Kenya -- Geography
Area
The
total area of Kenya is 224,960 square
miles; almost 5,200 sq. miles of
this total takes the form of fresh
water, mainly in Lake Rudolf.
Location
Kenya
is positioned on the equator on
Africa's east coast. Its northernmost
and southernmost points are approximately
equidistant--a little over 40 north
and south of the equator. Kenya
shares borders with five other countries.
The perimeter of Kenya's international
land borders is 3,446 km., including
borders with Sudan (306 km), Ethiopia
(779 km), Somalia (682 km),
Tanzania
(769 km), and Uganda (772 km). Kenya's
eastern and northern neighbors are
Somalia and Ethiopia. To the northwest
lies the Sudan. Many inhabitants
of the Sudan's border region are
in fact ethnically related to Kenya
`s peoples. To the west lies Uganda
and to the south, Tanzania, both
nations that share with Kenya a
history of British colonial rule.
Geographical
Regions
The
country is commonly divided into
seven major geographic regions,
as follows.
The
Coastal Region extends some 250
miles from the southern border where
Kenya meets Tanzania, to the border
with Somalia in the north. This
region is characterized by a variety
of geographical features, a variety
that is particularly pronounced
as one travels south or north. The
southern shoreline consists largely
of stretches of coral rock and sand
interrupted by bays, inlets, and
branched creeks. Following the coast
is a barrier reef that is broken
only rarely. Traveling inland from
the coast, one encounters a narrow
plain, and later a low plateau area
reaching an elevation of about 500
feet, and, finally, a line of discontinuous
ridges. The principal geographic
feature of the northern part of
the region is the Lamu Archipelago,
which was formed when a rise in
the ocean level inundated coastal
lands.
The
southern coastal hinterland is a
relatively featureless erosional
plain broken in a few places by
groups of small hills. The Tana
Plains are mainly a depositional
plain; equally featureless and deficient
in rainfall, this region extends
northward from the upper Coastal
Region to the northern plains. The
plain's eastern edge forms the border
of Somalia (into which it actually
extends). The western part of the
plain ends with the elevated Eastern
Plateau Region. The Tana River flows
across the plain from the Kenyan
Highlands into the Indian Ocean.
The Eastern Plateau
Region
consists of a belt of plains extending
north- and southward to the eastern
Kenya Highlands. Land elevations
vary mainly between 1,000 and 3,000
feet above sea level.
The
Northern Plain-lands Region stretches
from the border with Uganda on the
west to the Somalia border on the
east. It is made up of a series
of arid plains formed by erosion
or by great outpourings of lava.
The region includes Lake Rudolf
and the Chalbi Desert. West of the
lake the lands are quite arid, with
an annual rainfall that averages
under ten inches and that falls
some years to an almost negligible
level. East of Lake Rudolf lies
the Chalbi Desert; still farther
east are equally arid lands that
ordinarily support only semi-desert
vegetation.
The
Kenya Highlands Region was known
as the White Highlands during colonial
times since the European population
tended to concentrate there. The
region consists of two major divisions,
lying east and west of the Great
Rift Valley that runs north-south.
These regions are made up of a variety
of geographical subdivisions whose
origins are diverse. The entire
area is characterized by significantly
higher altitude, cooler temperatures,
and, generally speaking, more plentiful
precipitation than in other regions.
Rift
Valley Region encompasses Eastern
Africa's Rift Valley which was formed
by an extended series of faulting
and differential rock movements.
The valley stretches from Kenya's
Lake Rudolf area, running southward
through the Kenya Highlands into
Tanzania. Near Lake Rudolf, the
valley floor tapers down to less
than 1,500 feet above sea level,
but southward it rises steadily
to nearly 6,200 feet in its central
section near Lake Naivasha. South
of the lake, it drops off to about
2,000 feet at the Kenya-Tanzania
border.
The
Western Plateau Region forms part
of the extensive basin around Lake
Victoria. In Kenya the region consists
mainly of faulted plateaus marked
by escarpments that descend gently
from the Kenya Highlands to the
lakeshore. The region is divided
by the Kano Rift Valley into northern
and southern sub-regions with distinct
geographical features.[1]
Climate
Given
that Kenya straddles the equator,
its terrain is highly diversified
with climatic conditions ranging
from moist to arid. In this part
of Africa, seasons are distinguished
by duration of rainfall rather than
by changes in temperature. In the
Western Plateau and the Highlands,
rain falls in a single long season.
East of the rift valley, there are
two distinct seasons: a period of
long rains from March to May and
one of short rains from September
to October. Rainfall is most plentiful
in the Highlands and on the coast
which receive an average of 101
cm. The Western Plateau receives
over 178 cm annually. More than
70% of the country, however, is
arid or semi-arid, receiving less
than 51 cm per year. Rainfall is
sporadic in the dry areas.
Variations
in altitude are the major factor
in temperature differences in the
various parts of the country. The
Highlands generally have a cool,
bracing climate with a mean annual
maximum of 26.10C (790F) and a mean
annual minimum of 10C (50F). Nairobi,
at an elevation of 1,670 meters
(5,500 feet), has a mean annual
temperature of 19C (67F). The nation's
highest temperatures are found in
the Northern Plain, where the mean
maximum is 34C (93F) and temperatures
often reach 43.3C (110F). Temperatures
varies between 14C (57F) and 29C
(84F) in the Eastern Plateau, and
between 34C (93F) and 17.8C (64F)
and 21.1C (70F) in the coastal areas.
The hottest months fall between
January and March; the coldest are
June and July.[2]
Vegetation
Kenya's
plant life is highly diverse, ranging
from mangrove forests and coconut
palms on the coast to Savannah grassland
and woods to thick coniferous evergreen
forests on the mountain slopes.
On the western plateaus, low trees
grow amid grass over 1.5 meters
high; similar vegetation is found
between 915 and 1,829 meters east
and south of Mount Kenya and near
the headwaters of the Tana and Athi
rivers. On the northern and southern
edges of the highlands, flat-topped
trees are scattered through meter-high
grass. [3]
Drainage
System
The
area's principal drainage system
begins in the Kenya Highlands Region.
Streams and rivers radiate from
this region eastward toward the
Indian Ocean, westward to Lake Victoria,
and run northward to Lake Rudolf
or disappear the arid terrain of
northern Kenya. A secondary drainage
system is formed by rivers in the
southern highlands of Ethiopia,
which extend into Kenya along the
eastern part of their shared boundary.
These rivers are seasonal. Those
receiving sufficient rainwater to
reach the sea all pass through Somalia.
The two largest rivers--the only
navigable ones--are the Tana and
the Galana, which empty into the
Indian Ocean. The Tana basin has
an area of about 24,000 square miles
and receives much of the flow from
the Aberdare Range and Mount Kenya.
The Galana River has its source
in the southeastern Kenya Highlands
and flows together with its tributaries
into the Indian Ocean north of Malindi.
Several
smaller rivers begin in the foothills
of the eastern Kenya Highlands in
the Tana River basin. The Lagh Thua
and Mkondo Wa Kokani rivers disappear
in the semi-arid region east of
the highlands; only in times of
heavy rainfall do their waters cross
the area to empty into the Tana
River. South of the Galana, the
Goshi River runs about 130 miles,
fifty miles of whose lower course
has water in the dry season.
The
western Kenya Highlands are drained
by a number of rivers that empty
into Lake Victoria. The largest
of these are the Nzoia, about 160
miles long, and the Yala, with a
length of about 110 miles. Yala
Falls and Selby Falls (on a tributary
of the Nzoia) have considerable
potential for generating hydroelectric
power. The Mara River, in the Mau
Escarpment in the southwest highlands,
flows southward for about 100 miles,
enters Tanzania, and turns westward
to flow for almost another 100 miles
into Lake Victoria. The northern
Kenya Highlands east of the Rift
Valley are drained by small rivers
that disappear in the arid land
to the north and by the larger,
eastward-flowing system of the Ewaso
Ngiro, which has a drainage basin
of approximately 22,000 square miles.[4]
[1]
Kaplan, Irving & et.al. 1976.
Area Handbook for Kenya, Second
Ed., U.S.
Government
Printing Office: Washington, D.C.
pp. 50-64.
[2]
Kurian, George Thomas 1992. Encyclopedia
of the Third World, fourth edition,
volume
III, Facts on File: New York, N.Y.,
pp. 968-69.
[3]
Uwechue, Raph (ed.) 1996. Africa
Today, Third Edition, Africa Books
Limited,
p.
854.
[4]
Kaplan, Irving & et.al. 1976.
Area Handbook for Kenya, Second
Ed., U.S.
Government
Printing Office: Washington, D.C.
pp. 57-58.