Kenya - Lake Turkana

Tuesday 20^th November

This morning we crossed from Ethiopia into Kenya through the ‘back door’ in that the border post is not actually shown on any of our maps. The 'border' itself turned out to be a piece of string with a cloth in the middle. We had decided on this particular route because even though it is remote and at times impassable, it has some of the most stunning scenery in Kenya.

With the lake on our right, the track crossed numerous large pans and dry river beds and at times it was almost impossible to follow, being hardly discernible from the surrounding countryside and littered with obstacles such as rocks, branches, trees and potholes; hard to imagine how people navigate through this when the pans are under water (which they are after the infrequent rains that occur in this desert region).

Much of the landscape comprises a mixture of volcanic rock and desert, not too unlike Sudan, and temperatures are very hot. We were doing fine until lunch time when Don thought he heard the right front shock absorber make a strange noise and pulling off the road and having a quick inspection confirmed that it had displaced once again and the central shaft was hitting the chassis.

Out came the tools and what we thought would be a quick job turned out lasting all day and as the sun went down (phew!) it was obvious that we would be bush camping “in situ” right there for the night.

We managed to knock up a Macaroni cheese and ended up having a lovely evening sitting under the stars. From our roof top tent we caught our first sunset over Lake Turkana.

Friday 23^rd November

It took us two full days of driving to complete our 250 km long journey along the east shore of Lake Turkana. Amazingly, we did not come across a single other vehicle on the entire  trip and apart from seeing the odd camel or a herd of goats with herdsman guarding them, no people either.

Lake Turkana is the biggest desert lake in the world and due to the high prevailing ambient temperature, loses about tree meters of water through evaporation each year. It is home to the largest population of crocodiles in Africa and it’s prehistoric connection to the Nile accounts for the presence of the enormous Nile Perch (some weighing up to 100kg). Guess what the boys are planning to do here?

We spent a second night camping close to the lake edge and even though it is incredibly hot and the lake is the colour of jade you cannot  swim in the water due to the large number of crocodiles perched on the water edge. Heather did make an attempt to have a wash in the lake, but only after Ian chased the crocs away with a stick.

This really is the most isolated area on our trip so far, the landscape ranges from desert to large flat surfaces carpeted with volcanic rocks (the kind you buy at garden centres for your gas BBQ but much bigger) with the occasional dry river bed here and there and Lake Turkana on our right. Driving conditions were tough with constant stop/starting, gear changes, in and out of river beds, standing on the bonnet to make out the road ahead but hey, guess what?... 

Actually us girls also enjoyed it enormously, we are well aware that this may be the closest to ‘getting away from it all’ on our entire trip. Unlike in Sudan, we also know that we have a cold beer waiting at the end of the day (thanks to our fridge!).

Saturday, 24^th November

We have now found a nice camp at Lyongalani on the southern tip of the lake where we will spend a few days. Ian and Don are planning to do some fishing here whilst us girls do what we always do after having been on the road for a few days; wash our clothes, get rid of the dust everywhere, plug our eye brows, shave legs etc.

Lake Turkana has been Ian’s number one priority destination of the whole trip since he is a very keen fisherman. I am reserving this spot below for the picture of the Nile Perch which he and Don are going to catch: