Rift Valley (Kenya)

Rift Valley
Basic data
Capital	Nakuru
surface	182,413 km²
Residents	12,231,900 (calculation 2015)
Population density	48 inhabitants per km²
ISO 3166-2	KE-700 (repealed)

Rift Valley was the largest of Kenya's provinces . Their capital was at Lake Nakuru located Nakuru . In 2013 it was divided into several so-called districts (counties).

geography

Landscape near Lake Bogoria

The province consisted of a valley up to 100 km wide, which stretches in north-south direction from Lake Turkana to Nairobi . There is a section of by the geologist and explorer John Walter Gregory as the Great Rift Valley named East African grave breach . In this stunning Kenyan countryside near the Baringosees Gregory had the concept of the Great Rift Valley coined later to the entire system of the African Great grave breach was expanded.

Rift Valley near Nairobi

The Rift Valley also has Kenya's largest dam , the Turkwel Dam .

Not all the plains in the valley are fertile; grasslands alternate with desert areas. The soda lakes are home to a peculiar bird world, characterized by the occurrence of the flamingos characteristic of this part of Africa.

Rift Valley bordered Tanzania to the south, Uganda to the west and Ethiopia and South Sudan to the north, or the Ilemi Triangle, which is disputed between the three neighboring states .

population

Women of the Pokot , a subgroup of the Kalendjin

Rift Valley was the fastest growing province in Kenya in terms of population; in 1989 there were about 4,981,613 inhabitants, in 1999 there were already 6,987,036 and in 2015 there were an estimated 12,231,900. Different groups of the population lived here, including the Maasai , Samburu , Turkana and Kalendjin .

In the north, refugees from South Sudan, Ethiopia and Somalia lived in Kakuma .

As part of the 2010 constitution , the Kenyan provinces were dissolved. The Rift Valley Province now includes the counties of Baringo , Bomet , Elgeyo-Marakwet , Kajiado , Kericho , Laikipia , Nakuru , Nandi , Narok , Samburu , Trans-Nzoia , Turkana , Uasin Gishu and West Pokot .

Administrative division

Rift Valley was divided into 18 districts:

District	Capital
Baringo	Cabarnet
Bomet	Bomet
Buret	Litein
Kajiado	Kajiado
Keiyo	Iten / Tambach
Kericho	Kericho
Koibatek	Eldama Ravine
Laikipia	Nanyuki
Marakwet	Kapsowar
Nakuru	Nakuru
Nandi	Kapsabet
Narok	Narok
Samburu	Maralal
Trans Mara	Kilgoris
Trans-Nzoia	Kitale
Turkana	Lodwar
Uasin Gishu	Eldoret
West Pokot	Kapenguria

Trivia

The Rift Valley fever was named after the valley because it is thought that the contagious fever in this area has its origin.

literature

• Uwe George (report and photos): Birth of an ocean . In: Geo-Magazin. Hamburg 1978, 7, pp. 50-80. ("Uwe George witnessed the first phase of a process that took millions of years: Africa is falling apart in the Rift Valley.") ISSN  0342-8311

Individual evidence

1. ^ Rift Valley (Former Province, Kenya) - Population Statistics, Charts, Map and Location. Retrieved September 26, 2017 (English). 
2. ↑ bevölkerungsstatistik.de (2007)
3. ↑ Kenya: Provinces, Major Cities, Municipalities, Towns & Urban Centers - Population Statistics in Maps and Charts. Retrieved December 1, 2017 . 

Web links

• Rift Valley: The Witch's Kitchen on the Planet

Coordinates: 0 ° 30 ′ 0 ″  N , 36 ° 0 ′ 0 ″  E