Kenya's lesser flamingos are fading in both colour and numbers as rising water levels transform the alkaline Rift Valley lakes (a chain of soda-rich lakes running through eastern Africa) into increasingly freshwater environments. The shift is destroying the cyanobacteria that the birds feed on — the same algae whose carotenoid pigments give flamingos their characteristic pink hue — forcing flocks to abandon lakes such as Elementaita and Bogoria in search of food elsewhere. Conservationists warn the birds are acting as an early warning signal for wider ecological stress, with rainfall changes, pollution, and human encroachment all threatening one of Africa's most celebrated wildlife spectacles.