Mondo Knows Facts

Lake Turkana is the largest desert lake

It sits in dry country in northern Kenya and its water is alkaline and slightly saline The lake has no outlet and depends on the Omo River, which rises in the Ethiopian highlands. Its green colour comes from algae that thrive in the warm, mineral-rich water. The surrounding basin has produced some of the most important early human fossils ever found. It sits in Mondo's world geography collection, one of 200 facts that each trace back to the reference below.

Where this comes from

UNESCO World Heritage Centre

Facts that can change over time are reviewed and updated. If something here looks wrong, Mondo would rather know than be confidently incorrect.

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Tags: lakes, kenya, fossils

Lake Turkana is the largest desert lake: the short answers

Where does this come from, and can I check it?
It sits in dry country in northern Kenya and its water is alkaline and slightly saline. The figure is taken from UNESCO World Heritage Centre, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
Is this really a world geography fact?
Yes. It sits on the World Geography shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
What else can I read about it?
The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.