The largest desert lake and the largest permanent lake in the world's deserts, often called the 'Jade Sea'.
Surface area
6,405 km²
Maximum depth
about 109 m
Elevation
360 m
Continent
Africa
Countries
Kenya & Ethiopia
Did you know?
Algae give Turkana a striking jade-green colour, and it is the world's largest permanent desert lake.
Little-known fact
Its shores are a treasure house of human origins, where some of the oldest human ancestor fossils have been found.
Highlights
- Largest permanent desert lake
- The jade-green 'Jade Sea'
- A cradle of human fossils
Life in the Lake Turkana
The fish and animals, waterbirds and water plants — including some of the rarest — that this water supports.
Animals & fish
Nile crocodile
Africa’s largest crocodile and a patient ambush hunter little changed since the age of dinosaurs.
Hippopotamus
Africa’s river giant spends its days submerged and is, pound for pound, among the continent’s most dangerous animals.
Waterbirds
Greater flamingo
A tall, rose-tinted wader that filters tiny shrimp and algae from shallow salt and soda lakes.
African fish eagle
The ringing call of this black-white-and-chestnut raptor is the iconic “voice of Africa” by the water.
Great white pelican
A huge waterbird that fishes in co-ordinated flotillas, herding fish into its enormous pouch.
Interactive · 3D dive
How deep does a lake go?
A lake is layered from the sunlit, weed-filled shallows down to a cold, dark bed. Tap a zone to dive the submersible through the water column — and meet the life that belongs at each depth.
Tip: hover the column to tilt it · tap a layer to dive
Littoral Zone
The warm, bright band close to shore where sunlight reaches the bottom. Reeds, water lilies and rooted plants grow thickly here, making it the busiest, most crowded part of the whole lake.
Who lives here