The Southern Eastern Rift is a

freshwater ecoregion An ecoregion (ecological region) or ecozone (ecological zone) is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a bioregion, which in turn is smaller than a biogeographic realm. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of l ...

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

and

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and ...

. It occupies the southern end of the

Eastern Rift Valley The Gregory Rift is the eastern branch of the East African Rift fracture system. The rift is being caused by the separation of the Somali plate from the Nubian plate, driven by a thermal plume. Although the term is sometimes used in the narrow se ...

, or Gregory Rift, and includes a number of closed or

endorheic basin An endorheic basin (; also spelled endoreic basin or endorreic basin) is a drainage basin that normally retains water and allows no outflow to other external bodies of water, such as rivers or oceans, but drainage converges instead into lakes ...

s which drain into central lakes with no outlet to the sea. The Southern Eastern Rift extends 700 km, from central Kenya to Central Tanzania. The Eastern Rift Valley is 50 to 100 km wide for most of its length, but widens out at its southern end. The lake basins are, from north to south,

Lake Baringo Lake Baringo is, after Lake Turkana, the most northern of the Kenyan Rift Valley lakes, with a surface area of and an elevation of . The lake is fed by several rivers: the Molo, Perkerra and Ol Arabel. It has no obvious outlet; the waters ar ...

Lake Bogoria Lake Bogoria (formerly Lake Hannington) is a saline, alkaline lake that lies in a volcanic region in a half-graben basin south of Lake Baringo, Kenya, a little north of the equator. Lake Bogoria, like Lake Nakuru, Lake Elementeita, and Lake Maga ...

Lake Nakuru Lake Nakuru is one of the Rift Valley lakes at an elevation of above sea level. It lies to the south of Nakuru, in the rift valley of Kenya and is protected by Lake Nakuru National Park. The lake's abundance of algae used to attract a vast qu ...

Lake Naivasha Lake Naivasha is a freshwater lake in Kenya, outside the town of Naivasha in Nakuru County, which lies north west of Nairobi. It is part of the Great Rift Valley. The name derives from the local Maasai name ''Nai'posha'', meaning "rough wate ...

Lake Elementaita Lake Elmenteita is a soda lake, in the Great Rift Valley, about 120 km northwest of Nairobi, Kenya. Geography Elmenteita is derived from the Maasai word , meaning "dust place", a reference to the dryness and dustiness of the area, espec ...

, and

Lake Magadi Lake Magadi is the southernmost lake in the Kenyan Rift Valley, lying in a catchment of faulted volcanic rocks, north of Tanzania's Lake Natron. During the dry season, it is 80% covered by soda and is well known for its wading birds, including f ...

in Kenya, and

Lake Natron Lake Natron is a salt or alkaline lake located in north Ngorongoro District of Arusha Region in Tanzania. It is in the Gregory Rift, which is the eastern branch of the East African Rift. The lake is within the Lake Natron Basin, a Ramsar Site ...

Lake Manyara Lake Manyara is a lake located in Monduli District of Arusha Region, Tanzania and is the seventh-largest lake of Tanzania by surface area, at . It is a shallow, alkaline lake in the Natron-Manyara-Balangida branch of the East African Rift. The n ...

, Lake Burungi,

Lake Eyasi Lake Eyasi (formerly german: Njarasasee, "Njarasa Lake", and ''Hohenlohesee'', "Hohenlohe Lake") is a lake located in Karatu District of Arusha Region in north Tanzania. Lake Eyasi is the largest body of water in Arusha region. It is a seasonal ...

, Lake Kitangiri, Lake Balangida, Lake Singida, and Lake Sulunga in Tanzania."Southern Eastern Rift" "Freshwater Ecoregions of the World". Accessed 19 September 2019

/ref> In the Kenyan portion of the Southern Eastern Rift,

Northern Acacia–Commiphora bushlands and thickets The Northern ''Acacia''–''Commiphora'' bushlands and thickets are a tropical grasslands, savannas and shrublands ecoregion in eastern Africa. The ecoregion is mostly located in Kenya, extending north into southeastern South Sudan, northeastern ...

occupies the rift valley floor, with

East African montane forests The East African montane forests is a montane tropical moist forest ecoregion of eastern Africa. The ecoregion comprises several separate areas above 2000 meters in the mountains of South Sudan, Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania. Geography The East Afr ...

along the high eastern and western escarpments. In the Tanzanian portion,

Serengeti volcanic grasslands The Serengeti volcanic grasslands is a tropical grassland ecoregion of Tanzania. The Serengeti volcanic grasslands are distinctive grasslands growing on deposits of volcanic ash in northern Tanzania. It includes the eastern portion of Serengeti N ...

occur east and west of the

Ngorongoro Highlands The Crater Highlands (Ngorongoro Highlands) are a geological region along the East African Rift in the Arusha Region Arusha City is a Tanzanian city and the regional capital of the Arusha Region, with a population of 416,442 plus 323,198 ...

. The plateau itself, along with

Mount Meru Mount Meru (Sanskrit/Pali: मेरु), also known as Sumeru, Sineru or Mahāmeru, is the sacred five-peaked mountain of Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist cosmology and is considered to be the centre of all the physical, metaphysical and spiritu ...

and

Mount Kilimanjaro Mount Kilimanjaro () is a dormant volcano in Tanzania. It has three volcanic cones: Kibo, Mawenzi, and Shira. It is the highest mountain in Africa and the highest free-standing mountain above sea level in the world: above sea level and ab ...

, are covered in

. Further south, Southern Acacia–Commiphora bushlands and thickets occupy the

Tarangire River The Tarangire River is a perennial river located in central Manyara Region in the eastern branch of the East African Rift Valley, within northern Tanzania. Course The headwaters of the Tarangire River are in the highlands and escarpments of Baba ...

valley, the basin of Lake Sulunga, and the lowlands south and west of

Miombo woodlands The Miombo woodland is a tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome (in the World Wide Fund for Nature scheme) located primarily in Central Africa. It includes four woodland savanna ecoregions (listed below) characterized b ...

occupy the southern and eastern watershed of the Wembere River and the

Mbulu Highlands The Mbulu Highlands is a plateau in north-central Tanzania. The Mbulu Highlands lie between the basins of Lake Eyasi to the west and Lake Manyara to the east. The highlands extend northeast-southwest. A steep northeast-southwest-running escarpme ...

, which divide the Lake Eyasi basin from the Lake Manyara, Tarangire, and Lake Sulunga lowlands. Enclaves of East African montane forest occur at higher elevations in the Mbulu Highlands and Mount Hanang. In the Itigi District are Itigi–Sumbu thickets.

References

Ecoregions of Kenya Ecoregions of Tanzania Endorheic basins of Africa Freshwater ecoregions of Africa Geography of Kenya Geography of Tanzania Great Rift Valley {{ecoregion-stub