Lesser Flamingos also frequent Sabaki Estuary, when it is less flooded and the waters are low in the river.
Sabaki River Estuary is the best place in Kenya to see Madagascar Pratincole, a threatened afro tropic Malagasy migrant that is infrequently seen (March-September), Wintering Palaeartic wader the Broad-billed Sandpiper, White-faced whistling ducks roost amongst the waders, which include dozens of pied avocets, whimbrel and their larger relatives the Eurasian curlews, as well as bar-tailed Godwits. They feed far out in the sea and return to roost on the Sand banksįor birdwatchers, Sabaki estuary is like walking through paradise. The mouth of the Sabaki River offers a rich diversity of bird species, including many rarities and spectacular numbers of gulls and terns. The coastal scrub and wetlands adjacent to the river mouth are an important habitat for shorebirds and other water birds. North of the estuary, there are sand dunes, a rare sight in Coast. The estuary itself covers an area of about six kilometres and has sandbanks, mudbanks, dunes and seasonal and permanent freshwater pools, mangroves and scrub. You can stand and watch this ‘fight’ for hours especially during high tides when the sea water tends to rush out and clash with the muddled yellow-like incoming river water. The ‘fight’ characterized by the force of the river and repulse by the high tide of the ocean is a sight to behold. The beauty is in watching the ‘fight’ as the turbid yellow water from the river refuses to mix with the sky-blue waters of the Indian Ocean. Sabaki is the name of the last segment of one of the longest rivers in Kenya, Athi-Galana-Sabaki.ĭespite nature hoping to unify the river and sea, there is a clear demarcation. The hidden destination mostly frequented by a few birdwatchers’ marks where a river pours its water into an ocean yet the sea has rejected the water for years. Given recent projections for increasing dissolved nutrient export from African rivers, as well as the planned damming of the Athi River, these first estimates of material fluxes from the Sabaki River provide base-line data for future research initiatives assessing anthropogenic perturbation of the Sabaki Basin.Sabaki River Estuary is located about five kilometres from Malindi town. hippopotami) may mediate the delivery of C 4 organic matter to the river during the dry season. Rapid pulses of heavily 13C-enriched POC coincided with peak concentrations of PN, ammonium, CH 4 and low dissolved oxygen saturation, suggesting that large mammalian herbivores (e.g. Regardless, sediment and OC yields were all at least equivalent or greater than reported yields for the neighbouring dammed Tana River. Our estimated sediment yield (85 Mg km -2 yr -1) is relatively low on the global scale and is considerably less than the recently reported average sediment yield of ∼ 630 Mg km -2 yr -1 for African river basins.
It has a total length of 390 kilometres, and drains an area of 70,000 square kilometres. The contribution of particulate organic C (POC) to the TSM pool indicates a wide biannual variation in suspended sediment load from OC poor (0.3 %) to OC rich (14.9 %), with the highest %POC occurring when discharge is 80 % of the total load for TSM (∼ 86 %), POC (∼ 89 %), dissolved organic carbon (DOC ∼ 81 %), PN (∼ 89 %) and particulate phosphorus (TPP ∼ 82 %), with > 50 % of each fraction exported during the long wet season (March-May). The Athi-Galana-Sabaki River is the second longest river in Kenya. Although high total suspended matter (TSM) concentrations are reported here (up to ∼ 3.8 g L -1), peak concentrations of TSM rarely coincided with peak discharge. Erratic seasonal variation was typical for most parameters, with generally poor correlation between discharge and material concentrations, and stable isotope values of C (δ 13C) and N (δ 15N). Here, we present a 2-year biogeochemical record (October 2011-December 2013) at biweekly sampling resolution for the lower Sabaki River, Kenya, and provide estimates for suspended sediment and nutrient export fluxes from the lower Sabaki River under pre-dam conditions, and in light of the approved construction of the Thwake Multipurpose Dam on its upper reaches (Athi River). 2013) at biweekly sampling resolution for the lower Sabaki River, Kenya, and provide estimates for suspended sediment and nutrient export uxes from the lower Sabaki River un-der pre-dam conditions, and in light of the approved con-struction of the Thwake Multipurpose Dam on its upper reaches (Athi River).
Inland waters impart considerable influence on nutrient cycling and budget estimates across local, regional and global scales, whilst anthropogenic pressures, such as rising populations and the appropriation of land and water resources, are undoubtedly modulating the flux of carbon (C), nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) between terrestrial biomes to inland waters, and the subsequent flux of these nutrients to the marine and atmospheric domains.
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