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Africa's Great Rift Valley
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THE Great Rift Valley (东非大裂谷), one of the wonders of the world, contains the planet's largest concentration of flamingos (火烈鸟), the seven great lakes of Kenya, and overwhelmingly dramatic scenery. The valley is actually the effect of a massive fracture-line below the earth's surface, and runs over 5,000 km from Lake Baikal (贝加尔湖) in Ukraine in the north to Mozambique in the south.
The valley cuts a huge swath (长而宽的地带) in the earth, from Lebanon to the Mozambique Channel, a distance of some 4,000 miles. The greatest rupture（断裂）on the earth's land surface, it is the only geological feature that can be seen clearly from the moon. Its complex system of faults has been evolving for some 40 million years.
This giant "scar" is a truly amazing and mysterious feature. It contains the lowest point on land (the Afar Depression 阿发低地, 153 metres below sea level), is flanked by some of the world's highest and biggest volcanic mountains (including Mt Kilimanjaro 乞力马扎罗山, the highest peak in Africa, at 5,802 metres), holds some of the world's largest lakes (including Lake Malawi, one of the deepest lakes in the world) and provides a seaway between Europe and the Orient.
The geological movements which created the rift valley have resulted in a rich diversity of terrain and wildlife, from the lush rain forests, home of the magnificent mountain gorillas, to the spectacular double chain of lakes which, enriched by minerals, throng with millions of flamingoes. The plains of the Serengeti and Masai Mara, formed by fertile volcanic ash, support the largest concentration of big animals found anywhere on the earth.
The rift valley is also home for dozens of creatures found nowhere else, such as the Simien fox and the giant mole rat of the Ethiopian Highlands (埃塞俄比亚高地). At its northern "end" the valley widens and deepens, giving way to the open waters of the Red Sea, where an astonishing array of fish inhabit the sea's coral reefs.
Mankind may have even evolved in the rift valley. Hominid fossils（人科动物的化石）have been discovered dating back nearly four million years, and work by paleontologists Louis and Mary Leakey in the Olduvai Gorge of Tanzania has resulted in a wealth of information regarding man's prehistoric past.(SD-Agenices)
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