View over Lake Turkana

Lake Turkana, formerly known as Lake Rudolf, is a lake in the Great Rift Valley in Kenya (although the far northern end of the lake crosses into Ethiopia), which covers a surface area of 6405 km² (2473 mi²), making it the world's largest permanent desert lake. It is also the world's largest alkaline lake. The area is hot and very dry. The geology is predominantly volcanic and on-shore and off-shore winds can be extremely strong as the lake warms and cools more slowly than the land. Three rivers (the Omo, Turkwel and Kerio) flow into the lake, but the only outflow is by evaporation. Despite this, the water level of the lake fell by 10 m between 1975 and 1993. Download high resolution version (1024x768, 111 KB)Lake Turkana, taken by user:AdamPG in 2004 File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Download high resolution version (1024x768, 111 KB)Lake Turkana, taken by user:AdamPG in 2004 File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Northern section of the Great Rift Valley. ... Omo River empties into Lake Turkana, August 1995 The Omo is an important river of southern Ethiopia. ... Kerio is a river in Rift Valley province, Kenya, Africa. ...

The lake was named Lake Rudolf by Count Samuel Teleki and Lieutenant Von Höhnel in 1888, and renamed Lake Turkana in 1975. The area has been preserved by its remoteness and still sees few Western visitors, being a 3 day drive from Nairobi. Local people are predominantly of the Gabbra, Rendille and Turkana tribes. One of the villages surrounding the lake is El Molo. Categories: Stub | 1845 births | 1916 deaths | Explorers ... Lieutenant Ludwig von Höhnel Lieutenant Ludwig Ritter von Höhnel (6 August 1857 – 23 March 1942) was a Austrian naval officer and explorer. ... Nairobi is the capital city of Kenya. ... The Rendille are an African ethnic group of the Kaisut Desert of Kenya. ... Turkana refers to: Turkana people of Kenya Lake Turkana This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... El Molo is a village in Kenya, situated on the southeast shore of Lake Turkana. ...

Lake Turkana, sometimes referred to as the Jade Sea, contains Nile perch and tilapia, used to contain Africa's largest population of Nile crocodiles - 14,000 bred on Central Island. The presence of water in such an arid area makes the region internationally important as a staging post for migrating birds. Lions, cheetah and giraffe as well as many other species of mammal live in the area. Elephants and rhino are no longer seen, although Teleki reported seeing (and indeed shooting) many. Lake Turkana is now listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Binomial name Lates niloticus (Linnaeus, 1758) The Nile perch (Lates niloticus) is a species of freshwater fish in family Centropomidae of order Perciformes. ... Species Oreochromis aurea - Blue tilapia Oreochromis macrochir - Longfin tilapia Oreochromis mossambicus - Mozambique tilapia Oreochromis niloticus niloticus - Nile tilapia Oreochromis urolepis urolepis - Rufigi tilapia Oreochromis urolepis hornorum - Wami tilapia Sarotherodon galilaeus galilaeus - Galilee or mango tilapia Sarotherodon melanotheron heudelotii - Senegal cichlid or mango fish Sarotherodon melanotheron melanotheron - Blackchin tilapia Tilapia buttikoferi... A satellite composite image of Africa Africa is the worlds second-largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. ... Genera Crocodylus Osteolaemus Tomistoma See full taxonomy. ... Orders Many - see section below. ... Binomial name Panthera leo (Linnaeus, 1758) Comparative view of the human and lion frames, c1860. ... Binomial name Acinonyx jubatus (Schreber, 1775) The Cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) is an atypical member of the cat family (Felidae) that hunts by speed rather than by stealth or pack tactics. ... Binomial name Giraffa camelopardalis Linnaeus, 1758 The Giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis) is an even-toed ungulate mammal, the tallest of all land-living animal species. ... Genera and Species Loxodonta Loxodonta cyclotis Loxodonta africana Elephas Elephas maximus Elephas recki † Stegodon † Mammuthus † Elephantidae (the elephants) is a family of animals, and the only remaining family in the order Proboscidea. ... Genera Ceratotherium Dicerorhinus Diceros Rhinoceros Coelodonta (extinct)Elasmotherium (extinct) A rhinoceros (commonly called a rhino for short) is any of five surviving species of odd-toed ungulate in the family Rhinocerotidae. ... Site #86: Memphis and its Necropolis, including the Pyramids of Giza (Egypt). ...

Richard Leakey has led numerous anthropological digs in the area which have led to many important discoveries of hominin remains. The 2 million year old Skull 1470 was found in 1972. It was originally thought to be Homo habilis but some anthropologists have assigned it to a new species, Homo rudolfensis, named after the lake. In 1984, the Turkana Boy, a nearly complete skeleton of a nine-year old Homo erectus boy was discovered by Kamoya Kimeu. More recently, Meave Leakey discovered a 3,500,000 year old skull there, named Kenyanthropus platyops, which means "The Flat-Faced Man of Kenya". Richard Erskine Frere Leakey (born 19 December 1944 in Nairobi, Kenya), is a paleontologist, archaeologist and conservationist. ... Human evolution is the process of change and development, or evolution, by which human beings emerged as a distinct species. ... Genera Gorilla Pan (chimpanzees) Homo (humans) Paranthropus (extinct) Australopithecus (extinct) Sahelanthropus (extinct) Ardipithecus (extinct) Kenyanthropus (extinct) Homininae is a subfamily of Hominidae, including Homo sapiens and some extinct relatives, as well as the gorillas and the chimpanzees. ... Skull 1470 is the skull of an early hominid. ... Binomial name Homo habilis Leakey et al, 1964 Homo habilis «HOH moh HAB uh luhs» (handy man, skillful person) is a species of the genus Homo, which lived from approximately 2. ... Binomial name Homo rudolfensis Alexeev, 1986 The species Homo rudolfensis was originally proposed in 1986 by V. P. Alexeev for the specimen KNM ER 1470. ... Turkana Boy, the designation given to fossil KNM-WT (Kenya National Museum-West Turkana), is a nearly complete skeleton of a 12-year-old hominid boy who died 1. ... Binomial name Homo erectus (Dubois, 1892) Subspecies Homo erectus palaeojavanicus Homo erectus soloensis Homo erectus (upright man) is a hominin species that is believed to be an ancestor of modern humans (with Homo heidelbergensis usually treated as an intermediary step). ... Kamoya Kimeu, (born c. ... Meave (Epps) Leakey (born 1942 in London, England) is together with her husband Richard Leakey one of the most renowned British paleontologists. ... Binomial name Kenyanthropus platyops Kenyanthropus is a 3. ...

The lake is featured in Fernando Meirelles's film The Constant Gardener, which is based on the book of the same name by John Le Carré, although some of the footage was actually filmed at Lake Magadi. The Constant Gardener is a 2005 film based on the novel of the same title by John le Carré. It tells the story of Justin Quayle, who finds his wife murdered and seeks to uncover the reasons behind her death. ... Promotional poster for The Constant Gardener The Constant Gardener is the 18th novel by John le Carré and was published in 2001. ... John le Carré is the pseudonym of David John Moore Cornwell (born October 19, 1931 in Poole, Dorset, England). ... Lake Magadi Lake Magadi is the southermost lake in the Kenyan Rift Valley, lying north east of Lake Natron. ...

See also

• Rift Valley lakes

The are a group of lakes formed by the Great Rift Valley of eastern Africa. ...

External links

• Lake Turkana's entry on UNESCO's list of World Heritage Sites
• Satellite images showing Lake Turkana's falling water levels
• Sibiloi National Park, World Heritage Site
• Ongoing Palaeoanthropological research in the Turkana Basin