What squeezes a giraffe? In this case and place, greenhouses do. From Hell’s Gate to Lake Naivasha in Kenya, a large mixed migration takes place, which has to pass along a corridor between flower and vegetable growers. Zebras, gazelles, even hippos and much else, especially giraffes must also pass a geothermal power station, belching steam, and a busy road, before they can find green food and good water. And water is the key to the whole challenge for both wildlife and people.
Lake Naivasha is in trouble and some say it’s now polluted waters may dry out completely. But it is still very beautiful and supports a great variety of wildlife. It needs help if it is to survive with all that goes with it – or to it. The corridor between the greenhouses where ‘animals have right of way’ is a lifeline for giraffes and this story features these unlikely, amazing animals. Their future, to some extent, is in the hands of the flower growers who export millions of blooms to the big, rich, supermarkets of Europe. They employ thousands of workers and there is a thriving tourist business around the lake.
But all this is dependent on its’ future. There is a plan to save it, with a budget. SO in this battle, ‘green in tooth and claw’ between the big supermarkets, the consumer and the consumed, will the lake and the giraffes survive?
Next time you pick up a bunch of pretty flowers at the supermarkets, you may understand the real cost of a rose. Who will pay the price of saving a lake?