It has always been business as usual as investors, residents and other traders scrambled to set up businesses around the lucrative shores of Lake Victoria. Prices of parcels of land around the lake have soared with crops planted in large swathes of adjacent land as residents continued to make a living from the natural resource.And with no warning, many of those human activities are now submerged in water.
Thousands are staring at huge losses as swelling waters continue to displace homes and businesses. Crops, too, have been destroyed and all leisure activities along the shores brought to an abrupt end.So dire is the situation that several towns and mushrooming trade centres along the lake, including parts of Kisumu City, are facing a threat of being destroyed. Experts and villagers claim their current situation was last witnessed 57 years ago when similar swelling in 1963 destroyed villages.
Raging floods, which have left trails of destruction and swept away villages, has only worsened and is slowly turning into a calamity. Several beaches, fish-landing sites, sporting facilities and luxurious homes have been submerged as water levels continue to rise.
The situation has also brought a fresh human-wildlife conflict as the swelling waters destroyed breeding and feeding zones of hippos, which are now forced out to feed in broad daylight just next to homes.In the last two weeks, officials from Kenya Wildlife Service have killed three hippos in Kisumu after straying into residential areas and threatening the lives of several people.
The lake also taking back what belongs to her .
Posted by Rarieda.com on Saturday, April 25, 2020
