By Angela Kabiru, MAEASaM BIEA
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Lookout point over the Central Rift Valley
Nakuru is an exceptionally diverse heritage landscape and home to some of the most important archaeological sites for both early stone tool use and food production in eastern Africa. It is also a landscape that is seeing the rapid growth of urban settlement posing risk to these sites. As part of the project symposium, members spent a day travelling through the area discovering its history and visiting some of these remarkable sites. Angela Kabiru, from the BIEA, recounts the day’s events.
It was a warm and bright morning as we left the bustling Nairobi City centre and headed west into the Great Rift Valley. As we drove, we passed gardens filled with bananas, coffee, and vegetables. Our first stop was a lookout point revealing the vast expanse of the Great Central Rift Valley. Despite light mist obscuring the Mau Escarpment, the breathtaking view provided an opportunity to appreciate one of the world’s greatest geological formations up close. The narrow road used to transport us was built in 1944 by Italian prisoners of war. It descends to the valley floor before gradually ascending toward Lake Naivasha. This lake, situated at 1,884 metres above sea level, is the highest lake within Kenya’s Rift Valley and is surrounded by farms that produce many of the world-famous roses for export. The Naivasha Basin is also notable for its sources of grey obsidian which have been found at numerous archaeological sites across eastern Africa.
*Map produced by Nicolas Sagna, MAEASaM IFAN, University Cheick Anta Diop of Dakar.
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