| Overview | Things to do | Suitability | Country Info (Kenya) |
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Tourism in the area has increased over the past years, hence Baringo is no longer a place off the beaten track. Still, at the lake's shores you can enjoy a peaceful mood very different from the most crowded parks.
Its chocolate waters, stained with the region's soil, change in tonality along the day and depending on the sky's colour. The lake is not officially ranked as a protected area, but it is the shelter for more than 400 bird species that give the area its main attractive appearance. The lake is -or used to be- a quiet and solitary oasis embedded in the abrupt and arid land that foresees the northern deserts. Until the end of the 19th century, Baringo and Bogoria were only visited by the slaves caravans; the remains of Fort Baringo, are still visible there. The lake was first described by Joseph Thomson in 1883. Nine years later, in 1892, the English geologist J.W. Gregory explained the Rift Valley creation from his observations at Baringo. Locality: Lake Baringo is at the threshold of Northern Kenya, and its freshwaters are an oasis in the arid plains. It is part of the Great Rift Valley, the Earth's great scar, which in Kenya is fringed by a string of lakes. After the huge Turkana, Baringo is the northernmost and the largest, with 130 km². Together with Naivasha, Baringo offers the only freshwater shallow in the Kenyan Rift. |
