Rift Valley Lakes - Eastern Rift Valley Lakes (Kenya and Tanzania)

Eastern Rift Valley Lakes (Kenya and Tanzania)

South of the Ethiopian highlands, the rift valley splits into two major troughs. The Eastern Rift is home to the Kenyan Rift Valley lakes, while most of the Central African Rift Valley lakes lie in the Western Rift. The Kenyan section of the Rift Valley is home to eight lakes, of which 3 are freshwater and the rest alkaline. Of the latter, the shallow soda lakes of the Eastern Rift Valley have crystallised salt turning the shores white, and are famous for the large flocks of flamingo that feed on crustaceans.

• Lake Turkana (6405 km², elevation 360 m, freshwater) is the largest of the Kenyan lakes, on the border of Kenya and Ethiopia.
• Lake Logipi is a shallow hot-spring fed soda lake in the Suguta Valley just south of Lake Turkana.
• Lake Baringo (80 sq miles, elevation 1000 m) freshwater, second largest of the Kenyan Rift Valley lakes,
• Lake Bogoria (34 km², elevation 990 m) shallow soda lake, a national preserve
• Lake Nakuru (40 km², elevation 1759 m) shallow soda lake, has been a national park since 1968
• Lake Elmenteita, shallow soda lake
• Lake Naivasha (160 km² — varies somewhat with rainfall, elevation 1,890 m), freshwater lake, is the highest in this group.
• Lake Magadi, shallow soda lake near the southern border with Tanzania.

The Tanzanian section of this group has alkaline lakes:

• Lake Natron, shallow soda lake which has categorised by the World Wildlife Fund as the East African halophytics ecoregion.
• Lake Manyara,
• Lake Eyasi, shallow soda lake
• Lake Makati, shallow soda lake