What is the largest permanent desert lake in the world, located in Kenya?

The largest permanent desert lake in the world, located in Kenya, is Lake Turkana.

Lake Turkana lies mainly in Kenya’s northern Rift Valley, with its far northern end extending into Ethiopia. Its harsh, arid setting and saline, alkaline water make it a true desert lake rather than a freshwater lake. It is also the world’s largest alkaline lake.

The lake is fed chiefly by Ethiopia’s Omo River, along with Kenya’s Turkwel and Kerio rivers, but it has no surface outlet; water leaves mainly through evaporation. That helps explain its salinity and the surrounding dry landscape. Its waters are often called the “Jade Sea” because of their striking blue-green color.

A common mix-up is Lake Victoria, Africa’s largest lake by surface area, or Lake Tanganyika, one of the world’s deepest lakes. Neither is a permanent desert lake. Lake Turkana is also important to archaeology: fossil discoveries around its basin have provided major evidence about early human evolution.