![]() ![]() It is high water, which, I may say is, no coincidence in planning, as the birds congregate at high watermark on the high tide before dispersing for feeding as the tide ebbs.Īnd, yes, there is a guide on site who says his name is Mtawali and he can show us the birds. The first person we come across to ask directions is David, the Driftwood Club receptionist, who lives in the village and could have directed us before we set off had he known of the expedition.Īli’s Pajero then comes into its own for the next 2 kilometres and then we are at the dunes with the river to our right and the roar of the surf ahead of us on the distant coral reef. Nor does Ali know the elusive track, it transpires, as we set off on a glorious October Sunday morning just after dawn, on the five kilometre tarmac drive to Sabaki Bridge where twenty minutes later our problems are solved. What is more, Ali has a Mitsubishi Pajero, albeit a left hand drive model which had probably been a bargain when imported second-hand some years ago. There may be a birding guide at the river mouth is the other comment.Ī solution presents itself in Ali, the resident taxi driver at The Driftwood Club, and the base for my birding safaris in the Malindi area in recent years. The KWS advice is to get yourself to Sabaki Bridge village and ask from there. I telephone the Kenya Wildlife Service office at Gede for an update, who were helpful, if a little imprecise, in so much as the track is now driveable with a 4 wheel-drive vehicle but is un-signposted on the main road. The older guide books suggest leaving your vehicle in the public car park at Sabaki Bridge and walking eastwards down a track for 2 kilometres, where after passing through a chicken farm, the sand dunes and lagoons are only a short distance ahead, not I feel an attractive proposition when the return journey has to be made after an early morning visit, in the heat of the day. In October, particularly, the recently arrived Palaearctic migrants waders congregate in their tens of thousands, some before dispersing southwards down the coast, but many are content to winter in this coastal food larder, mingling with the resident herons, egrets, gulls, terns and the numerous other species that frequent the lagoons, reed-beds, and sand-dunes adjacent to the river mouth.īut to return to the initial challenge, how does one get to the Sabaki River Mouth, a journey I have attempted on more than one occasion in the past, without success. This convergence in turn provides one of the richest feeding grounds for birds in Africa and the Sabaki River Mouth has rightly taken its place as one of the Important Bird Areas (IBA’s) in Kenya. The Sabaki River Mouth is where the Athi, Tsavo and Galana rivers that rise and converge in upcountry Kenya ultimately disgorge their heavily silted waters into the coral reef fringed seawater of the Indian Ocean five kilometres north of Malindi. I have also always believed in the old adage that if you want to get something done the best way to achieve it is to do it yourself. Deposition of silty sediments occurred from mid-continental shelf seaward.I have always wanted to walk the Sabaki River Mouth. ![]() The lowest mean value of suspended solids was 0.010 g/l, while the highest mean value was 1.85 g/l. Generally, total suspended solids levels decreased both along and across shore. The plume moves both to the north and south of Sabaki river mouth, depending on the monsoon direction. The plume of total suspended solids facilitates along-shore transport more than across shore transport, and travels beyond the North and South limits of the study area at solids concentration levels of 0.010 to 0.500 g/l and 0.010 to 0.900 g/l respectively. During the study period, Malindi-Mambrui beach experienced net sediment gain as most heavy sediment grains from the river mouth were deposited along the beach and inter-tidal zone. Grain size decreases both across and along shore and ranges from medium to very fine. Sediments in the study area are moderately well to very well sorted. The highest sediment discharge occurs during the N.E monsoon period, attaining a range of 1.11x10 super(5) to 2.27x10 super(5) tons. The Sabaki River discharges 1.18x10 super(6) tons 2.47x10 super(7) tons of sediments per annum. Suspended solids, bottom sediment grain size distribution and mineralogy,and seasonal sediment discharge rates were measured. Abstract The study aimed at investigating transport and deposition of sediments discharged by the Sabaki River into the Indian Ocean.
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