About the Tana River Delta

biodiversity - rare/endangered species - pastures for local communities

Kweli Sukari ya Tana ni Tamu? - Is Tana's Sugar Really Sweet?

This series of film clips examines the potential impacts of the Tana sugar plantations on biodiversity and local communities.  Watch videos

Map of the Tana Delta - by Olivier Hamerlynck & Stéphanie DuvailThe Tana River is 440 miles long and is Kenya’s longest river. It rises in Mount Kenya and the Aberdare mountain range in central Kenya. Its delta is amongst the top three of Kenya's largest and most important freshwater wetland systems with a significant local community of cattle herders and others dependent on it and who have done so for centuries.

The Delta covers an area of 130,000ha (320,000 acres) and is a vast  and diverse patchwork of habitats including savannah, semi-arid Acacia thorn bush, coastal forests, grasslands, beaches, dunes, lakes, mangrove swamps and permanent and seasonal fresh water pools or channels. Local people live by the seasons, adapting to the regular floods that keep the area fertile through the year. It is situated in the Coast Province of Kenya.

Click on the map to enlarge it or download the pdf (application/pdf, 148.1 kB, info)

Rich diversity of wildlife

Little Egret on Tana River

As a wildlife refuge the Delta is a particularly important site for thousands of breeding birds as well as a feeding site for many thousands more.  It is internationally important for the survival of 22 species of bird, including the Near-Threatened Malindi Pipit Anthus melindae and the Endangered Basra Reed Warbler Acrocephalus griseldis "...making the delta one of the key sites in the country for waterbird conservation” (BirdLife International).  The Tana delta also supports one of the very few breeding sites for colonial waterbirds in Kenya that attracts herons and storks from over much of the East African region.

In collaboration with the National Museums of Kenya, A Rocha Kenya has been monitoring waterfowl numbers on the delta to provide data for the National Waterfowl Counts.  Additional data were collected in February 2008 by Olivier Hamerlynck to assess whether the delta could qualify as a RAMSAR Wetland of International Importance.  To view the data please click on the links below.  The associated map also indicates where the RAMSAR waterbird survey was carried out.

In addition, NatureKenya has produced species lists of the birds observed along the Tana River in March 2008 by Fleur Ng'weno.  These can be viewed from the links below:

Flock of ruff flying over the Tana River Delta

The Delta is extremely rich in fish with more than 40 species recorded in it and being a major breeding site for a number of them. Fishermen supply coastal markets but also city outlets in Nairobi. Fishing is an important source of food and employment, which could be seriously affected by large-scale development. It is also home to an endemic reptile 

Three sharks species seen in the Delta are protected by CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora). Marine turtles nest on the Delta’s 22-mile coastal strip. The fluctuating salinity of the river mouth creates habitats for high numbers of snails and other invertebrates, in turn luring up to 15,000 water birds in a single day.

It has a wide diversity of mammals living within it including elephant, lion, at least 800 hippo and even Wild Dog have been seen there in late 2007. The adjacent Tana River Primate National Reserve was established in 1976 to protect the endemic and critically endangered Tana River red colobus and Tana crested mangabey, both primates. Some Tana River red colobus are also found in remnant forests in the Delta.

The Tana Delta is also part of the Coastal Forests of Eastern Africa Hotspot and is regarded as being of international importance for wildlife.

For a copy of NatureKenya's brief on the biodiversity value of the Tana River Delta, including its endangered species, please click here (application/pdf, 79.0 kB, info).

Rare and endangered species

As part of the brief submitted to NEMA on the Tana River Delta Biodiversity, NatureKenya also recorded the Rare and Endangered species of birds, plants, fish, amphibians and reptiles.  Please click on the link below to download the extract from this report.

Important pastures & agricultural land for local communities

The Tana River Delta has been used as a critical pasture for many thousands of head of cattle by local Orma and Wardei people for centuries. During the dry season these people rely entirely on the delta for good pasture for their cattle which would otherwise starve to death in the surrounding coastal bush where there is no water. The delta provides good grass throughout the dry season and cattle numbers can reach in excess of 60,000 of which 20,000 stay throughout the year. Significant numbers of people survive off them.

Cattle grazing in the Tana River Delta

There are also large area of rice paddies and other agricultural activities being carried out along the edges of the Delta. Crops grown in the Delta include rice, maize, mango, cassava, bananas, melons, beans, peas and many other vegetables. Most farmers belong to the Pokomo ethnic group.  Fishermen include the Bajuni people and migrants from other parts of Kenya. The Tana River Delta is a lifeline to some 30,000 farmers, pastoralists and fishermen as well as minority hunter and gatherer communities collectively called the Wasanya

Sources of further information

Links to further information on the Tana River Delta
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