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Aberdares
The Aberdare Range (formerly the Sattima Range, Kikuyu: ''Nyandarua'') is a 160 km (100 mile) long mountain range of upland, north of Kenya's capital Nairobi with an average elevation of . It straddles across the counties of Nyandarua, Nyeri, Muranga, Kiambu and Laikipia. The mountain range is located in west central Kenya, northeast of Naivasha and Gilgil and lies just south of the Equator. The mountain range is called Nyandarua among the Agikuyu people in whose territory this forest and mountain range is located. The name Nyandarua comes from the Kikuyu word rwandarua meaning a drying hide, due to the distinctive fold of its silhouette. Topology The Aberdare Range forms a section of the eastern rim of the Great Rift Valley running roughly north to south. On the west, the range falls off steeply into the Kinangop Plateau and then into the Great Rift Valley. On the east, the range slopes more gently. Lake Naivasha and the distant Mau Escarpment can be seen from peaks in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mount Kinangop
Mount Kinangop (or Ilkinangop) is a mountain in the southern Aberdare Range about north of Nairobi, Kenya. It is within the Aberdare National Park. A dormant volcano, Kinangop overlooks the Kinangop Plateau to the west and the Great Rift Valley, Kenya, Great Rift Valley beyond. Kinangop is the second-highest mountain in the Aberdares after Mount Satima. The lower levels of the mountain have extensive bamboo forests. Higher up it is covered by tussock grasses. The main peak is a rocky outcrop surrounded by open moorlands. Due to the height, temperatures are cool and may drop below freezing at night. References Sources * * * * {{refend Mountains of Kenya, Kinangop ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kinangop Plateau
The Kinangop Plateau is a region in Kenya that lies between the Kenyan Rift Valley to the west and the Aberdare Range to the east. It takes its name from Kinangop Mountain, which rises in the Aberdares to the east. Geographical features The edge of the plateau is about in elevation. The plateau is relatively flat, sloping gradually upwards towards the foothills of the Aberdares. Rainfall is around annually, with more rainfall in the north than the south. Streams that feed the Malewa and Karati rivers have cut into the plateau. These rivers in turn flow into Lake Naivasha. Soils include ando‐luvic and verto‐luvic phaeozems. At one time the plateau was almost completely covered in tussocky grassland with very few trees. The stream valleys had many tussocky bogs. Colonial era After a railway was built, in the 1920s to 1940s the Wanjohi Valley became a British settler community that gained notoriety as the "Happy Valley set". The immigrants bought land at low cost to raise ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mount Satima
Mount Satima, also known as Mount Lesatima and often abbreviated to Satima or Lesatima, is the third-highest mountain in Kenya and the highest in the Aberdare Range. The Maasai name is Oldoinyo Lesatima, which has a variety of alternative spellings, such as Ol Donyo Le Satima, and means "mountain of the bull calf". The peak lies at the northern end of the Aberdares, which themselves are along the eastern side of the Great Rift Valley, and is their highest point. Around it stand a number of sharp volcanic cones called "the Dragon's Teeth". There are moraines between and on the north west of the mountain. One book on Kenya has called the mountain itself "a craggy bluff of rock and tussock grass around which the clouds swirl".Mohamed Amin, Duncan Willetts, Brian Tetley, ''Kenya: the magic land'' (Bodley Head, 1988), p. 126 See also Maasai people , Aberdare Range , Cloud forest A cloud forest, also called a water forest, primas forest, or tropical montane cloud forest ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mount Kenya
Mount Kenya (Kikuyu language, Kikuyu: ''Kĩrĩnyaga'', Kamba language, Kamba, ''Ki Nyaa'') is the highest mountain in Kenya and the Highest mountain peaks of Africa, second-highest in Africa, after Mount Kilimanjaro, Kilimanjaro. The highest peaks of the mountain are Batian (), Nelion () and Point Lenana (). Mount Kenya is located in the former Eastern Province (Kenya), Eastern and Central Province (Kenya), Central provinces of Kenya; its peak is now the intersection of Meru County, Meru, Embu County, Embu, Laikipia County, Laikipia, Kirinyaga County, Kirinyaga, Nyeri County, Nyeri and Tharaka Nithi County, Tharaka Nithi counties, about south of the equator, around north-northeast of the capital Nairobi. Mount Kenya is the source of the name of the Kenya, Republic of Kenya. Mount Kenya is a volcano created approximately 3 million years after the opening of the East African Rift. Before glaciation, it was high. It was covered by an ice cap for thousands of years. This has resul ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Great Rift Valley, Kenya
The Great Rift Valley is part of an intra-continental ridge system that runs through Kenya from north to south. It is part of the Gregory Rift, the eastern branch of the East African Rift, which starts in Tanzania to the south and continues northward into Ethiopia. It was formed on the "Kenyan Dome" a geographical upwelling created by the interactions of three major tectonics: the Arabian, Nubian, and Somalian plates. In the past, it was seen as part of a " Great Rift Valley" that ran from Madagascar to Syria. Most of the valley falls within the former Rift Valley Province. The valley contains the Cherangani Hills and a chain of volcanoes, some of which are still active. The climate is mild, with temperatures usually below . Most rain falls during the March–June and October–November periods. The Tugen Hills to the west of Lake Baringo contain fossils preserved in lava flows from the period 14 to 4 million years ago. The relics of many hominids, ancestors of humans, have ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bamboo
Bamboos are a diverse group of evergreen perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family. The origin of the word "bamboo" is uncertain, but it probably comes from the Dutch or Portuguese language, which originally borrowed it from Malay or Kannada. In bamboo, as in other grasses, the internodal regions of the stem are usually hollow and the vascular bundles in the cross-section are scattered throughout the stem instead of in a cylindrical arrangement. The dicotyledonous woody xylem is also absent. The absence of secondary growth wood causes the stems of monocots, including the palms and large bamboos, to be columnar rather than tapering. Bamboos include some of the fastest-growing plants in the world, due to a unique rhizome-dependent system. Certain species of bamboo can grow within a 24-hour period, at a rate of almost an hour (equivalent to 1 mm every 90 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ecosystem
An ecosystem (or ecological system) consists of all the organisms and the physical environment with which they interact. These biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Energy enters the system through photosynthesis and is incorporated into plant tissue. By feeding on plants and on one another, animals play an important role in the movement of matter and energy through the system. They also influence the quantity of plant and microbial biomass present. By breaking down dead organic matter, decomposers release carbon back to the atmosphere and facilitate nutrient cycling by converting nutrients stored in dead biomass back to a form that can be readily used by plants and microbes. Ecosystems are controlled by external and internal Environmental factor, factors. External factors such as climate, parent material which forms the soil and topography, control the overall structure of an ecosystem but are not themselves influe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rainforest
Rainforests are characterized by a closed and continuous tree canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforest can be classified as tropical rainforest or temperate rainforest, but other types have been described. Estimates vary from 40% to 75% of all biotic species being indigenous to the rainforests. There may be many millions of species of plants, insects and microorganisms still undiscovered in tropical rainforests. Tropical rainforests have been called the "jewels of the Earth" and the " world's largest pharmacy", because over one quarter of natural medicines have been discovered there. Rainforests as well as endemic rainforest species are rapidly disappearing due to deforestation, the resulting habitat loss and pollution of the atmosphere. Definition Rainforest are characterized by a closed and continuous tree canopy, high humidity, the presence of moisture-dependent vegetation, a moist layer of le ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Moorland
Moorland or moor is a type of habitat found in upland areas in temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands and montane grasslands and shrublands biomes, characterised by low-growing vegetation on acidic soils. Moorland, nowadays, generally means uncultivated hill land (such as Dartmoor in South West England), but also includes low-lying wetlands (such as Sedgemoor, also South West England). It is closely related to heath, although experts disagree on what precisely distinguishes these types of vegetation. Generally, moor refers to highland and high rainfall zones, whereas heath refers to lowland zones which are more likely to be the result of human activity. Moorland habitats mostly occur in tropical Africa, northern and western Europe, and neotropical South America. Most of the world's moorlands are diverse ecosystems. In the extensive moorlands of the tropics, biodiversity can be extremely high. Moorland also bears a relationship to tundra (where the subsoil is permafr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elephant
Elephants are the largest existing land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant, the African forest elephant, and the Asian elephant. They are the only surviving members of the family Elephantidae and the order Proboscidea. The order was formerly much more diverse during the Pleistocene, but most species became extinct during the Late Pleistocene epoch. Distinctive features of elephants include a long proboscis called a trunk, tusks, large ear flaps, pillar-like legs, and tough but sensitive skin. The trunk is used for breathing, bringing food and water to the mouth, and grasping objects. Tusks, which are derived from the incisor teeth, serve both as weapons and as tools for moving objects and digging. The large ear flaps assist in maintaining a constant body temperature as well as in communication. African elephants have larger ears and concave backs, whereas Asian elephants have smaller ears, and convex or level backs. Elepha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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