Kikopey Elmentaita, Kenya.

Kikopey farm is located on one of the most scenic locations in the Great Rift valley, and enjoys great views of Lake Elmentaita, the Eburru mountains, and Soysambu Conservation.

Lake Elmentaita, is a soda lake, in the eastern limb of East Africa's Great Rift Valley, about 140 km northwest of Nairobi, Kenya. Elmentaita is derived from the Masaai word muteita, meaning "dust place", a reference to the dry and dusty quality of the area, especially between January and March. In the south-to-north sequence of Rift Valley lakes, Elmenteita is located between Lake Naivasha and Lake Nakuru. At the southern end of the lake lie the "Kikopey" hot springs, in which the Tilapia Grahamii breed. The reedbeds nearby are fishing grounds for Night Herons and Pelicans.

History
The Lake Elmentaita area saw its first white settlement when Lord Delamere (1879-1931) established his Soysambu, a 48,000-acre (190 km2) ranch, on the western side of the lake. Delamere gifted the land nearest the lake to his brother-in-law, the Honorable Galbraith Lowry Egerton Cole (1881-1929), part of whose "Kekopey Ranch", where he is buried, is preserved today as the Lake Elmentaita Lodge. The nearby Soysambu estate is still occupied by Lord Delamere's descendants, while Ututu House was built by Thomas P. G. Cholmondeley who was also instrumental in setting up the Soysambu Conservancy. The Conservancy covers 2/3 of the shoreline and is home to over 12000 mammals. Lake Elementaita has been a Ramsar site since 2005 and UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2011. Over 400 bird species have been recorded in the Lake Nakuru/Lake Elmentaita basin.

Elmentaita attracts visiting flamingoes, both the Greater and Lesser varieties, which feed on the lake's crustacean and insect larvae and on its suspended blue-green algae, respectively. Lake Elementeita is the only breeding ground for the great white Pelican in Kenya and Neighboring countries. Tilapia were introduced to the lake from Lake Magadi in 1962.

The lake is normally very shallow (< 1 m deep) and bordered by trona-encrusted mudflats during the dry seasons. During the late Pleistocene and early Holocene, Lake Elmenteita was at times united with and expanded Lake Nakuru, forming a much larger dilute lake. Remnants of the former joined lake are preserved as sediments at various locations around the lake basins, including former shorelines.

Nearby sites to visit:
Nearby is the Kariandusi Museum, at an important prehistoric site where stone handaxes and cleavers were discovered in 1928 by Dr. Louis Leakey. Elementaita Badlands is a lava flow to the south of the lake, covered in bush and including some spectacularly scenic peaks.

Lake Nakuru national park, sunk deep in the cleft of the Great Rift Valley, one of earth’s most phenomenal geological features, ringed by shoals of extinct and dormant volcanoes and presided over by the Menengai Crater, one of the largest craters in the world, lie the turquoise-shimmering waters of Lake Nakuru.

Flamingo-frosted, salt-encrusted, acacia-haloed and guarded by the prehistoric splendour of a grey-green forest of Euphorbia candelabrum, Lake Nakuru National Park offers sanctuary to some of the world’s most endangered creatures.