Where rhythms of nature are in perfect harmony

By Maore Ithula

Many factors make Lake Magadi unique. But its ability to cushion the Maasai community -  who live around it - from the effects of climate change, is perhaps one of the lake's most remarkable feats.

This is how it goes: during the many erratic and prolonged dry spells, pastoralists from this area sell off their animals to seek employment as casual labourers in the salt mines at the Magadi Soda Company.

When it rains, the change of climate inevitably halts salt production, and the Maasai restock and return to the grazing fields to herd their livestock.

Michael Odera, the managing director

The soda ash factory. Photos: Maore Ithula/Standard

Michael Odera, the Magadi Soda Company Managing Director says the company employs up to 800 casual labourers any time the weather is dry.

Each of the casuals takes home anything between Sh800 and Sh1,600 every working day, Odera explains.

John ole Kipenju, a moran, confirms they receive such high wages. “Salt harvesting cushions us from the adverse effects of droughts that are quite common in this part of the world. In a day, a strong man can earn up to Sh1,600 after eight hours of toil,” says Kipenju.

Another worker, Benson Katitia, concurs, saying unlike other pastoralists around the country people from Magadi do not need to be coerced by the State to sell off their animals during the drought.

In Magadi it is only sensible.

“It is true we make a small fortune during dry periods from garnering salt. We consider ourselves blessed in a way. Most people save their earnings to restock their animals when it rains. Others invest in whatever else they see best for themselves,” Katitia explains.

Ole Kipenju is one of the dozens of morans found by The Standard last week looking for the manual work at Magadi Soda.

Employment opportunities provided by Mother Nature help almost everybody. Women, children and older men from the community provide support services for the young Morans who garner the salt. Women sell foodstuffs to the Morans while children and older men take care of the remaining livestock, which are fed with fodder bought using proceeds from salt garnering.

When The Standard visited Magadi, salt production had just resumed after stalling since April, following the flash floods that hit the country.

“As a company we are happy that our neighbours can get direct benefits from our operations. Indeed, it is our deliberate attempt not to automate salt production partly because it is not our core business, and partly because we want to preserve these jobs for youths from the area,” Odera explains.

He says during wet seasons, salt production operations are suspended because rainwater dilutes the salt solution from which it is extracted, thus delaying the crystallisation of the salt.

The delay would otherwise make the exercise uneconomical, he says.

During wet periods, Odera goes on, the weather is too dull, thus preventing evaporation.

John Ndonga, the Magadi Soda Laboratory Manager and Chief Chemist, says salt is produced through a two-stage solar evaporation process from “liquor” pumped out of wells dug in the lake.

In salt production, liquor is the unrefined mixture of salt and soda ash. The liquor is flooded into ponds to a depth of between 30 and 40 millimetres and left to evaporate using solar energy.

Continuous process

Evaporation from such shallow depths results in soda ash deposits at the bottom of the pond, with crystals of salt settling at the top. The thin layer of salt so produced has to be garnered (brushed and scraped into piles manually) and later transported to the salt plant for further treatment, grading and packaging, he says.

“This process takes a week to kick off, after which it becomes a continuous process as long as the sky is clear and it does not rain,” Ndonga says.

Soda ash production at Magadi, Ndonga points out, is completely automated and, therefore, is not affected by weather changes.

“Unlike salt production, manufacture of soda ash is faced with less weather-related challenges,” he says.

Odera says the company produces some 30,000 tonnes of salt every year from the lake. This product is used for livestock consumption and for industrial uses like tanning, caustic and chloride production.

He says locally, the two salts produced at Lake Magadi are sold at Sh300 for every 50 kg.

The Magadi Soda Company has an average annual turnover of more than $90 million (Sh7.2 billion) from the sale of soda ash alone, which accounts for 99 percent of its commercial activities at the lake. Salt production accounts for only one per cent.