The Names of Major Landforms in Kenya
Kenya lies in East Africa on the shores of the Indian Ocean. Comparable in size to Texas or France, the nation is home to a great degree of geographical diversity. Moving from east to west, coastal beaches become flat, grassy plains, which rise into plateaus, giving way to a desert in the north and mountains in the south, with a deep gorge cutting through the heart of the country.
Mount Kenya, the country's highest mountain at 17, 058 feet, is also the second-highest peak on the entire African continent, behind only Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. Despite its equatorial location, its forested slopes give way to glaciers and year-round snow cover. Although Mount Kenya's summit requires a difficult, technical climb, a smaller sister peak, Point Lenana, draws less-experienced hikers, and the surrounding forests have wildlife-viewing opportunities.
Great Rift Valley
The longest trench on the planet's surface, this deep depression extends from Mozambique all the way through Jordan, a distance of nearly 4,000 miles. The rift is the geological boundary between two tectonic plates which are slowly tearing away from each other. The Great Rift Valley features steep, wall-like cliffs, separated by valleys 30 to 80 miles wide. It runs the entire length of Kenya, dipping to 6,000 feet below the surrounding landscape in some spots, such as the Lake Naivasha area. Freshwater and alkaline lakes fill certain portions of the rift, and dramatic escarpments exist in other segments. Much of the Great Rift Valley in Kenya is fringed by mountains, some of which are volcanic. Most organized trips heading north from Nairobi explore a piece of this expanse --- the Kerio Valley, for example, has become a popular stop --- and hikers can see even more via a 96-mile, "trans-rift" trail that opened in early 2011.
This 62,000-square-mile flat, sandy expanse lies in northern Kenya. The name "Chalbi" in the local language means "bare and salty." Today the hottest and most-arid region in the country, the desert was filled by a large lake 10,000 years ago. Still, during the rare periods of heavy rain, large pools of water collect, making the desert into a shallow pond. Trekking companies lead overland tours to this remote region of the country --- the route from Marsabit to Kalacha or Lake Turkana passes through a swath of this unique ecosystem.
Lake Victoria, covering 26,828 square miles, is the world's second-largest freshwater lake, bigger in size than the state of West Virginia. It covers portions of southwestern Kenya, northern Tanzania and southern Uganda. The mighty Nile River flows northward out the lake. The Lake Victoria region is one of the most densely-populated areas in all of Africa, as its shores are home to lush tropical vegetation and abundant wildlife. Visitors come here to bird-watch and fish for Nile perch, as well as enjoy the less-visited animal preserves on the lake's islands.
Also called Lake Rudolf, this long, narrow, 2,473-square-mile lake lies in northern Kenya just west of the Chalbi Desert and stretches into southern Ethiopia. With its alkaline, turquoise-colored water, Lake Turkana is one of the largest lakes filling the Great Rift Valley. It is particularly famous for the plethora of ancient hominid fossils found along its shores. The lake is remote and difficult to reach, but it does attract some visitors for wildlife viewing --- the lake has the world's single-largest crocodile population --- and the opportunity to interact with indigenous cultures, particularly in the village of Loiyangalani.
- Anup Shah/Digital Vision/Getty Images
- Attribution: CIAT; License: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license
- Attribution: No machine-readable author provided. Hdahlmo~commonswiki assumed (based on copyright claims).; License: Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Generic license
- Attribution: R. Haussmann, Cesar Hidalgo, et.al. Creative Commons Attribution - Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. See permission to share image on web at: http://atlas.media.mit.edu/about/permissions/; License: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license
- Attribution: DFID - UK Department for International Development; License: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license