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Country Info
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The Great Rift Valley Lakes
Lake Magadi
Our journey takes us southwards along the Nairobi-Magadi road that passes Rongai and the rolling hills of Ngong. The scenery is beautiful, with the occasional shepherd tending to his flocks. A few villages flit past and then we are in totally uninhabited regions, with only the green vegetation on both sides of the road keeping us company. Fortunately the road is better than we expected, all tarmacked, with very few cars.
Olorgesailie Pre-historic site One and a half hours from Nairobi we turn left onto a murram road that leads to the Olorgesailie Pre-historic site. This Acheulian site is located about 90 kilometres south-west of Nairobi. It was first discovered by Mary Leakey in 1942 and since then has hosted many archaeologists who have respectively made a number of discoveries that tell us more about the prehistoric richness of this locale. Timelines explain man's development based on his brain capacity.
 Mount Olorgesailie in the background
Pictures and artifacts are well displayed in the small museum, although guides are available to show you around at an easy pace. Outside are excavation sites where stone tools appear in situ, meaning ‘in the exact place at which they were discovered.' The focus is on stone tools that were made by Homo Erectus in a period dating back to 1 million years ago.
The site is named after Mount Olorgesailie that hovers nearby. Across it is Mount Esakut, and I am informed that a lake once covered the entire region between the two mountains. In fact there are white stretches of sand at their bases that indicate where the beach once lay. With the constant volcanic activity and faulting however the lake's levels kept varying, which is why the excavation sites here all display tools that were used thousands of years apart. Evidence of this faulting can be seen in the landscape which has step-like platforms, as well as in a wall whose red rock has been pushed one level higher across the fault-line.
• The lake's changing levels created 17 different sites
• Diatomite is found here, proving even more the existence of a lake
• Olorgesailie is the largest of the National Museums' prehistoric sites
• The tools date from 662,000 to 1 million years ago |
Olorgesailie continues to be under excavation to this date. In yet another excavation site is a fossilized skeleton of an elephant's humerus bone, dating back to 990,000 years ago! They were considerably larger than those today, and you can tell this by comparing it with the present-day elephant's bone that has been placed next to it. Hippos were not much different in size; their fossils date back to the same period and we see how the ribs were crushed by man to obtain the bone marrow.
After the intensive history lesson you can relax at the picnic-site and maybe even spend the night in the bandas, although scientists usually occupy these. So if you wish to stay over, make sure you call way in advance to confirm availability. Camping is also possible.
Viewing these discoveries and learning about prehistory requires quite a bit of imagination! As Njagi the guide lays out the facts I find myself having to create scenes from the past, trying to imagine the lifestyle of Homo Erectus in a time when neither fire nor metal were discovered. It's quite a mental trip!
Lake Magadi
The drive all the way to Lake Magadi is characterised by beautiful panoramic views descending onto the floor of the Rift Valley. As we near our destination the lake reveals itself to us in the distance with its mix of blue waters interspersed with white deposits. Main road access to Magadi is directly from Nairobi by bus, matatu or private transport. Magadi attracts a variety of visitors- scientists, tourists, businessmen and even students. It offers both tourist attractions as well as major learning opportunities. The primary industrial activity here has always been the extraction and purification of soda ash from trona, the name given to the naturally occurring solid mineral content. This is undertaken by the Magadi Soda Company.
• Lake Magadi lies in the Great Rift Valley about 115 kilometres south west of Nairobi
• It is the only semi-solid soda lake in Kenya, completely surrounded by vast natural salt flats
• Temperatures may reach a suffocating 40 degrees centigrade in February and August |
As a tourist, a drive along the lake's shores will reveal flocks of birds peacefully co-existing as they feed. They include Greater and Lesser flamingoes, pelicans and marabou storks. Ornithologists travel thousands of miles to observe the tremendous variety of birdlife in the area. Across the lake the Nguruman escarpment stands tall, a result of the volcanic eruptions that formed the Rift Valley.
As it is not the rainy season, the lake's waters have evaporated sufficiently enough for one to walk a little way into the lake. Keep walking only for as long as the ground underneath remains hard. Actually the weather really surprises us, because prior to this trip all we heard about Magadi is how sweltering hot it is, with no potential for tourism. Well this is obviously not quite true.
The hot springs here are not gushing geysers like those found at Lake Bogoria, but gently bubbling pools instead.
The clear hot spring waters
This is the major attraction for visitors here, who enjoy bathing in the shallow pools whose waters have proven to be therapeutic. Many camp right beside the springs. As long as you carry your own camping gear you can camp anywhere by the lake, but please note that cleanliness of the environment must be maintained, especially around the hot springs. No fee is required to camp, however a donation towards the local community is appreciated. You may even be fortunate to spot a few wild animals.
Unfortunately not many lodges exist in the area, so you may have to camp until this situation changes. Nevertheless you can choose to spend only one day here since Magadi is only two hours away from Nairobi. For hundreds of years Lake Magadi lay isolated and undisturbed, visited only by pastoralist Maasai tribesmen who would mix the lake's minerals with tobacco to make a rather potent form of snuff. It is also believed that prehistoric man lived on the shores of the lake perhaps half a million or more years ago during the Stone Age.
Let's now take a look at Magadi town which has established itself as the cleanest town in Kenya. One word crosses my mind as we drive through it- organized. The infrastructure is good, efforts in reafforestation are evident in a park that was inspired by the Nobel Laureate Honourable Wangari Maathai, buildings are neatly planned, there's a community swimming pool, and you can even drink water directly from the tap because they have their own water treatment plant! The town also maintains its own road to Nairobi and has adequate social amenities for residents and visitors.
And possibly of greater importance is the fact that the inhabitants are friendly and welcoming to visitors. So take a chance and spend some time by this lake that has proven beneficial to Kenyans commercially, and exploit its natural offerings which have obviously been under-utilized.
Accommodation rates and images
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Other Rift Valley Lakes:-
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