Earth's Largest Desert Lake
Northern Kenya, Kenya
At Kenya’s far Northern frontier lies one of the natural wonders of the world. Lake Turkana is a massive inland sea, the largest desert lake in the world (6,405 sq km). This single body of water is over 250 kilometres long - longer than the entire Kenyan coast.
It is widely known as the Jade Sea, because of the remarkable, almost incandescent, colour of its waters. After a long journey through the sweltering deserts and lava flows of Northern Kenya, the sight of this vast body of bright turquoise water comes as an unearthly, ethereal vision.
Background
This remarkable area was first explored in 1888 by Teleki and Von Honel, who made the epic crossing of the deserts and laval plains, naming the great lake "Rudolf" after their Archduke and the patron of their expedition. The name Turkana was adopted during the 1970's.
The Lake is a source of life for some of Kenya’s most remote tribes. The Turkana, with ancestral ties to Uganda, live a semi-nomadic existence around the Lake. The country’s smallest tribe, the El Molo, live a hunter-gatherer existence on the shores, in villages of distinctive rounded reed huts.
Turkana also has one of the longest living histories on earth, and recent fossil evidence unearthed at Koobi Fora has led to the Lake being referred to as ‘The Cradle of Mankind’. The site lies at the heart of the Sibiloi National Park, a place of stark beauty and prehistoric petrified forests.
Relaxing
The El Molo tribe, who live on the southern shore of the lake are renowned basket weavers. Their baskets have a distinct shape and style, and are available in villages in this area. The Turkana people produce very attractive handicrafts, including eggshell necklaces, bone pipes, neck pillows and wrist knives, traditionally worn during combat.
There is an abundant supply of fresh fish available locally.