The Amazing Turkana Lake

Lake Turkana most commonly called as the Lake Rudolf is declared to be the largest permanent desert-lake of this world and also the biggest alkaline lake which is situated by the side of Great Rift Valley in Kenya. According to the volume, the lake is ranked as the fourth biggest salt lake in the world which owns potable water and provides a home to a large number of wildlife. The travelers extremely appreciates its beauty and insurmountable attractiveness that gets more enhanced because of the mesmerizing hills encircled by bright sunshine, volcanic rocks and the shining nights and a large group of people take flights to Nairobi and hit this dazzling destination with a continuous and adventurous journey of almost 48 hours.

This astonishing lake covers the land area of almost 180 miles with shining and crystal clear water and is considered to be the perfect site those enthusiastic travellers and researchers who want to experience the diverseness of anthropology, archaeology, ornithology, game wing, culture, fishing, adventure, astronomy and photography. It got famous in 1888, after the expedition of the popular adventurer Count Teleki and he honoured the prince of Austria naming the discovered lake as Rudolf. The lake is also very well-known with the name of Jade Sea due to the bluish-green turquoise colour appears on the surface because of the formation of algae. Some 800 years ago, the Lake extended from Omo valley towards the edge of Barnido but now it is nourished by 3 distinctive rivers – Turkwel, Kerio, and the Omo. The famous writer John Hillaby has highly admired this mesmerizing by using the words ‘varying mood’ as it is occasionally stormy and provides a great feel of oceanic relaxation and tranquillity.

It shelters more than 50 different breeds of fish- the common ones are H. Rudolfinum , H. Turkana, Haplochromis McConnell, Neobola stellae, Lates longispinis, Brycinus ferox , B. minutes and Barbus Turkana (the endemic species), whereas Nile tilapia, bichirs, African arowana, Mormyrus kannume, Nile perch , Distichodus niloticus and various other breeds are non-endemic. Almost 10,000 years ago its water used to be settled on heighted positions and the lake used to fell into the water of River Nile which offered habitat to a large variety of crocodiles and hundreds fish species.

The lake also shelters various beautiful and colourful species of birds like Little Stint, Wood Sandpiper, Common Sandpiper, African Skimmer, Greater Flamingo and Heuglin’s Bustard. Apart from it, the lake occupies the biggest population of Africa’s Nile crocodiles and almost 14,000 were recorded and it was written down in the book Eyelids of the morning in 1968. A diverse variety of turtles also exist in Central Island’s water. The grazing predators and mammals of nearby grassland such as Grevy’s zebra, Burchell’s Zebra, Beisa Oryx, reticulated giraffe, the topi and Grant’s Gazelle.

Kenya is also planning to construct the largest wind power system of Asia using the water reservoir of this lake that can produce approximately 300 MW of power supply. So with the passage of time, it is flourishing and appealing travellers from all over the world to come and see its attractions.