The Southern Eastern Rift is a

freshwater ecoregion An ecoregion (ecological region) is an ecological and geographic area that exists on multiple different levels, defined by type, quality, and quantity of environmental resources. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of land or water, and c ...

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. ...

and

Tanzania Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...

. It occupies the southern end of the Eastern Rift Valley, or Gregory Rift, and includes a number of closed or

endorheic basin An endorheic basin ( ; also endoreic basin and endorreic basin) is a drainage basin that normally retains water and allows no outflow to other external bodies of water (e.g. rivers and oceans); instead, the water drainage flows into permanent ...

s which drain into central lakes with no outlet to the sea. The Southern Eastern Rift extends 700 km, from central Kenya to Central Tanzania. The Eastern Rift Valley is 50 to 100 km wide for most of its length, but widens out at its southern end. The lake basins are, from north to south,

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 ...

Lake Bogoria Lake Bogoria (formerly Lake Hannington) is a saline, alkaline lake that lies in a volcanic region in a half-graben basin south of Lake Baringo, Kenya, a little north of the equator. Lake Bogoria, like Lake Nakuru, Lake Elementeita, and Lake Ma ...

Lake Nakuru Lake Nakuru is one of the Rift Valley lakes, located at an elevation of above sea level. It lies to the south of Nakuru, in the rift valley of Kenya and is protected by Lake Nakuru National Park. About 10,000 years ago, Lake Nakuru, together wi ...

Lake Naivasha Lake Naivasha is a freshwater lake in Kenya, outside the town of Naivasha in Nakuru County, which lies north west of Nairobi. It is situated in the Great Rift Valley. The name derives from the local Maasai name ''ɛnaɨpɔ́sha '', meaning ...

Lake Elementaita Lake Elmenteita is a soda lake, in the Great Rift Valley, about 120 km northwest of Nairobi, Kenya. Geography Elmenteita is derived from the Maasai word , meaning "dust place", a reference to the dryness and dustiness of the area, esp ...

, and

Lake Magadi Lake Magadi is the southernmost lake in the Kenyan Rift Valley, lying in a catchment of faulted volcanic rocks, north of Tanzania's Lake Natron. During the dry season, it is 80% covered by soda and is known for its wading birds, including f ...

in Kenya, and

Lake Natron Lake Natron is a salt lake, salt or soda lake, alkaline lake located in north Ngorongoro District of Arusha Region in Tanzania with its far northern end crossing into Kenya. It is in the Gregory Rift, which is the eastern branch of the East A ...

Lake Manyara Lake Manyara also known as Lake Moya among the Iraqw people is a lake located in Monduli District of Arusha Region, Tanzania and is the seventh-largest lake of Tanzania by surface area, at . It is a shallow, alkaline lake in the Natron-Manyara-B ...

, Lake Burungi,

Lake Eyasi Lake Eyasi (; formerly , "Njarasa Lake", and ''Hohenlohesee'', "Hohenlohe Lake") is a lake located in Karatu District of Arusha Region in north Tanzania. Lake Eyasi is the largest body of water in Arusha region. It is a seasonal shallow endorhei ...

Lake Kitangiri A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from t ...

, Lake Balangida,

Lake Singida A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from t ...

, and

Lake Sulunga Lake Sulunga, also known as Bahi Swamp, is a shallow seasonal lake on the border of the Dodoma Region, Dodoma and Singida regions In Tanzania. It is the largest body of water for both regions during the wet season. It is located about 45 km we ...

in Tanzania."Southern Eastern Rift" "Freshwater Ecoregions of the World". Accessed 19 September 2019

/ref> In the Kenyan portion of the Southern Eastern Rift,

Northern Acacia–Commiphora bushlands and thickets The Northern ''Acacia''–''Commiphora'' bushlands and thickets are a tropical grasslands, savannas and shrublands ecoregion in eastern Africa. The ecoregion is mostly located in Kenya, extending north into southeastern South Sudan, northeastern ...

occupies the rift valley floor, with

East African montane forests The East African montane forests is a montane tropical moist forest ecoregion of eastern Africa. The ecoregion comprises several separate areas above 2000 meters in the mountains of South Sudan, Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania. Geography The East Af ...

along the high eastern and western escarpments. In the Tanzanian portion,

Serengeti volcanic grasslands The Serengeti volcanic grasslands is a tropical grassland ecoregion of Tanzania. The Serengeti volcanic grasslands are distinctive grasslands growing on deposits of volcanic ash in northern Tanzania. It includes the eastern portion of Serengeti ...

occur east and west of the

Ngorongoro Highlands The Crater Highlands or Ngorongoro Volcanic Highlands (''Milima kasoko ya Ngorongoro '', in Swahili) are a geological region along the East African Rift in the Arusha Region and parts of northern Manyara Region in north Tanzania. The Crater H ...

. The plateau itself, along with

Mount Meru Mount Meru (Sanskrit/Pali: मेरु)—also known as Sumeru, Sineru or Mahāmeru—is a sacred, five-peaked mountain present within Hindu, Jain and Buddhist cosmologies, revered as the centre of all physical, metaphysical and spiritua ...

and

Mount Kilimanjaro Mount Kilimanjaro () is a dormant volcano in Tanzania. It is the highest mountain in Africa and the highest free-standing mountain above sea level in the world, at above sea level and above its plateau base. It is also the highest volcano i ...

, are covered in

. Further south,

Southern Acacia–Commiphora bushlands and thickets The Southern ''Acacia''–''Commiphora'' bushlands and thickets is a tropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands ecoregion in Tanzania and Kenya. It includes portions of Serengeti National Park and Ngorongoro Conservation Area, which are desig ...

occupy the

Tarangire River — River mouth The Tarangire River is a perennial river located in central Manyara Region in the eastern branch of the East African Rift Valley, within northern Tanzania. Course The headwaters of the Tarangire River are in the highlands ...

valley, the basin of

, and the lowlands south and west of

. Miombo woodlands occupy the southern and eastern watershed of the

Wembere River The Wembere River is a river located in north western Singida Region, Tanzania. The river is part of the water basin of Lake Eyasi. The Wembere River originates in hilly country in central Tanzania at 6.0º south, and flows northwards through ...

and the

Mbulu Highlands The Mbulu Highlands is a plateau in north-central Tanzania. Geography The Mbulu Highlands lie between the basins of Lake Eyasi to the west and Lake Manyara to the east. The plateau ranges from 1500 to 2300 meters in elevation. The highlands exte ...

, which divide the Lake Eyasi basin from the Lake Manyara, Tarangire, and Lake Sulunga lowlands. Enclaves of East African montane forest occur at higher elevations in the Mbulu Highlands and

Mount Hanang Mount Hanang is a mountain in northern Tanzania. The peak has an elevation of 3,420 m above sea level. Hanang is located in Manyara Region's Hanang District. It is (after Mount Kilimanjaro, Mount Meru and Mount Loolmalasin) the fourth-highest ...

. In the Itigi District are Itigi–Sumbu thickets.

References

Ecoregions of Kenya Ecoregions of Tanzania Endorheic basins of Africa Freshwater ecoregions of Africa Geography of Kenya Geography of Tanzania Great Rift Valley {{ecoregion-stub