Nabuyatom Crater

Nabuyatom is the near-perfect volcanic cone that juts into the water at the extreme southern end of Lake Turkana, in the shallow arm known as Von Höhnel Bay. It is one of the most photographed features of the Kenyan Rift and one of the least visited, because almost nobody stands on it. Most people see it from an aircraft window.

What It Actually Is

The Smithsonian Institution’s Global Volcanism Program describes Nabuyatom, which it spells Naboiyoton, as a tuff cone and a satellite cone on the northern flank of The Barrier, the volcanic complex that closes the southern end of the lake and separates it from the Suguta valley beyond. It rises roughly 180 metres above the water.

It was built by phreatomagmatic eruption: magma rising along the rift met the water of the lake, and the violent interaction threw out ash and fragmented rock rather than flowing lava. That process produces the shape people photograph, a wide crater with steep slopes and the flat-topped profile characteristic of tuff cones.

Its age is not established. The Global Volcanism Program notes that the lower slopes lack the erosional terraces cut into other features by higher stands of the lake, which is a reason to think it young rather than a date.

Two claims circulate widely and neither holds up. Nabuyatom is routinely described as a collapsed caldera and as about 500 metres tall. The volcanological description is a tuff cone built up by explosive eruption, not a caldera formed by collapse, and the height above the lake given by the Global Volcanism Program is around 180 metres. Published sources also disagree about which county it falls in, so no administrative location is given here.

Spellings and Confusion

The cone appears as Nabuyatom, Nabiyotum and Naboiyoton, and searches for each turn up different material about the same feature, because the geological and travel literatures have settled on different spellings. It is also frequently described as a crater in Lake Turkana, which sets up the wrong image. It is not an island but a cone attached to the southern shore, projecting into the bay with water on three sides.

Seeing It

There is no road to Nabuyatom, no gate, no facility and nothing on the ground to visit. The southern end of Lake Turkana is among the emptiest country in Kenya, the shoreline around The Barrier is lava and ash, and there is no settlement near the cone. In practice there are two ways it is seen:

• From the air. Charter flights into the basin and scenic flights over the lake pass the southern end, and this is where every well known photograph of the cone comes from. Scenic flights in Kenya and fly-in safaris in Kenya cover how these are arranged.
• From the lake or the southern approaches. Expedition-style trips down the eastern shore south of Loiyangalani, and boat journeys on the southern lake, bring it into view. Both are serious undertakings requiring a party equipped to be self-sufficient, and neither is a day trip from anywhere.

Anyone considering the southern shore on foot or by vehicle should read the safety, water and convoy guidance on the Lake Turkana page first. Fuel, water and recovery capability are carried in, not found.

Questions Travellers Ask About Nabuyatom