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Map of the Great Rift Valley. The Great Rift Valley (Swahili: Bonde la ufa) is a series of contiguous geographic depressions, approximately 6,000 or 7,000 kilometres (4,300 mi) in total length, the definition varying between sources, that runs from the southern Turkish Hatay Province in Asia, through the Red Sea, to Mozambique in Southeast Africa.
The Southern Rift Valley lakes are like the Western Rift Valley lakes in that, with one exception, they are freshwater lakes. Lake Rukwa (about 5,670 square kilometres (2,190 sq mi) but quite variable) in Tanzania is the alkaline exception, lying south-east of Tanganyika, and has no outlet.
The Great Rift Valley is part of an intra-continental ridge system that runs through Kenya from north to south. It is part of the Gregory Rift , the eastern branch of the East African Rift , which starts in Tanzania to the south and continues northward into Ethiopia . [ 1 ]
The large rift lakes of Africa are the ancient home of great biodiversity, and 10% of the world's fish species live in this region. Countries in the area which are bounded by the lakes of the Great Lakes region include Burundi , the Democratic Republic of the Congo , Ethiopia , Kenya , Malawi , Mozambique , Rwanda , Zambia , Tanzania , and Uganda .
The rift began when East Africa, impelled by currents in the mantle, [19] began separating from the rest of Africa, moving to the northeast. Currently, the graben is 320 km wide in the north of the lake, 170 km in the south. This rift is one of two, and is called the Great or Eastern Rift. There is another to the west, the Western Rift.
Lake Nakuru is one of the Rift Valley lakes, located at an elevation of 1,754 m (5,755 ft) above sea level. It lies to the south of Nakuru, in the rift valley of Kenya and is protected by Lake Nakuru National Park. The lake's abundance of algae used to attract a vast quantity of flamingos that famously lined the shore.
The Shire River flows from the south end of the lake and joins the Zambezi River 400 km (250 mi) south in Mozambique. West of the Great Rift Valley, the land forms high plateaus, plateaus rise generally 910 to 1,220 m (3,000 to 4,000 ft) above sea level. In the north, the Nyika Uplands rise as high as 2,400 m (8,000 ft).
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