Famously known as the Jade Sea because of its deep green colour. It is a huge inland lake surrounded by semi-desert near the Ethiopian border. The brown Omo River flows from Ethiopian highlands into the northern part of the lake, where the water is fairly fresh but becomes increasingly saline further south due to high evaporation. The lake has the highest number of crocodiles due to the bitter alkaline waters that renders their skin useless for commercial trade thus not hunted and grow to abnormal sizes.
It's also home to unique fossil and archaeological discoveries. Sibiloi National Park (The Cradle of Mankind) was created on the north-eastern lakeshore to conserve these remarkable discoveries about human evolution. The lake's South and Central Islands were designated national parks because of their outstanding wildlife breeding habitats especially for the Nile crocodiles.
Lake Turkana water serves the entire community and the park makes a perfect location for birders as aquatic birds are in plenty like the pink backed pelican, greater flamingo, spur winged plover and African skimmer.
