[7] As shown on the satellite picture at the top of this page, it is divided in three lobes: a large center one and two smaller ones at the north and south extremities.

[12] The Rift Valley lakes undergo regular (and cyclic) changes in water levels mostly in response to precipitation, which is unreliable and unpredictable.

[14] For example, in 2020 its area increased to about 4,690 ha (11,600 acres):[5] 2020 was one of the hottest years on record, but despite depressed rainfall in the short-rains season (October to December, or OND) it also saw a wetter than normal January and February because of the strong positive Indian Ocean Dipole index during that period, and enhanced rainfall during the long-rains season (March to May, or MAM) (that year, Lake Victoria rose to a new record level).

[15] However, evaporation rate is above 2500 mm,[1][14] thus inducing a water deficit and creating semi-arid conditions over most of the lower parts of the Bogoria basin.

Six major types of wetland have been defined around lake Bogoria:[16] the graminoid vegetation is interspersed with cyanobacterial and algal mats.

The blister mounds and Typha swamps have a more or less neutral pH, low conductivities and total alkalinity.

[17] The resulting waters of the Loboi Swamp are also slightly alkaline, and generally reflect the mixing of fluvial, spring and groundwater inflows.

[18] Its areas of semi-permanent or seasonal standing water are dominated by Typha domingensis and also have some Leersia hexandra, Ipomoea aquatica, and other taxa.

The Kesubo Floodplain Marshes are seasonally flooded and lie between the rift valley boundary faults, to the east, and a small horst block, to the west.

[18] These lie near the Lake Bogoria National Reserve entrance, to the south of the Loboi swamp, and at the limit dividing faulted volcanic uplands and colluvial-alluvial sediments.

The areas immediately adjacent to the vents and in nearby streamlets commonly include microbial mats of Phormidium, Pseudanabaena, Spirulina, Synechococcus and Calothrix, but are devoid of macrophytes.

To the west, trachyphonolites (uncommon extrusive igneous rock) are cut through by numerous gently sloping tilt-blocks; rivers oriented north-south feed delta lobes, where spring-fed wetlands have developed.

The cores attest of many environmental fluctuations during the past 30 000 years, linked to regional climatic changes and to local tectonic and hydrological conditions.

[1] They originate from inflow from the Sandai and Emsos rivers, and from about 200 alkaline hot springs that are present at three onshore sites: Loburu, Chemurkeu, and a southern group (Ng'wasis, Koibobei, Losaramat).

Sediment cores from the lake floor have shown that freshwater conditions existed for several periods during the past 10,000 years.

60 hot springs that discharge on Loburu delta plain on the western margin of the lake, travertine appears at 20% of them.

[29] The terrestrial vegetation that immediately surrounds the lake is mainly a thorny bushland dominated by Acacia, Salvadora, Balanites and Commiphora species.

Hot springs generally have a low diversity of diatoms, with variable abundance; they commonly include Anomoeoneis sphaerophora var.

In other wetland types, distinctive diatom floras variously include Fragilaria brevistriata, Gomphonema parvulum, Navicula tenelloides, Nitzschia communis, N. latens, N. sigma, Rhopalodia gibberula, and Stauroneis anceps.

It is an important stopover site for a population of up to 1.5 million migratory birds, notably for the lesser flamingo (Phoeniconaias minor).

the main food for lesser flamingo is Spirulina platensis, which is abundantly produced in the lakes of that region; but around the years that saw this heavy mortality toll, there had been an important increase of toxic cyanobacteria, especially during periods of algal blooms; and the symptoms of dying flamingos were similar to those of algal toxicity.

In 2009 the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights (ACHPR) made a landmark ruling, ordering the Kenyan government to restore the Endorois to their historic land, compensate them from losses and sharing with them the profits from the Lake Bogoria game reserve.

But in 2022, Minority Rights Group reported that that decision had not yet been implemented and has many Endorois were still consigned to 'severe poverty, illiteracy, poor health and a life of destitution.'

In 2024 the Endorois allied with the Ogiek people — who have themselves been initially evicted in 1920 from their ancestral grounds in the Mau Forest (south-west Kenya) by the British colonial government.

As of 2024, not only the government has so far failed to implement the court's orders as in the case of the Endorois, but has persisted in further evictions imposed in November 2023 by the Kenyan authorities during the visit of Britain's King Charles III.

On 6 February 2024, both ethnies demonstrated together in Nairobi with the support of the International Network for Economic, social and cultural rights to demand the government implement the rulings.

[29] The lake and its surroundings attract 200,000 tourists per year, due to the wildlife, the hot springs, the spectacular cliffs and escarpments and the rich indigenous culture.