This episode relates my short trip up to northern Kenya to the Lake Turkana district. This is such an area rich in human history and really stunning scenery across the Great Rift Valley, amazing geological formations and volcanic activity, and lots of wildlife and absolutely incredible examples of some of the Kenyan tribes living their nomadic lives in one of the harshest areas in Africa. These tribes include the Samburu, the Pokot, the Rendille, the El Molo and the Turkana. They belong to the Nilotic group of people across the Nile Valley dispersing from Sudan and through Ethiopia thousands of years ago. 

Currently the area is in the grip of a lengthy drought and the effects of river damming upstream in the Ethiopian Highlands has caused much of their livestock to die with lack of feed, and they are struggling to survive. Combine this with political corruption and reduced tourism dollars as a result of covid, has left more than two million people struggling to survive.

We need to support aid organisation helping these regions at this time, and get back into the communities at the first opportunity to bring back tourism money to help these communities survive. It is an amazing region that I highly recommend to visit and see another side of Kenya.

Photo: Rita Willaert on Flickr