GREAT RIFT VALLEY GEMS-DISCOVERY ATLAS 4D

Thanks to Discovery World here are some facts about the Rift Valley.

1.It is host to the world's hottest place-Danakil depression in Ethiopia
2.It has the longest fresh water lake in the world ,which is four times deeper than the Grand Canyon-Lake Tanganyika
3.The lakes in the Rift Valley i.e Lake Malawi,Tanganyika and Victoria has the world largest fresh water lake fish species.
4.The pink color in flamingos is as a result of the algae that they feed on.No algae no pink flamingos.
5.Archeologists have discovered the earliest known human species here.
6.It was home to homo erectus
7.Home to the last hunter and gatherer communities in the world-The hadza of Tanzania.
8.The great Rift valley is home to the 8th wonder of the world-the wildebeest migration.And the wildebeest are following....grass.
9.The little dung beetle breaks down the wildebeests dung(the beetles roll the dung and lay their eggs in the balls)and when their their larvae break out of these balls the process causes the release of nitrate and phosphorus into the soil which gives rise to the lush green grass so evident in the rift valley.
10.Home to the endemic sleeping sickness disease.During the construction the railway line crossing the rift valley many Indian workers fell ill as a result of the disease and when the lions ate the corpses,they developed a taste for human meat which gave rise to the emergence of 'Man Eaters of Tsavo'.
11.Geothermal power is tapped from the floor of the Rift Valley.
12.And finally ............the forces that gave us the Rift valley are still at work.