The Suguta River is a seasonal river in the

Great Rift Valley The Great Rift Valley () is a series of contiguous geographic depressions, approximately 6,000 or in total length, the definition varying between sources, that runs from the southern Turkish Hatay Province in Asia, through the Red Sea, to Moz ...

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

(Africa), directly south of

Lake Turkana Lake Turkana () is a saline lake in the Kenyan Rift Valley, in northern Kenya, with its far northern end crossing into Ethiopia. It is the world's largest permanent desert lake and the world's largest alkaline lake. By volume it is the world ...

. It flows northward through the

Suguta Valley The Suguta Valley, also known as the Suguta Mud Flats, is an arid part of the Great Rift Valley in Kenya (Africa), directly south of Lake Turkana. Location The Suguta valley today is one of the driest parts of Kenya, with annual rainfall below ...

in the rainy season, forming the temporary Lake Alablad, a

dry lake A dry lake bed, also known as a playa (), is a basin or depression that formerly contained a standing surface water body, which disappears when evaporation processes exceed recharge. If the floor of a dry lake is covered by deposits of alkalin ...

that combines with Lake Logipi at the northern end of the valley. The Suguta River originates in a stream of near-boiling water that emerges from the side of Mount Silali, an extinct volcano. Some geologists speculate that the Kapedo hot spring, which drops through a set of waterfalls to the Suguta River, is the outlet from

Lake Baringo Lake Baringo is, after Lake Turkana, the most northern of the Kenyan Rift Valley lakes, with a surface area of and an elevation of . The lake is fed by several rivers: the Molo River, Molo, Perkerra River, Perkerra and Ol Arabel. It has no obvio ...

to the south. At one point the Suguta River passes between two volcanoes and is fed from both sides by hot springs. In places the banks of the Suguta River are lined with palms. The river and its tributaries are home to a

cichlid Cichlids () are a large, diverse, and widespread family of percomorph fish in the family Cichlidae, order Cichliformes. At least 1,760 species have been scientifically described, making it one of the largest vertebrate families, with on ...

, the Suguta tilapia (''Oreochromis niloticus sugutae''). Although the river dries up after the rainy season, the fish survive in pools. The river is also home to numerous crocodiles. Large flocks of flamingos inhabit the edge of the river.

References

Rivers of Kenya {{Kenya-river-stub

See also

References