On the way to Lake Turkana

We had decided to try to make our way to Lake Turkana, not sure how the roads and the security situation might be, but asking along the way and finding out on the go.

We rounded Lake Baringo in the North and immediately had a gravel road under the tyres. It was not smooth all the way, but we managed to reach the main road leading to Maralal without a problem. The landscape was beautiful, everything was green and full of flowers.

In Maralal we filled up with diesel for the route to Lake Turkana, and asked about the conditions after the heavy rain weeks ago. We were assured that it would be safe and the road via Poro was “OK”. We spent the night at a nice campsite with pool, the Maralal Safari Lodge.

The next morning we left early to tackle this long and difficult road. We checked our progress to find out that we made only 13 km/h on the most difficult part and a maximum of 30km/h, where the road was better. It was 235 km until Loiyangalani at Lake Turkana, which took us two days with a night in South Horr.

At a road block, we asked again about the security and were assured that there is no issue at the moment. The military guy was very kind and explained us the route.

Finally we reached South Horr, which lies nestled between two mountain ranges. We stopped at the Hill Top Guest House, happy for the save parking.

North of South Horr, we had to cross many river beds, and were grateful, that they were all dry.

The further north we came, the more dromedaries we saw. Besides of goats, they are they only animals able to survive in this arid climate. We didn’t see any other wildlife on this route.

Just before we reached Lake Turkana, we came through the Turkana Wind Park, with 365 turbines the largest in Sub-Saharan Africa.

We met this family, obviously on the move with all their belongings. As they are nomadic pastoralists they move with their animals.

We had finally reached Lake Turkana and the fascinating people called the same name, who manage to live around the lake and in this desert like area. It had rained just a couple of weeks ago and everything was as green as it could be. But before that, there had been a long period of draught, were it had not rained for more than 2 years and many animals had died. More next!