The tourist boats that normally ply Kenya’s famed Lake Naivasha have had a different task in recent weeks: evacuating hundreds of flooded homes.

Although the lake’s level has been rising for more than a decade and has repeatedly breached its banks, locals in the modest district of Kihoto are still astonished by the scale this year.

“It hasn’t happened like this before,” said one resident, Rose Alero.

The Rift Valley lake has travelled up to 1.5 kilometres inland, say local officials, an unprecedented distance.

“People are suffering,” said Alero, a 51-year-old grandmother, adding that many neighbours were sick.

In her home, the water is waist-deep, and toilets are overflowing throughout the district.

“People are stuck… they have nowhere to go.”

Others have lost everything. Hundreds of homes are completely submerged, churches are in ruins, and police stations are underwater, surrounded by floating vegetation.

During a sudden rush of water, children were forced to leave school on makeshift rafts.

Joyce Cheche, head of disaster risk management for Nakuru County, estimates that 7,000 people have been displaced by the rising waters, which have also impacted wildlife and threaten tourism and other businesses.

The county has assisted with the transportation of victims and implemented health measures, she said, but there has been no financial compensation for now.

Workers in the flower sector — a major exporter — are refusing to show up for fear of cholera and landslides.

She also mentioned the risk of dangerous encounters with hippos, which are numerous in the lake.

“We didn’t see it coming,” said Cheche.

On the lake’s edge, the bare trunks of once-verdant acacia trees lie submerged in water that continues to spread at around a metre per day.

This phenomenon is observed in other lakes in the Rift Valley and has displaced hundreds of thousands of people.

Numerous studies attribute it primarily to increased rainfall caused by climate change.

But Kenyan geologist John Lagat, regional manager at the state-owned Geothermal Development Corporation, says the main cause is tectonics as the lakes lie along a long geological fault.

When English settlers arrived at the end of the 19th century, the lake was even larger than it is today, before shifting plates reduced its size to just one kilometre in diameter by 1921.

Further tectonic shifts meant underground outflows were increasingly sealed, trapping the water, he said, though he added that increased rainfall and land degradation caused by population growth were playing a “substantial” role in flooding, too.

“We are very worried,” said Alero in her flooded home, fearing the next rainy season.

“We can’t tell what will happen.”

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Leaders of the world’s largest economies will meet in Johannesburg on November 22 and 23 for the G20 summit, the first of its kind in Africa.

Here are five things to know about the annual meeting, which is taking place at a time of heightened global instability and tensions between Pretoria and Washington.

– First in Africa –

Founded in 1999, the Group of 20 (G20) leading economies comprises 19 countries and two regional bodies, the European Union and the African Union (AU).

Its rotating presidency will be held by South Africa this year, marking the first time the summit will be in Africa.

G20 members represent 85 per cent of the world’s GDP and about two-thirds of its population.

South Africa is the only member state from the continent, although the AU was admitted as a group in 2023.

– ‘Solidarity, Equality, Sustainability’ –

South Africa lists its priorities for its G20 presidency as strengthening disaster resilience, debt sustainability for low-income countries, financing a “just energy transition”, and harnessing “critical minerals for inclusive growth and sustainable development”.

Its theme is “Solidarity, Equality, Sustainability”.

Ranked by the World Bank as “the world’s most unequal country”, South Africa commissioned an expert team to analyse global wealth inequality and offer solutions to the summit.

The team, led by Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz, called for the creation of an intergovernmental panel to tackle the “inequality emergency” that leaves 2.3 billion people hungry worldwide.

– US boycott –

President Donald Trump said this month no US officials would attend the meeting and called South Africa’s presidency a “total disgrace”.

Trump has singled out South Africa for harsh treatment on several issues since he returned to the White House in January, notably making false claims of a “white genocide”.

He has slapped the country with 30 per cent tariffs, the highest in sub-Saharan Africa.

While a US boycott could undermine South Africa’s agenda, Pretoria said the absence was Washington’s “loss”, and it was still looking forward to a successful summit.

Argentine President Javier Milei, a Trump ally, will not attend and is sending his foreign minister.

As in previous meetings, Russian President Vladimir Putin will also not be present.

– Johannesburg in the spotlight –

The G20 leaders’ meeting will be hosted at the Nasrec Expo Centre, South Africa’s largest purpose-built conference venue.

Situated on the edge of the iconic Soweto township and chosen as a symbol of post-apartheid “spatial integration”, the venue hosts large-scale events such as the ruling African National Congress annual convention.

It is also adjacent to the stadium that hosted the 2010 FIFA World Cup final.

The event has brought attention to the plight of the city that was formed in a gold rush in the late 1880s and is now home to around six million people, according to official July estimates.

Home to Africa’s richest square mile, Johannesburg is also scarred by crumbling infrastructure, lack of services, and chronic mismanagement.

President Cyril Ramaphosa lashed out at the disrepair in March and demanded improvements. The African Development Bank in July approved a $139 million loan for upgrades.

– End of a ‘Global South’ run –

South Africa will hand the G20 to the United States, marking the end of a cycle of “Global South” presidencies following those of Brazil, India, and Indonesia.

Trump has said he plans to radically reduce the platform, which has over the years expanded to include multiple working groups and social issues beyond its original financial scope.

The US president has also questioned whether South Africa should “even be in the Gs any more”, raising questions about the G20’s future.

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PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu, on Tuesday, mourned the death of veteran journalist, author and co-founder of Newswatch magazine, Dan Agbese, calling him “an institution”.

Agbese, the Awan’Otun of Agila in Ado Local Government Area of Benue State, died in Lagos on Monday at 81.

Tinubu, in a statement on Tuesday by his Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, said Agbese’s death was a painful loss to the media industry and the nation.

Tinubu noted that Agbese and his Newswatch colleagues helped to pioneer a new era of investigative journalism in Nigeria, raising the standards for ethical and courageous reporting.

He noted, “Dan Agbese was not just a journalist; he was an institution. His pen shaped public opinion, strengthened democratic discourse, and inspired a generation of media practitioners.”

Tinubu said the veteran journalist “served Nigeria with integrity, courage, and commitment to truth and justice,” adding that “his contribution to the evolution of the modern Nigerian press will be remembered forever.”

He prayed that journalism would be guided by the Agbese legacy while he consoled with the family left behind.

In the same vein, the President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, described Agbese’s death as a major blow to the nation’s media community and the country’s democratic development.

The Senate President stated this in a condolence message on Tuesday by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Eseme Eyiboh.

Akpabio described Agbese’s demise as “a monumental loss to Nigeria’s journalism family and to all who value truth, integrity, and courageous storytelling.”

According to him, the former Editor of The New Nigerian and The Nigeria Standard belonged to a generation of journalists who set professional standards that shaped media practice for decades.

“The statement partly read, “I deeply mourn the loss of Chief Dan Agbese, a distinguished journalist who devoted his life to the pursuit of truth, accountability, and press freedom.

“His writings shaped national conscience, challenged power, and illuminated the path of democracy. His legacy will continue to inspire generations of journalists yet unborn.”

Akpabio also extended condolences to the Agbese family, the Nigeria Union of Journalists, and the Nigerian Guild of Editors.

Agbese was one of Nigeria’s most influential editors and a founding partner of Newswatch magazine alongside Dele Giwa, Ray Ekpu, and Yakubu Mohammed in 1984.

The magazine became a watershed in investigative journalism and set new benchmarks for accountability reporting.

Until April 2010, Agbese served as Editor-in-Chief of the publication, after earlier stints as Managing Editor and Deputy Editor-in-Chief.

He later wrote widely read opinion columns in Daily Trust and The Guardian, while co-running a media consultancy with Ekpu, Mohammed and Soji Akinrinade.

Agbese co-founded Newswatch in the 1980s with the late Dele Giwa, Ray Ekpu and Yakubu Mohammed.

The magazine faced confrontations with military rule, most tragically the 1986 letter-bomb assassination of Giwa and a subsequent proscription.

He is survived by his wife, Chief Rose Agbese, six children and seven grandchildren.