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Lake Turkana National Parks

Kenya
Date of Inscription: 1997
Extension: 2001
Criteria: (viii)(x)
Core zone: 161485 ha
N3 3 4.7 E36 30 13.2
Ref: 801bis

Brief Description

The most saline of Africa's large lakes, Turkana is an outstanding laboratory for the study of plant and animal communities. The three National Parks serve as a stopover for migrant waterfowl and are major breeding grounds for the Nile crocodile, hippopotamus and a variety of venomous snakes. The Koobi Fora deposits, rich in mammalian, molluscan and other fossil remains, have contributed more to the understanding of paleo-environments than any other site on the continent.

Justification for Inscription

The Committee inscribed this property on the basis of natural criteria (viii) and (x) for the discoveries of mammal fossil remains in the site which led to the scientific reconstruction of the palaeo-environment of the entire Turkana Lake basin of the Quarternary Period. The Lake Turkana ecosystem with its diverse bird life and desert environment offers an exceptional laboratory for studies of plant and animal communities.

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