The Suguta Valley, also known as the Suguta Mud Flats, is an arid part of the Great Rift Valley in
Kenya
Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...
The Suguta valley today is one of the driest parts of Kenya, with annual rainfall below .
Lake Logipi seasonally fills a small part of the northern end of the valley.
The valley has a relatively flat floor about above sea level.
It is bordered by land to the east and west rising to and dotted with volcanic cinder cones.
The Barrier Volcano, a broad volcanic complex, separates the valley from Lake Turkana.
Mount Ngiro rises to the east of the Suguta valley.
The Losiolo Escarpment, rising above the valley floor on the east side near Maralal provides one of the most dramatic views of the Kenyan rift valley.
Namarunu, a volcano active in historic times, extends into the valley from the western wall.
The Suguta Valley lies along the axis of the Gregory Rift, which has been faulting in this area since the
Pliocene
The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch (geology), epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.33 to 2.58Loriu Plateau to the west and is thicker in the eastern part. Exposed volcanic rocks include
basalt
Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...
s,
tuff
Tuff is a type of rock made of volcanic ash ejected from a vent during a volcanic eruption. Following ejection and deposition, the ash is lithified into a solid rock. Rock that contains greater than 75% ash is considered tuff, while rock co ...
s and ash formed between 4.2 and 3.8 million years ago, the products of trachytic volcanism from 3,8 to 2.6 million years ago and basaltic and alkali basaltic rocks created from that period until the present.
In the early Pliocene the least horizontal stress direction - the direction of rift expansion - was NW-SE.
Hydrology
Lake Suguta once filled the valley, at times overflowing into Lake Turkana.
The lake level rose and fell several times in the last 18,000 years due to changes in rainfall during the African Humid Period that lasted from 14,800 to 5,500 years ago.
The lake level began to drop about 8,000 years ago, falling by .
The valley is drained by a seasonal stream, the Suguta River, which in the rainy season forms the temporary Lake Alablad, a playa lake that combines with Lake Logipi at the northern end of the valley.
In the dry season saline hot springs help maintain water levels in Lake Logipi, which is about to at its greatest depth, about wide and wide.
Ecology
The saline waters provide food for cyano-bacteria and other plankton, which in turn are food for
flamingo
Flamingos or flamingoes () are a type of wading bird in the family Phoenicopteridae, which is the only extant family in the order Phoenicopteriformes. There are four flamingo species distributed throughout the Americas (including the Caribbe ...
es.
Due to the inaccessibility and harsh climate, with high temperatures, only the most determined tourists visit the site.
The valley is used as a hide-out by Pokot and Turkana cattle rustlers. It is considered a "no go" region by the police due to the extremely harsh environment and familiarity of the rustlers with the terrain.
November 2012 Police Killings
In November 2012 over 40
Kenya Police
The Kenya Police Service is a national body in charge of law enforcement in Kenya. It is subordinate to the National Police Service which is headed by an Inspector General of Police who exercises independent command over the Service. Kenya Po ...
officers and reservists were killed in the Suguta Valley near Baragoi while on a mission to recover stolen cattle.