内容摘要：Water and patches of green are visible near Mertarvik, Alaska Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

Water and patches of green are visible near Mertarvik, Alaska Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

Aslori walks on a flooded village pathway in Mondoliko, Central Java, Indonesia, Monday, Sept. 5, 2022. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives support from several private foundations. See more about AP’s climate initiative

. The AP is solely responsible for all content.KAMPI ya SAMAKI, Kenya (AP) — Winnie Keben had felt blessed to be raising her children in her husband’s childhood home in the community of Kampi ya Samaki - just over a quarter mile (500 meters) from the shoreline of Lake Baringo.The vast freshwater lake buzzing with birds and aquatic life in the semi-arid volcanic region of Kenya’s Great Rift Valley had long been an oasis. It attracted fishers and international tourists to the community, about a five-hour drive from Nairobi.

But over the past decade Lake Baringo has doubled in size, due primarily to heavy rainfall tied to climate change, according to scientists, and its fast-rising waters are increasingly becoming a menace. The expanding lake has swallowed up homes and hotels and brought in crocodiles and hippos that have turned up on people’s doorsteps and in classrooms.“It was not like this in the past,” Keben said. “People would move when the water moves, but it would go back soon enough.”

Keben had never imagined leaving.

Then the lake took away almost everything.On a recent day in July, when Esther and her friends spotted elephant footprints on the way from school, they reported it to a wildlife ranger. The animals had cut across a farming field and bush path that they regularly use to and from school. A few days prior, a child was severely injured from a crocodile attack.

Increased wildlife activity near people mean that children in Zimbabwe are at risk of attacks by animals while walking long distances to and from school. Authorities and parents hope an initiative that teaches them how to identify dangers could mitigate the risk. (AP video: Tonderai Gonorenda/Producer: Nqobile Ntshangase)Although no fatalities have been reported, Esther and her friends are still cautious.

“We usually walk in groups to feel safer,” said Esther.Since last year, the privately-owned Save Valley Conservancy and the country’s parks agency have been running a program for school-age children on how to recognize danger signs and how to coexist with wildlife. Dozens of students such as Esther are now able to identify different wildlife footprints, animal sounds and can read wind direction by the blowing sand and know how and when to take cover.