Lake Turkana formerly known as Lake Rudolf is one of the Rift Valley lakes located in northern Kenya with its far northern end crossing into Ethiopia. It is the world’s largest permanent desert lake and the world’s largest alkaline lake. The rocks of the surrounding area are predominantly volcanic with the central Island being an active volcano, emitting vapors. On-shore and off-shore winds can be extremely strong as the lake warms and cools more slowly than the land. The areas around here have become famous as one of the greatest source of man’s earliest existence. The lake retains its wild character due to temperature, aridity
and geographic inaccessibility. On the flats Nile crocodiles are found in great abundance while the rocky shores are home to scorpions and carpet vipers. Although the lake and its environs have been popular for expeditions of every sort under the tutelage of guides, rangers and experienced persons, they certainly must be considered hazardous for unguided tourists. Lake Turkana National Park is now listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Sibiloi National Park lies on the lake's eastern shore, while Central Island National Park and South Island National Park lie in the lake. Both are known for their crocodiles.
Lake Bogoria
Lake Bogoria, like lakes Nakuru, Elementaita, Magadi (further south in the Rift Valley), and Logipi (to the north), is home at times to one of the world’s largest populations of lesser flamingos. Other available birdlife include fish eagles, pelicans, avocets, steppe eagles and game which include warthog, hyenas buffalos and dik dik among others. The lake’s primary attraction is a series of furiously erupting hot springs and geysers which are simply breathtaking whilst a mirage of pink flamingos tint the lakes shores. It is a saline, alkaline lake that lies in a volcanic region in a half-graben basin south of Lake Baringo, Kenya, a little north of the equator.
Lake Nakuru
Nakuru means “Dust or Dusty Place” in Maasai language. Lake Nakuru is one of the Rift Valley soda lakes and lies to the south of Nakuru in central Kenya and well protected by Lake Nakuru National Park. The Park was created in 1961 around Lake Nakuru, near Nakuru. It is situated on the floor of the Rift Valley and is world heritage site famous for it’s over one million plus pink flamingo population which feeds on algae and home of over 450 plus bird species. The surface of the shallow lake is often hardly recognizable due to the continuity shifting mass of pink. The number of flamingos on the lake varies with water and food conditions and the best vantage point is from Baboon Cliff. Also of interest is an area of 188 km around the
lake fenced off as a sanctuary to protect Rothschildgiraffes and black rhinos. The park now has more than 25 rhinos, one of the largest concentrations in the country, so the chances of spotting these survivors are good. It has other variety of wildlife species which include the leopard, waterbuck, impala, eland, zebra and ostrich. It is also well known for its very large pythons.
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Lake Baringo
Lake Baringo is surrounded by a scenic rugged semi-desert landscape, the most northern of the Great Rift Valley lakes of Kenya, after Lake Turkana. It is fed by two rivers, El Molo and Ol Arabel and has no obvious outlet, the waters seep into lava. Despite this, it is one of the two freshwater lakes in the Rift Valley in Kenya, the other being Lake Naivasha. It is another birdwatcher’s paradise with over 470 species of birds having been recorded there, occasionally including migrating flamingos. It is also home to a population of crocodiles and hippos. Activities at the lake include nature boat rides, fishing, water-skiing and surfing.
Lake Magadi
Lake Magadi is the southernmost lake in the Kenya Rift Valley, lying in a depression some 1000m below Nairobi and is a vast shallow pool of soda, which is basically sludge of alkaline water. During the dry season, it is 80% covered by soda and is well known for its wading birds, including flamingos. This lake was not always so saline. Several years ago the Magadi basin held a freshwater lake with many fish, whose remains are preserved in the High Magadi Beds, a series of lacustrine and volcanilastic sediments preserved in various locations around the present shoreline. Previously, Lakes Magadi and Natron were united as single larger lake.
