Kenya has an area of about 583,000 sq km, and straddles the equator in East Africa off the coast of the Indian Ocean . To its northeast is Somalia ; to its north are Ethiopia and Sudan ; to its west is Uganda and to its south is Tanzania . Lake Victoria is at the south-west corner of the country at the point where Kenya , Tanzania and Uganda meet.

On the coast of the Indian Ocean is lowlying a plain which gradually rises in elevation towards the centre of the country to become mountain ridges and plateaus, with some reaching over 3,000 meters above sea level. In the west of the country are fertile plains, whereas the plains in the northern part of the country is arid.

Running through the plains in the north down to the central highlands in the south is the Great Rift Valley, which separates the western and eastern parts of the country up to the area north of Nairobi.

The Great Rift Valley is part of a 7,000 km fault line which starts from Syria and ends in Mozambique . It was formed over 20 million years ago by forces below ground splitting the earth’s crust to form parallel fault lines, creating huge fissures, subsidence of the soil between the fault lines, valleys, lakes, the Red Sea, hot springs and volcanoes.

Within Kenya , in the north, near Lake Turkana , the valley is not visually distinctive as it consists of a plain at the same level as the deserts in the area. However, the elevation gradually becomes higher as the valley travels south and at various points the sides of the valley reach a height of as much as 3,000 m above sea level. Further south near the Lake Victoria basin and Tanzanian border, the valley descends to about 600 m to form fertile plains.

The valley is not of uniform width; instead the maximum width is about 100 km and the minimum width is below 50 km . It is also dotted with several lakes, including Lake Naivasha (the highest point of the valley), Lake Baringo , Lane Nakuru and Lake Magadi , also created by underground earth movements. Some of the lakes have high alkaline and salt contents because of the volcanic conditions around them. Some of these lakes attract water fouls and animals which come for water, minerals, fish and other food.

Along the valley are numerous hot springs , volcanoes and geothermal activities. Located in central Kenya south of the equator is Mount Kenya, which an ancient volcano and is the second highest mountain in Africa as its highest peak, Mount Batian, is nearly 5,200 m above sea level.

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Last edited Feb 28, 09 7:48 PM. Contributors: Andrew W.