The Beauty of It

Linda Lou Burton posting from The Great Rift Valley South of Lake Nakuru, Kenya–Remember that sign we passed yesterday at Subukia viewpoint about The Great Rift Valley? Did you notice Israel at one end and Mozambique at the other? Let’s talk about that a minute. I mean, here I am in a 4×4, riding along with Rick, and the rest of our group, in a fantastic geological THING! The whole RIFT runs 4,300 miles, from Asia down almost the entire eastern side of Africa.

It covers Kenya’s western side, dotted with lakes (we just visited Nakuru) and it goes through Tanzania (our next country) and keeps going. Most of our trip will be in this valley. It is full of leftover volcanic lavas that turned into great soil for farming, and holes that turned into lakes. Since these lakes have no outlets and are very shallow, they are high in minerals. All of this makes for interesting landscapes. And attracts different birds, and animals, and people. Which means, of course, different ways of life. That’s the beauty of it!

It’s also why people like to visit this part of the world, and why safari camps and lodges pack the area. Kenya, a country smaller than the state of Texas, has 24 national parks, 15 national reserves, 6 marine parks, and private conservancies on top of that. Today we are heading from Lake Nakuru National Park (11,120 acres) to Maasai Mara National Reserve (371,200 acres). Meanwhile, here’s what we see on our drive south on A104 and west on B3 as far as Narok, 75 miles through open land, and farming country.

Beautiful!