4 No. 96 GEOGRAPHY : EAST AFRICA
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(3 ) The Volcanic Highlands.-- The plateau rises towards the west in a series of ridges running roughly north and south, and having a general altitude of some 5,000 ft . Beyond these ridgesrise Mount Kenya and the great ranges of the south -western plateau, which aremainly of volcanic origin. This highland region is divided into two parts by the Eastern Rift valley. Kenya, the Laikipia plateau, the Kikuyu uplands and the Masai plains lie to the east of the valley, and Mount Elgon, . the Gwas Ngishu _ ( Uasin Gishu) plateau, and the Nandi , Mau and Lumbwa districts to the west.
The great volcanic mass of Kenya, which lies north of Kikuyu, facing the northern end of the Aberdare
Mountains, rises to a height of 17,040 ft. , and its slopes are thickly wooded .
The Laikipia plateau lies north -west of Mount Kenya, and consists for the most part of rolling grass plains with an altitude of 6,000 to 7,000 ft. The Lorogai Mountains form the northern scarp of the plateau , and on the east it shelves downwards towards the Jubaland plains and the Lorian swamp. The dis trict is badly watered, save near the River Gwaso Nyiro, and is very difficult of access .
The Kikuyu uplands, which slope westwards from the wall of the Eastern Rift valley,are one of the most fertile and thickly peopled regions of British East Africa. The Kikuyucountry proper lies at an altitude of 4,500 to 6,500 ft . , and consists of a succession of well-watered valleys, which were originally covered by forests, but have now been cleared . The zone of culti vation is extending far up the slopes of the Kikuyu escarpment and the Aberdare Mountains , which attain in places an altitude of 12,000 to 13,000 ft . The Masai plains, which have an altitude of 5,000 to 6,000 ft . , run southwards from Kikuyu towards the former German frontier and Mt. Kilimanjaro , and , with the exception of the Athi and part of the Kapiti plains, south and east of Nairobi, are now included in the Masai reserve. They consist of flat and open grass-lands, badly
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