Where Does the East African Rift Run?

The East African Rift System (EARS) is one of the most dramatic geological features on Earth — an active continental rift where the African Plate is splitting into two new plates: the Somali Plate (east) and the Nubian Plate (west). The rift extends about 3,000 km from the Afar Triple Junction (where it meets the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden rifts) through Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, and into Mozambique. It splits into two main branches: the Eastern Rift (Gregory Rift), passing through Kenya and Tanzania with volcanoes like Kilimanjaro and the Ngorongoro Crater, and the Western Rift, running along the borders of Uganda, Rwanda, and the DRC, containing the African Great Lakes (Tanganyika, the world second-deepest lake at 1,470 metres; Malawi; Kivu; Albert; and Edward). The rift is widening at about 6-7 mm per year. In perhaps 5-10 million years, it will flood with ocean water, splitting East Africa into a separate continent.