum depth of the lake is c.114 m. The water-level in the lake is largely determined by the rainfall in south-west Ethiopia. The main source of water is thus the Omo river that accounts for 98% of the riverine inflow. Before reaching the lake, the Omo river forms a wide delta where much of the silt load is deposited. Very little is known about the vegetation and flora on the Ethiopian side of the lake—the trees and shrubs have not been documented. The Omo delta could be expected to support riverine forest or woodland. The lake is said to have extensive reedbeds; whether
Typha spp. or sedges and rushes or both is not known, but
Cyperus papyrus is apparently absent from the lake. South Omo is one of the most culturally diverse regions of Ethiopia. The people of the area are hunter-gatherers, fishermen and pastoralists. An attempt to establish a mechanized farm for growing cotton on the Omo flood-plain has been abandoned. Some crops are grown on the levees beside the river upstream of the lake.
See Box for key species. Lake Turkana is clearly important for birds, with over 350 species recorded from the Kenyan side. However, the Ethiopian portion is poorly known: 64 species were recorded during surveys in February 1996, including two
Circus macrourus. Other species of note include: 750
Sterna albifrons/
saundersi,
S. caspia (common) and 300–800
Glareola pratincola.
Non-bird biodiversity: The lake supports 48 fish species, of which 10 are endemic and eight have restricted distributions.
Pressure/threats to key biodiversity
Omo Rate is associated with an abandoned cotton farm that was established on 1,350 ha of land. If communications with the lower Omo river are improved, attempts may be made to re-start this farm. Large-scale cotton farms make use of large quantities of chemicals, particularly pesticides and fertilizers. The effects on the water in the Omo delta and upper section of Lake Turkana would need to be carefully monitored. The pastoralist groups in the lower Omo valley and around Lake Turkana keep large numbers of cattle, and overgrazing is a potential threat for the area. Also, as a result of disturbances in Somalia, Somali people and their animals have spread along the border area with Kenya where they have come into conflict for resources with the local peoples. On the Kenyan side of the lake there are important archaeological sites where early hominid fossils have been found, and there is some conservation activity. Important fossil deposits in the lower Omo valley also hold remains of mankind’s earliest ancestors dating back over two million years, but it appears that little is being done to conserve these sites.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Lake Turkana and Omo delta (Ethiopia). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/lake-turkana-and-omo-delta-iba-ethiopia on 23/11/2024.
