.

TravelTips24 : Africa : East Africa : Kenya : Rift Valley

Rift Valley

Rift Valley is a province of Kenya. It is named for the Great African Rift that runs all the way through Kenya starting in the north-west where it crosses over from Ethiopia, and south via a series of lakes including, Turkana, Baringo, Bogoria, Nakuru, Elmenteita, Naivasha and Natron.

Regions

Cities

  • Naivasha - Lake Naivasha (a freshwater lake) is a popular weekend getaway for 'Nairobian's and features resort hotels such as the Lake Naivasha Country Club, and also more secluded spots such as the beautiful Crater Lake Lodge to the west of the main lake.
  • Nakuru - Lake Nukuru is best known as an ornithologists paradise mainly due to the vast populations of flamingos that live around this soda lake. Accommodation around the lake includes Lake Nakuru Lodge and Lion Hill Camp.
  • Kabarnet - the District headquarter for Baringo District. It offers budget accommodations close to some major attractions: Lake Bogoria, Lake Baringo, Tugen Hills, Kerio Valley and Kerio Escarpment.

Other destinations

  • Further north at Lake Elmenteita, Lake Elmenteita Lodge offers comfortable accommodation overlooking the lake.
  • Lake Nakuru National Park, while small has a good variety of wildlife (apart from the birdlife) including Rhino (both black and white), Buffalo, Lion, Leopard, Eland and more common plains game such as Impala and Zebra.

Culture and History

The rift is home to a wide range of Kenya's peoples including nomadic herding peoples such as the Turkana, Pokot, Samburu and Maasai but also including farmers such as the Kikuyu and even remnant groups of hunter-gatherer peoples such as the Ogiek who live in the remaining forests on the Mau escarpment of the Rift valley.

Talk

Travel to Rift Valley & Visa Requirements

In particular access to the Rift Valley from Nairobi is only a matter of a 30 minute drive to a spectacular view point overlooking the volcanoes, Suswa and Longonot, on the road to Naivasha and Nakuru.

Tours & Getting around Rift Valley

Some of the main trunk roads of Kenya pass along the rift valley so travel in this region is relatively straight forward.

Rift Valley attractions and sightseeing

Itineraries

Rift Valley city tours

Rift Valley Restaurants: cheap, moderate and expensive

Rift Valley nightlife, bars, clubs & pubs

Stay safe

Nakuru is extermely dangerous at night time with prostution and people selling drugs.

Get out

This page was last edited at 10:18, on 30 January 2008 by Anonymous user(s) of Wikitravel. Based on work by Stacy Hall, Sienko Ikhabi and Colin Jensen, Wikitravel user(s) Huttite and Anonymous user(s) of Wikitravel.

Content on this page is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 1.0 license