Sunset on Lake Nakuru's flooded trees

There are many lakes along the length of the African Rift Valley, which runs from the Red Sea in the north to Mozambique in the south. Kenya’s eastern Rift Valley has a string of eight lakes.

The Rift Valley is subject to ongoing plate tectonics and crustal movement that can affect the lakes. The recent rises, though, are directly associated with above-average rainfall. The lakes have been even higher in the past, and with rainfall in the Rift Valley Basin being on a rising rainfall trend, higher lake levels can be expected in the future.

Lakes Nakuru, Bogoria, and Baringo have risen to their highest levels in decades, inundating roads and building infrastructure, yet they also are not as high as they were in the early part of the last century.