What is Great Rift Valley?
[[File:Map of Great Rift Valley.svg|right|thumb|220px|Distribution of the African Great Lakes: the left-hand branch is the Western Rift Valley, and the right-hand branch is the Eastern Rift Valley, which extends further north.]] [[File:GreatLakesAfrica.jpg|thumb|220px|right|The African Great Lakes and the East African coastline as seen from space. The [[Indian Ocean]] can be seen to the right.]] [[File:Tectonical map of East Africa.png|thumb|right|280px|Map of East Africa showing some of the [[active volcano]]s (red triangles) and the [[Afar Triangle]] (shaded, center). This is a [[triple]] [[junction]] where three plates are pulling away from one another: the [[Arabian Plate]], and the two parts of the [[African Plate]] (the Nubian and the Somali) splitting along the East African Rift Zone.]] [[File:Ocean-birth hg.png|thumb|200px|Diagram of Great Rift Valley, shows will form a [[sea]] in the future.]] The '''Great Rift Valley''' or '''East African Rift''' is a continuous [[geographical]] [[trench]], about 6,440 kilometres (3,700&nbsp;mi) in length, that runs from northern [[Syria]] in [[Southwest Asia]] to central [[Mozambique]] in [[East Africa]]. The rift is bordered by a series of [[mountain]]s and active [[volcano]]es. Basically, the western part of Africa is [[Rift (geology)|rifting]] away from the eastern part. This causes all the geological activity at the Valley. Far in the future, a sea will run between these two parts of Africa. The [[Arabian peninsula]] is already almost separated. The whole process is part of [[plate tectonics]]. In eastern Africa, the valley divides into two, the Western Rift Valley and the Eastern Rift Valley. There are about 20 [[UNESCO]] [[World Heritage Site]]s which owe their formation to the geography and geology of the Great Rift Valley. == The Western Rift Valley == The Western Rift is edged by some of the highest mountains in Africa. It contains the Rift Valley lakes, which include some of the deepest [[lake]]s in the world (up to 1,470 metres deep at [[