Qualla: Lake Turkana https://qualla.com/lake-turkana en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:29 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/s/b/9/x/lake-turkana-wk/hero-small.webp Qualla: Lake Turkana https://qualla.com/lake-turkana Lake Turkana: Introduction https://qualla.com/lake-turkana/ Photo credit AdamPG, CC BY-SA 3.0. The water is green. Not the friendly green of a temperate lake on a summer afternoon, but a deep, mineral jade that gave Lake Turkana its other name: the Jade Sea. Stretching 250 kilometers through Kenya's northern desert, fed by the Omo River flowing south from Ethiopia, this is the largest permanent desert lake on the planet and the largest alkaline lake in Africa. Its waters are too saline to drink. Its winds can capsize a boat without warning. Its shores teem with Nile crocodiles. At its deepest, the lake plunges to 109 meters. And yet, for at least three and a half million years, hominids have chosen to live here, making the land around Lake Turkana one of the most important fossil sites in the story of human origins.

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Image: AdamPG | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Tue, 24 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/b/9/x/lake-turkana-wk/sb9x-lake-turkana-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Lake Turkana: The Cradle No One Expected https://qualla.com/lake-turkana/ Photo credit Maingi030, CC BY-SA 4.0. Sibiloi National Park, on the lake's northeastern shore, has earned the title "Cradle of Mankind" for the fossils pulled from its sediments. In 1984, a team led by Richard Leakey and Kamoya Kimeu discovered a near-complete Homo erectus skeleton on the lake's western shore. The sp...

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Image: Maingi030 | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Tue, 24 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/b/9/x/lake-turkana-wk/sb9x-lake-turkana-the-cradle-no-one-expected.mp3 0:06 2 full Lake Turkana: Crocodile Island and Volcanic Fire https://qualla.com/lake-turkana/ Photo credit Kreuzschnabel, CC BY-SA 3.0. Central Island rises from the middle of the lake, a cluster of over a dozen volcanic cones whose crater lakes serve as some of the most important Nile crocodile breeding grounds in Africa. The island is also called Crocodile Island, and the name is not metaphorical. Reaching it r...

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Image: Kreuzschnabel | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Tue, 24 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/b/9/x/lake-turkana-wk/sb9x-lake-turkana-crocodile-island-and-volcanic-fire.mp3 0:06 3 full Lake Turkana: The People of the Jade Sea https://qualla.com/lake-turkana/ Photo credit Thomas Kujawa, CC BY-SA 2.0. Two peoples define life on Lake Turkana's shores today. The El Molo, numbering perhaps a thousand, are one of Kenya's smallest ethnic groups. They live on the southeastern shore, fishing the alkaline waters and hunting hippos as their ancestors did, though their traditional way o...

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Image: Thomas Kujawa | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Tue, 24 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/b/9/x/lake-turkana-wk/sb9x-lake-turkana-the-people-of-the-jade-sea.mp3 0:06 4 full Lake Turkana: Getting There Is the Point https://qualla.com/lake-turkana/ Photo credit Jeffmugendi, CC BY-SA 4.0. Lake Turkana does not welcome casual visitors. From Marsabit to the east, the journey by matatu takes eight to ten hours over rough roads with no food stops along the way. From Lodwar to the west, dirt tracks lead to the remote village of Eliye Springs, where white sand beaches m...

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Image: Jeffmugendi | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Tue, 24 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/b/9/x/lake-turkana-wk/sb9x-lake-turkana-getting-there-is-the-point.mp3 0:06 5 full