The Nandi Escarpment is an escarpment in Nandi County, Kenya. It marks the boundary between Kisumu and Nandi counties. It consists of numerous massive geological rocks ,one being Nandi rock. Monkeys and baboons are among common wildlife sightings.

Location

The escarpment lies on the border between

Kakamega County Kakamega County is a county in the former Western Province of Kenya and borders Vihiga County to the South, Siaya County to the West, Bungoma and Trans Nzoia counties to the North and Nandi and Uasin Gishu counties to the East. Its capital an ...

and

Nandi County Nandi County is a county in Kenya in the North Rift, occupying an area of 2,884.4 square kilometres. Its capital, Kapsabet, is the largest town in the county while other towns include Mosoriot, Tinderet, Kobujoi, Kaiboi, Kabiyet and Nandi ...

. It defines the western edge of the central highlands of Kenya. The escarpment lies between the North Nandi Forest to the east and the

Kakamega Forest Kakamega Forest is a tropical rainforest situated in the Kakamega County, Kakamega and Nandi_County, Nandi County of Kenya, northwest of the capital Nairobi, and near to the border with Uganda. It is Kenya's only tropical rainforest and is said to ...

to the west. The North Nandi Forest is a strip of high-canopy forest about long from north to south and wide that runs along the rim of the escarpment. To the west the Kakamega Forest, a mid-altitude tropical rainforest, lies below the escarpment in the Lake Victoria catchment.

Description

The main scarp rises from around . The rugged terrain includes granite and volcanic rock. The

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

is Am : Tropical monsoon climate. The

Yala River {{Infobox river , name = Yala River , image = YalaRiver.JPG , image_size = , image_caption = Yala river within Kakamega rainforest, western Kenya , image_alt = , map = , map ...

rises below the escarpment. The scarp marks the boundary between the

Nandi people The Nandi are part of the Kalenjin, a Nilotic tribe living in East Africa. The Nandi ethnic group live with close association and relation with the Kipsigis tribe. They traditionally have lived and still form the majority in the highland areas ...

to the east and the

Luhya people The Luhya (also known as ''Abaluyia'' or Luyia) comprise a number of Bantu ethnic groups native to western Kenya. They are divided into 20 culturally and linguistically related tribes. ''Luhya'' refers to both the 20 Luhya clans and their respe ...

to the west. The Sheu Morobi cliffs in the escarpment used to be used by old Nandi people to commit suicide so their family did not have to care for them. This was considered an honorable action, and would follow special rituals and a last meal. The name means "there we go forever".

Notes

Sources

* * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nandi Escarpment Escarpments of Kenya