The Best of Kenya’s Lakes

Kenya is located in the African Great Lakes area, and its lakes are vital to the country’s ecology.

Kenya, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burundi, Malawi, Rwanda, and Tanzania are among the nations that comprise the African Great Lakes area. Lake Victoria and Lake Turkana, two of Africa’s Great Lakes, are partially located in Kenya.

Kenya has 64 lakes, accounting for 9.5% of all lakes in Africa. Within Kenya’s Great Rift Valley, there is a chain of eight lakes, none of which has a distinct outlet.

The lakes have significant evaporation rates, therefore salts and minerals have accumulated. Only two of these lakes are stocked with potable water.

 

Lake Naivasha

Lake Naivasha is one of Kenya’s freshwater lakes. It has a surface size of 139 square kilometres and a maximum depth of 30 metres. The lakes’ surface height is 1,884 metres.

Papyrus-fringed Naivasha is a magnificent freshwater lake located just outside the town of Naivasha. At over 6,000 feet, it is the highest Rift valley lake. The lake is home to a diverse range of fauna, including a sizable hippo population and several bird species such as fish eagles, grey-backed fiscals, marabou storks, and doves.

 

Lake Victoria

Lake Victoria is the world’s second-biggest freshwater lake. It has a maximum length of 359 km, a width of 337 km, and a surface area of 59,947 square kilometres. The lake’s water volume is approximately 2,424 cubic kilometres. Lake Victoria is shared by Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania.

The Lake is part of the Lake Victoria Basin environment. In the territory surrounding the lake, the Luo people, Kenya’s fishing population, dwells.

 

Lake Turkana

Lake Turkana is the world’s biggest alkaline and arid lake. It is 290 kilometres long and 32 kilometres wide at its widest point. The lake’s highest depth is 109 metres, and its capacity is around 203.6 cubic kilometres.

Turkana is an excellent laboratory for studying plant and animal groups. The three National Parks are important breeding areas for the Nile crocodile, hippopotamus, and a variety of poisonous snakes, as well as a stopover for migrating birds.

 

Lake Bogoria

Lake Bogoria is an alkaline lake having a surface height of 990 metres, a depth of 10 metres, a length of 34 kilometres, a width of 3.5 kilometres, and a width of 3.5 kilometres. It has a 700-square-kilometre drainage basin.

Lake Bogoria in Kenya’s Rift Valley is famous for its geysers and a large population of flamingos who come to graze on algae and drink fresh water from lakeshore spouts. The lake itself is very alkaline and twice as salty as saltwater; it cannot support fish.

 

Lake Baringo

Lake Baringo is a Rift Valley Lake in Kenya. It has a surface size of 130 square kilometres and a height of 970 metres. It’s a freshwater lake, one of two in the Rift Valley.

The lake is also well-known for its geysers and hot springs, both on the lake’s shore and within the lake. At least ten geysers erupting up to 5 metres high may be seen in four sites surrounding the lake. The activity of geysers is influenced by changes in lake level, which can inundate or expose some geysers.

 

Lake Nakuru

It is a soda lake in the Rift Valley. It has an elevation of 1,745 metres, a surface size of 5 to 45 square kilometres, and a maximum depth of 1.8 metres.

Lake Nakuru is a lake located in west-central Kenya. It is one of the saline lakes in the lake system in eastern Africa’s Great Rift Valley. Lake Nakuru is well renowned for its various bird species, particularly a large number of pink flamingos, but it also features waterbucks, impalas, and hippopotamuses.

 

Lake Elementaita

Lake Elementaita, near the town of Gilgil, is the only known nesting site for pelicans in East and Central Africa. Flamingos may also be seen here, but in considerably lesser numbers than in Lake Nakuru. The lake is visible from the Nairobi-Nakuru Highway, which runs along the neighbouring escarpment.

Lake Elemantaita is located in Kenya’s Rift Valley between Lake Naivasha and Lake Nakuru. Salt Lake is notable for its diverse avifauna, including large concentrations of Greater and Lesser flamingos. The flamingos, on the other hand, have plummeted since the Tilapia fish was introduced.

 

Lake Magadi

Lake Magadi is a salty, alkaline lake in Kenya’s Rift Valley. It covers an area of around 100 square kilometres. It is well renowned for its large chert deposits and wading birds.

It is the second biggest source of sodium carbonate in the world. The soda water becomes pink in the sun, while freshwater springs on the beach provide a natural bath for guests.

 

Lake Kamnarok

Lake Kamnarok is only one square kilometre in size. It is located at the base of the Kerio Valley and was gazetted in 1984 when the Lake Kamnarok Game Reserve (home to 500 elephants) was established. Although it was reported in existence before 1961, the floods of that year resulted in its growth and the evacuation of residents living in the nearby region.

 

Lake Amboseli

The Amboseli National Reserve, one of Kenya’s oldest and most famous parks, has a non-permanent lake that gives the park its name. Because Lake Amboseli is mostly salty, there is minimal vegetation on its shoreline. During the dry season, the lake is little more than a massive frying pan filled with smashed salty soil and whirlwinds