While the great wildebeest migration across East Africa’s rivers captures global attention, few notice how these travelers sustain another natural wonder — the very feather color of the vibrant pink flamingos feasting in nearby lakes.
At Kenya’s Lake Bogoria, vast flocks of flamingos gather as the dry season turns the water intensely alkaline, which creates perfect conditions for blue-green algae — flamingos’ favorite food.
An invisible nutrient chain connects the two species. Wildebeest droppings, washed into lakes by seasonal rains, act as natural fertilizer for algae blooms. These nutrients also feed plankton, creating a richer food web. The flamingos’ iconic pink coloring comes from carotenoids in the algae and brine shrimp they consume.
“Yes, the movement of flamingos and the movement of the wildebeests are more or less both evolutionary and also triggered by environmental factors such as rainfall, temperature and food availability. Movement of both the flamingos and the wildebeests already show us that there is interconnectedness between different ecosystems,” said Philista Malaki, a research scientist with the National Museums of Kenya.
Climate change now threatens this delicate balance. Lake Bogoria has shrunk dramatically compared to 10 years ago, with rising salinity reducing algae growth. Fewer wildebeests making shorter migrations mean less nutrient input to sustain the system.
The survival of East Africa’s pink flamingos depends not just on their lake habitats, but on the distant footsteps of migrating wildebeests — a reminder of nature’s invisible connections.
“So the kind of conservation planning has to be holistic, and policies also need to consider ecosystem connectedness, other than looking at them in silos, coming together with more strategies that combine different approaches for sustainable conservation,” said Malaki.
