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The Great Rift Valley

The Great Rift Valley is part of an African continental fault system, which runs 600km from Jordan to Mozambique and is, along with the Great Wall of China, one of the few of earth’s feature that can be clearly seen from the moon. It was formed some 20 million years ago when the earth's crust weakened and tore itself apart, thus creating a jagged rift, thousands of kilometers long, across the African continent. As the earth split, the land on either side of the ‘rift’ erupted into contorted volcanic craters, while the land in the centre gradually sank down into it, forming low flat plains. 

The Gregorian Rift

Sometimes known as the Gregorian Rift, after the Scottish explorer John Walter Gregory, who first named this geographical phenomena, the East African Rift forms Kenya’s most important topographical feature; not only splitting the country down the middle, but also acting as a natural divide between east and west. 

Starting at Lake Turkana, in the far north of the country, the Kenyan Rift is up to 100km wide in places, while its floor rises from around 200m at Lake Turkana to around 1900m above sea level at Lake Naivasha in the south. In its cleft lie a string of alternately glittering and mud-brown lakes, some freshwater, some radically alkaline; along its western wall run a series of towering escarpments; the Mau, Nguruman and Elgeyo Escarpments, while to the east rise the Aberdare Mountains and Mount Kenya. Dotted along its length are vast volcanoes, such as Mount Longonot, the Menengai Crater and Mount Suswa. Finally, within the cradle of the Rift Valley floor are rivers, arid plains and verdant agricultural pastures. 

A migratory corridor

Historically migratory people have trekked down the great highway of the Rift for three thousand years; some from the banks of the Nile, some from the highlands of Ethiopia. Best known of the immigrants these days are the red-cloaked Maasai, whose life style has remained essentially unchanged for centuries. Until the 1900s, the Maasai dominated the Rift and are still one of its most memorable features. With the arrival of the Europeans, however, the Maasai lost much of their land, many drifting south to the flanks of Kilimanjaro. The very fabric of Kenya’s history, the Rift hosts numerous sites of historical interest, such as the Menengai Crater, Olorgesaille Prehistoric Site and Hyrax Hill. For the visitor, however, perhaps the most panoramic venues are Lake Nakuru National Park, home to two million flamingoes, Hell’s Gate National Park, on the shores of Lake Naivasha; Lakes Bogoria, Baringo and Turkana, in the northern rift; and lake Magadi in the southern rift. Apart from Naivasha, Nakuru and the string of towns up the western escarpment (Njoro, Elburgon and Molo); the area contains relatively few places larger than a village. Most of the accommodation, therefore, is found on the shores of the lakes, or within the national parks and reserves. 

Places of historical, cultural and tourism interest 

The Menengai Crater

A colossal crater (2,242M) outside Nakuru that offers excellent views, walks and picnic spots, the Menengai Crater was the site of one of the great Maasai clan battles of the 19the century. Here, the Ilpurko fought the Ilaikipiak and it is said that the haunted cries of those slain in battle can still be heard around the crater, which the locals believe to be haunted. 

Hyrax Hill

One of Kenya’s most interesting prehistoric sites, Hyrax Hill (3.5KM out of the town of Nakuru) is a prehistoric settlement that was discovered by Louis Leakey in 1926 and excavated by Mary Leakey in 1937-38. It features 13 so-called ‘pit-dwellings’ formed into ‘villages’, the excavation of which has yielded numerous pottery shards and tools made from obsidian and bone. There is also an Iron-Age ‘fort’ or prehistoric look-out post, several Neolithic burial mounds, and a number of ‘Bao’ games (prehistoric backgammon) carved into the rocks. It is thought that the inhabitants were semi-nomad Sirikwa or Nandi-speaking herders. 

Lake Baringo

Dramatic freshwater Lake Baringo lies between the two walls of the Rift Valley in the far north of the country. Offering a peaceful oasis in the midst of the dry-thorn country that typifies the northern Rift, its waters are heavily silted with the red topsoil of the region and change colour – from yellow to coral to purple – according to the time of day. Dotted with tiny islands, many of which host tented camps, the lake is the home of the Njemps people, who live by an unusual mix of livestock herding and fishing, breaking the taboo of eating fish, which is the norm of most pastoralists. Famous for paddling around the lake in their tiny half-submerged boats, made from the saplings of the fibrous ambatch tree, which grows at the southern end of the lake, the Njemps host guided walks and village visits. Hosting a staggering 448 species of birds, the lake and the surrounding cliffs make Baringo one of Kenya’s most famous ornithological areas with many people visiting only for the bird-watching. Other pursuits include boating, water-skiing and walking. It is not recommended that visitors swim in the lake which hosts large populations of crocodiles and is also prone to the presence of the small snails that cause the waterbourne Bilharzia disease. 

North of Baringo the Rift features the Kerio Valley, the Elgeyo Escarpment and the beautiful Cherangani Hills. 

For further information on the Rift visit the following pages

Hells Gate National Park

Lake Naivasha

Mount Longonot

Lake Nakuru National Park

Sibiloi National Park

Lake Elmenteita

Lake Bogoria National Reserve

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