Introduction
Kenya lies astride the
equator on the eastern
coast of Africa. Kenya is
bordered in the north by Sudan and Ethiopia, in the east by Somalia, on
the southeast by the Indian Ocean, on the southwest by Tanzania and to
the west by Lake Victoria and Uganda.
Kenya
is notable for its' geographical variety. The low-lying, fertile
coastal region, fringed with coral reefs and islands, is back by a
gradually rising coastal plain, a dry region covered with savanna and
thornbush.
At
an altitude of about 1,524 m and 300 miles inland, the plain gives
way in the southwest to a high plateau, rising in parts to 3,048 m, in
which about 85% of the population and the majority of economic
enterprise are concentrated. The northern section of Kenya, forming
three-fifths of the whole territory, is arid and of semidesert
character, as is the bulk of the southeastern quarter. In the high
plateau area, known as the Kenya Highlands, lie Mt. Kenya (5,200 m), Mt
Elgon (4,322m) and the Aberdare Ranger (rising to over 3,963 m). The
plateau is bisected from north to south by the Rift Valley, part of the
great geological fracture that can be traced from Syria through the Red
Sea and East Africa to Mozambique. In the north of Kenya, the valley is
broad and shallow, embracing Lake Turkana (160 miles long), while
further south it narrows and deepens and is walled by escarpments 610
to 930 mtr high. West of the Rift Valley, the plateau descends to the
plains that border Lake Victoria. The principal rivers are the Tana and
the Athi, flowing southeast to the Indian Ocean, the Ewaso Ngiro
flowing northeast to the swamps of the Lorian Plain, and the Nzoia,
Yala and Gori, which drain eastward into Lake Victoria. Low plains rise
to central highlands, divided by the Great African Rift Valley.
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