Kerio Valley lies between the

Tugen Hills The Tugen Hills (also known as ''Saimo'') are a series of hills in Baringo County, Kenya. They are located in the central-western portion of Kenya. The Tugen Hills represent one of the few areas in Africa preserving a succession of deposits from ...

and the

Elgeyo Escarpment Elgeyo escarpment is a fault-scarp caused by post-Miocene faulting. Miocene beds are still visible. The escarpment is part of the western wall of the Great Rift Valley. The northwest part of Kenya has three main geographic zones running in parall ...

Kenya ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi ...

. It sits at an elevation of 1,000 meters in the

Great Rift Valley The Great Rift Valley is a series of contiguous geographic trenches, approximately in total length, that runs from Lebanon in Asia to Mozambique in Southeast Africa. While the name continues in some usages, it is rarely used in geology as it ...

Geography

The isolated Kerio Valley is situated in a narrow, long strip that is approximately 80 km by 10 km wide at its broadest, through which the

Kerio River The Kerio River is a river in Turkana County, Kenya. It flows northward into Lake Turkana. It is one of the longest rivers in Kenya, originating near the equator. Course The Kerio River rises on the north slopes of the Amasya Hills to the west ...

flows. deep, the valley lies between the

Cherangani Hills The Cherang'any Hills are a range of hills in the western highlands of Kenya. The hills are one of Kenya's five main forests and catchment areas. The highlands, the large central plateau, is divided by the Mau Escarpment which rises from the bor ...

and the

. The

rises more than above it in places. It has semi-tropical vegetation on the slopes, while the floor of the valley is covered by dry thorn bush. The most comfortable time of the year is in July and August, when the rains have ended and the temperatures are not excessive. The

Kerio Valley National Reserve The Kerio Valley National Reserve is a protected area in the Kerio Valley, Kenya, a branch of the Great Rift Valley. The reserve was created in 1983 and is managed by the Kenya Wildlife Service. The isolated Kerio Valley lies between the Cheran ...

has been established since 1983 along the Kerio River to the north of Lake Kamnarok.

Archaeological Activities

The Kerio Valley is the site of elaborate irrigation systems that were constructed during earlier periods of history. These structures are believed to have been built by descendants of the

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several p ...

Afro-Asiatic peoples who introduced domesticated plants and animals to the

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the mid-east region of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. There are five lak ...

region—a succession of societies collectively known as the ''Stone Bowl'' cultural complex. Most of these early northern migrants are said to have been absorbed by later movements of

Nilotic The Nilotic peoples are people indigenous to the Nile Valley who speak Nilotic languages. They inhabit South Sudan, Sudan, Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania. Among these are the Burun-sp ...

and

Bantu Bantu may refer to: *Bantu languages, constitute the largest sub-branch of the Niger–Congo languages *Bantu peoples, over 400 peoples of Africa speaking a Bantu language * Bantu knots, a type of African hairstyle *Black Association for National ...

peoples. Although the particular irrigation systems in the Kerio Valley are today maintained by the Marakwet subgroup of the Kalenjin Nilotes, the latter aver that they were the work of a northern people of peculiar language called the

Sirikwa The Sirikwa culture was the predominant Kenyan hinterland culture of the Pastoral Iron Age, c.2000 BP. Seen to have developed out of the Elmenteitan culture of the East African Pastoral Neolithic c.3300-1200 BP, it was followed in much of its ...

, who were later decimated by pestilence. According to the Marakwet, the Sirikwa "built the furrows, but they did not teach us how to build them; we only know how to keep them as they are." The missing link however reoccurs in Tanzania out of an ethnic community known as Iraqw. The Iraqw openly admit to be the masterminds behind the constructions and linked to the Engaruka complex in Tanzania. Sengwer ethnicity of Kalenjin and

Talai clan Talai is a town and a nagar panchayat in Bilaspur district in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. Demographics India census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members ...

of the Kipsigiis and Nandi are believed to be facets of the Iraqw who took a Kalenjin identity.

People

In Kimwarer in the southern part of the valley, fluoride is mined by the Kenya Fluorspar Company. The southern parts of the valley are settled by the Elgeyo people and the northern part by the

Marakwet people :''Marakwet is also a district in Kenya, see Marakwet District'' The Marakwet are one of the groups forming the ethnolinguistic Kalenjin community of Kenya, they speak the Markweta language. The Marakwet live in five territorial sections namely Al ...

Tugen people The Tugen are a sub tribe of the Kalenjin people alongside the Nandi, Kipsigis, Keiyo, Pokot, Marakwet, Sabaot, Ogiek, Lembus and Sengwer sub-tribes. They occupy Baringo County and some parts of Nakuru County and Elgeyo Marakwet County ...

live on the slopes of the Tugen Hills. These three groups together with the Nandi and the

Kipsigis Kipsigis may refer to: *the Kipsigis people of Kenya *Kipsigis language Kipsigis (or Kipsikii, Kipsikiis) is part of the Kenyan Kalenjin dialect cluster, It is spoken mainly in Kericho and Bomet counties in Kenya. The Kipsigis people are the m ...

belong to the Kalenjin people.

Notes

References

* * * * {{refend Valleys of Kenya Great Rift Valley

Geography

Archaeological Activities

People

Further reading

Notes

References