Climate Given that Kenya straddles the equator, its terrain is highly diversified with climatic conditions ranging from moist to arid. In this part of Africa, seasons are distinguished by duration of rainfall rather than by changes in temperature. In the Western Plateau and the Highlands, rain falls in a single long season. Rainfall is most plentiful in the Highlands and on the coast which receive an average of 101 cm. The Western Plateau receives over 178 cm annually.
Rainfall is sporadic in the dry areas.
Variations in altitude are the major factor in temperature differences in the various parts of the country. Vegetation Kenya's plant life is highly diverse, ranging from mangrove forests and coconut palms on the coast to Savannah grassland and woods to thick coniferous evergreen forests on the mountain slopes. The area's principal drainage system begins in the Kenya Highlands Region. Streams and rivers radiate from this region eastward toward the Indian Ocean, westward to Lake Victoria, and run northward to Lake Rudolf or disappear the arid terrain of northern Kenya. A secondary drainage system is formed by rivers in the southern highlands of Ethiopia, which extend into Kenya along the eastern part of their shared boundary.