Mount Homa

Mountain located in western Kenya

Mount Homa

Location in Kenya

LocationKenyaGeologyMountain typeComplex volcanoLast eruptionUnknown

Mount Homa is a mountain located in western Kenya. It forms a broad peninsula on the southern shore of Winam Gulf, an extension of Lake Victoria. This peninsula defines Homa Bay and the mountaintop is about 20 kilometres (12 mi) north of the town of that name.

In the Luo language Got Uma or God Marahuma means "famous mountain".

The mountain is formed of carbonatite lava and dates from Miocene to Pleistocene. Along with the active Ol Doinyo Lengai, it is one of the very few carbonatite volcanoes in the world.

Homa peninsula is part of Homa Bay County. The village of Kanjira (Kanjera) is eponymous of the Kanjera paleontological site, first excavated by Louis Leakey in the 1930s. It is one of the oldest known Oldowan sites, dated at c. 2 million years old.^[1]

Mount Homa, on Lake Victoria, Kenya. View from across Winam Gulf, looking south.

References

^ Bishop, L. C.; Plummer, T. W.; Ferraro, J. V.; Braun, D.; Ditchfield, P. W.; Hertel, F.; Kingston, J. D.; Hicks, J.; Potts, R. (Mar–Jun 2006). "Recent Research into Oldowan Hominin Activities at Kanjera South, Western Kenya". The African Archaeological Review. 23 (1/2): 31–40. doi:10.1007/s10437-006-9006-1. JSTOR 25470615.