Sibiloi National Park

Sibiloi runs along the northeastern shore of Lake Turkana, a hard desert of scrub, sand and volcanic rock, and it is famous for what has come out of the ground here. Richard Leakey's team and successors have recovered hominin fossils from these beds since the late 1960s, including remains attributed to several species, and the area has produced some of the most important evidence for human evolution anywhere, which is why the park is sometimes called the Cradle of Mankind. A small museum at Koobi Fora holds finds and explains the geology. Elsewhere in the park a petrified forest of fossil trees lies exposed, and there are stone tools scattered on the surface. Wildlife survives in modest numbers, with Grevy's zebra, oryx, topi and lion, and crocodiles fill the lake shore in large numbers.

History

The government of Kenya set up the park in 1973 to protect its wildlife and fossil sites, naming it after Mount Sibiloi, visible from Alia Bay, and in 1997 it became part of the Lake Turkana National Parks World Heritage Site. Fossils from Koobi Fora within the park, among them Australopithecus and early Homo, are said to have contributed more to the understanding of human evolution than those of any other site in Africa; the hominin finds are now in Nairobi, while other fossils are shown in the museum at Koobi Fora (Wikipedia, Sibiloi National Park).

What's there

• Koobi Fora - the research base and museum with fossil finds.
• The petrified forest - fossilised trees exposed in the desert.
• Lake Turkana shore - jade water with very large crocodile numbers.
• Desert wildlife - Grevy's zebra, oryx and topi in small numbers.

When to go

Dry seasons for the tracks; the roads north are long, rough and remote in any season. Flying in avoids two hard days of driving. Wind off the lake is relentless and the heat is extreme by midday.

Things to know

Getting here is the main challenge: hundreds of kilometres of rough track from the nearest towns, no fuel, no supplies and no rescue, so most visitors fly or come with a fully equipped expedition. The fossil sites are unmarked ground rather than displays. Facilities are a basic bandas and campsite. Crocodiles make the lake shore dangerous.

Nearby

Central Island lies out in the lake; Loiyangalani is far south along the shore.

Key facts