Over the past six months, the lakes of Kenya's Rift Valley have risen to levels not seen in at least half a century.

This follows one of the wettest periods in East Africa in living memory. Above-average temperatures in the Indian Ocean have caused consecutive years of extreme and erratic rainfall, resulting in frequent and unusual showers on the slopes and rivers that feed the lakes

"In my 60 years, I have never seen or experienced anything like this," said Richard Lichan Lekuterer, his gaze level with the tops of once-towering acacia trees poking above the water, the landscape altered beyond recognition.

Baringo and the other great lakes of Kenya's Rift Valley have risen to levels not seen in at least half a century, some by several metres or more this year alone, following months of extreme rainfall scientists have linked to a changing climate.

These tremendous bodies of water have ebbed and flowed through the ages, supporting life along the banks, but records show this latest surge is unlike any witnessed in recent memory.

"It was like the speed of the wind," said Lekuterer, who relocated deep inland when the water shot up in March and is preparing to move again as the tide inches nearer.

The phenomenon is causing immense flooding along a chain of fresh and saltwater lakes stretching 500 kilometres (310 miles) along an ancient fault from the deserts of Turkana in Kenya's north, to the fertile shores of Naivasha to the south.

Tens of thousands of people have been driven to higher ground and homes, grazing land and businesses abandoned as the lakes have unrelentingly pushed outward.

- 'Phenomenal' -

The crisis shows no sign of easing, with seasonal rains forecast this month threatening further inundation.

"It has never been this bad before," said Murray Roberts, who has lived on Baringo nearly 70 years, where he restores degraded land with his partner Dr Elizabeth Meyerhoff through their Rehabilitation of Arid Environments Trust.

Baringo has swollen about 70 square kilometres (27 square miles) since 2011 but rose sharply earlier this year, flooding their offices and a nearby dispensary.

Roberts' childhood home, and a family holiday business, disappeared beneath the surface.

Like Baringo, the surge at Lake Naivasha, some 200 kilometres south, began slowly about a decade ago, evoking little concern as the basin refilled after a long dry spell.

But it kept rising and in April suddenly accelerated, soon eclipsing the last historic high measured in the 1960s. The lake is now tracking closer to an extreme peak recorded in the early 20th century.

A monitoring station run by the Water Resources Authority (WRA), a government agency, indicates the lake rose 2.7 metres (8.9 feet) between April and June, pushing water half a kilometre inland.

"It's been phenomenal," said Guy Erskine, as hippos wallowed in his submerged hotel at Sanctuary Farm, a conservancy on Lake Naivasha his family has owned since 1978.

- 'Things have changed' -

Government scientists are exploring possible causes for the

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