Plate Tectonic Tour: Post #5: East Africa Rift

Hey! So unfortunately, I had to depart from my friends professor Sasha and Chef (a scientist in disguise... but dang is the sushi good... good sake too... ok stop dreaming...) Takashima... they decided they'd work together to make a huge profit and become rich. A professor who rents places combined with a sushi-making scientist? Ohhhhhh heck yeah... I'll watch out for those guys in the next few years and if they get rich, I'll ask for some money and say "Do you remember me?"

Anyways, the next part of this tour is Africa. Yuppp where the lions roar and the zebras hop... or are those kangaroos? No, their giraffes... well actually giraffes are really tall. Did you know the giraffe has the biggest set of teeth out of any land animal? Yeah bet you didn't know that. Anyways, let's talk. I just got here at the airport, and let's just say it's hot. Burning hot. I feel like I'm burning up (Jonas bros). There are birds that have colors that I can't even explain. I can't even say rainbow. Buttt I'm not here for the wildlife (which is really stupid) I'm here for for plate tectonics. Now, this specific site is a divergent plate. At divergent boundaries new crust is created as two or more plates pull away from each other. Oceans are born and grow wider where plates diverge or pull apart. As seen below, when a diverging boundary occurs on land a 'rift', or separation will arise and over time that mass of land will break apart into distinct land masses and the surrounding water will fill the space between them. And that's exactly why I'm here... for the East African Rift! A rift or chasm is a place where the Earth’s crust and lithosphere are being pulled apart and is an example of divergent plate boundaries. So my guide Dawit is showing me around, and he said that Rifts turn out into valleys... and he was right. Check out this photo I took of the east African rift... this is just one side, the other is the exact same.

Yeah... if you want an awesome sunset, I recommend you come here... I was so close to the sun that I could see it going down by the hour and I think I even saw all the little craters in the sun... eh, no, actually I was going blind. My eyes just went from minus 3.0 to minus 5.0... Crap. So that's enough about science, I don't even like it that much. Or geology. I don't even know what I'm talking about. Here's what Dawit told me that might intrigue you to visit here. I feel like Mr. Takashima now... it's like working at a hotel when I tell people to come somewhere. Anyways, this is what I learned. The Eastern Rift Valley runs through Kenya from Lake Turkana in the north and beyond Lake Magadi in the South. It is the home to breathtakingly unique geographical features, including geysers, extinct volcanoes, gorges, escarpments, the Aberdare Range and numerous lakes. Some of the oldest human fossils have been found here. Anyways, I'll leave you with some photos and I'll talk to you soon... Max out.