Lake Naivasha, Kenya

Click on Image to Enlarge  (JPG) Lake Naivasha, Kenya (451,319 bytes) ( 1,666 x 1,772 )

If you live in Europe and buy roses, there is a good chance that they were grown in KenyaÔÇöspecifically, in one of the colossal greenhouses that blot out the once wild shores of Lake Naivasha, 90km north-west of Nairobi. Some 25% of EuropeÔÇÖs cut flowers come from Kenya. After a tentative start in the 1980s the industry is now the countryÔÇÖs third-largest foreign-currency earner, bringing in $120m a year. But the recent violence in Kenya is having a major impact on the flower growers. A local trade union says 3,000 of the 30,000 workers employed in NaivashaÔÇÖs flower farms have abandoned their jobs. Kenya emerged as a flower power when Israel scaled down its own industry. It has since lost business to neighboring Ethiopia, which offers tax breaks and better security, but NaivashaÔÇÖs perfect intensity of sunlight and days of near-constant length should keep it on top. The ASTER image was acquired February 2, 2008, covers an area of 25 x 26.6 km, and is located near 0.8 degrees south latitude, 36.4 degrees east longitude.

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Lake Naivasha, Kenya Type: (JPG) Size: (451,319 bytes) Resolution ( 1,666 x 1,772 )