Lake Magadi

lake, Kenya

Written and fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Article History

Lake Magadi, lake, in the Great Rift Valley, southern Kenya. Lake Magadi is 20 miles (32 km) long and 2 miles (3 km) wide and is located about 150 miles (240 km) east of Lake Victoria. It occupies the lowest level of a vast depression, and its bed consists almost entirely of solid or semisolid soda. It was explored by Captain E.G. Smith in 1904, who found the outline irregular and traversed by great ridges. Several streams, both cold and hot, the latter heavily impregnated with soda, flow into the lake, while all about springs of soda water gush up through the caked crust, dyeing the waters a vivid pink. A railway from Mombasa leads to the lake, from which salt and gypsum are extracted.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Amy Tikkanen.