We were ready and all fueled up to start our trip to Lake Turkana. We agreed with Janna and Malik to meet in Maralal, which was a 4-hour drive away from Lake Elementaita according to Google, but knowing Africa and Google accuracy by now, we planned 5 hours for the route. To our surprise, the road all the way up to Maralal was in great condition, a new tarmac road without any bumps, it couldn’t have been older than 2-3 years. The drive was very scenic too and we enjoyed this first part of the trip already. We then arrived a bit early and already went to check out the hotel rooms at the place we were meeting with the others - the price at the hotel was around 10 dollars only for a double room per night, which was almost half the price of what the only camping site charged for two people, that’s why we decided to stay at the hotel. It would also allow us to leave early the next morning, since we did not have to pack up our camp before we could drive on.
Janna and Malik arrived shortly after, together with Rita, Malik’s mom, who also joined for the trip. They were on a family holiday to visit Malik’s brother and his wife, who were also overlanding for a few months through Africa. Not all of them were keen on driving up north into the desert, but Janna, Malik and Rita were, that’s why they decided to join us :-)
They were also happy with the hotel rooms, so we went for dinner and spent a great first evening together. The vibe between us was perfect right away and we were all very excited about our trip up north. We decided to get up early the next day, Tom and I offered to make some coffee before we would leave so we could stop somewhere on the road for a late breakfast. Starting from here, the tarmac road was finished, so we were back to embracing a bumpy and dusty ride. We drove through nice sceneries and some little villages, where people were waving at us and children were chasing our cars. After around 4 hours, we found a nice little spot under some trees where we stopped for an early lunch. We opened our storage boxes and put together a delicious meal - our teamwork was on point :)
After another 3 hours on the road, we finally reached Loiyangalani, a village at Lake Turkana where we wanted to camp. The scenery was breathtaking, it felt like we have landed on Mars. We checked out a few possible places to set up our camp and found a nice spot at Palm Shades, a small camping site in town. After enjoying a cold shower we cooked a risotto and went to bed tired and happy. We agreed to get up early the next day since the temperature in the morning was more pleasant than during the day. We packed up our camp and drove to the Desert Museum where we took a little tour to learn about the different tribes that live around the lake. We also went to visit a village where the El Molo people live. There are only a few hundred left of them. They live without running water and without electricity in small huts at the shore. The chief of the village welcomed us into his home and it was interesting to learn about their way of living. After the tour, we returned to the Museum and decided that we would stay there, they also offered some bungalows , so Rita, Malik and Janna booked one and Tom and I were camping directly at the lake.
Malik managed to get a hold of the only guy with a little motorboat in town, and he arranged a trip to the central island for us with one of the rangers. They picked us up the next morning and we went for a tour around the island. We even got off the boat and hiked for a while and also went for a swim, which was quite scary, after seeing at least 10 huge crocodiles chilling on the beach at one side of the island, but the guides knew where the crocs like to chill and where it was safe to swim - at least that’s what they told us ;-) Unfortunately, we came across a place where someone was drying fish, and fishing is not allowed around the island. The ranger was not amused at all, he went to collect all the fish (it was a lot) and put it on our boat (so for the rest of the trip we had this nice little smell of dried fish hanging in our noses). Towards the end of the tour, we even came across a fisherman, who then got arrested, so he had to come on to our boat as well. And just before we were about to drive back to the mainland, we saw another fisherman, who was trying to hide from us on the island, but the ranger spotted him and went to get him as well. So for our ride back, we had two arrested fishermen and a lot of dried and semi-dried fish with us, it was an experience…
When we got back to the Museum, we prepared a lunch and for the rest of the afternoon, we enjoyed a little rest in our hammocks, reading and listening to podcasts and just doing nothing. The hot and dry weather and the water really tired us out and we were happy to get some rest. The next day we agreed to leave early again, we wanted to drive to North Horr to see the sand dunes and from there go back down south again, because Janna, Malik and Rita had to get back to Nairobi to catch their flights. Tom and my idea was to drive with them and then drive up north again to Lake Turkana but on the west side. To drive around on the north side didn’t seem possible, since the lake runs into Ethiopia, but there is no official border on this route around the lake. Furthermore, we didn’t want to drive into Ethiopia due to the war which is still going on. After a very windy night (Tom and I had to get up in the middle of it to re-park our car in the shelter of some buildings, because we were scared that our roof wouldn’t hold) we got up early, cooked some coffe and then left towards North Horr. The drive was a very scenic one again. The night before we met a tour operator who told us that the road was not passable at some point just before North Horr the other day due to havy rainfalls. He gave us a number of a guy who lived there, who would be able to tell us if we could pass or which detour we had to take. Luckily, it wasn’t raining anymore when we got there and it was possible for us to pass. The guy still met us at the river crossing and showed us where we could drive to see the sand dunes. We climbed up the dunes and took some pictures and decided to eat something. While we were preparing our lunch, our “guide” asked us where we were heading to. When he heared about our plans to go to the other side of the lake, he told us that it was possible for local people to cross into Ethiopia in the north, eventhough there was no official border post. He connected us with a German priest who lived in the area to find out if it was acutally still possible, so we talked to this guy on the phone but he wasn’t so sure about it. He said that they’d probably wouldn’t let us pass without a visa and in our Swiss car, but nevertheless, after dicussing all the possibilities, we figured we would just go an try. If worst would come to worst, we would just turn around again, but since we did have enough time, we wanted to give it a shot. Therefore, our joint adventure with Janna, Malik and Rita took an abrupt ending and we had to say goodbye. They went on direction south, and Tom and I continued up north without any idea what was waiting for us.
We were now definitely leaving the touristic path, there wasn’t even a camping site or guest house marked on the map, but this made it adventurous and fun. We drove and drove and drove and not a single car passed us for 4 hours. We saw some nomads with their camels, donkeys and goats but other than that, there was nothing. We reached Ileret, the very last town in Kenya just before it got dark. Google maps told us that there was a catholic mission and a police station, two places we figured we could ask for shelter. We started with the police station and were greeted by three very nice officers. They were quite surprised to see us and even more when we asked them if we could sleep here. But after a quick chat with their boss, they allowed us to park our car and camp on their premises. There was also a toilet and they brought us a bucket with some fresh water so we could have a quick “shower”, which was great after the long hot and dusty ride. Two of the police officers even came with us to the local bar and told us everything we wanted to know about the place. Ileret is a very small village and since it is so far away from other places in Kenya, the people here do not even speak the national languages (Swahili and English), but only their tribe language. Elliot, one of the police officers, explained to us that he was stationed here for 3 years, but even he could not understand and talk to the people who live here, so he always needed someone to translate. White people barely come to this area and if they do, they certainly don’t stop and get out of the car :-D Therefore, the people were very curious but also a bit scared of us. We felt very safe though and it was great fun to enjoy some beers in the pub with some of them.
We spent th night in front of the police station and left the next morning towards Ethiopia. Elliot, the police officer, advised us to just drive into Omorate, the town in Ethiopia where they do have an immigration post and let them know that our intention is to only transfer through here and go back to Kenya. That’s what we did, and after some discussions at every police check as well as at the immigration post, they let us pass. A “tourguide” in town, who was originally from Kenya and therefore spoke English, offered to help us and showed us around the town for a couple of hours. That’s how we got to taste Ethiopian coffee (DELICIOUS!!), honey beer, Ethiopian bread (kind of a sour dough chapati) and buy some fruits and veggies at the market, we really enjoyed our very short stay in Ehtiopia and definitely want to come back here so see more of this country. But this time, we had to leave again. The tourguide accompanied us to the Kenyan broder, which turned out to be very helpful, since the officer at the Ethiopian control post was not very amused with having tourists passing here. He was yelling and shouting (Tom and I did not understand a word) and after some discussions, our guide called the guy from the immigration post, so the officer was now yelling into the phone but eventually he let us pass - lucky us! :) Soon we reached Kenya again and headed down south towards Eliye Spring Camp, a place we heard of and wanted to visit. We already received the phone number of Rolf, the Swiss owner of the camp and we told him that we were coming for a visit. Since it was still a long drive, we decided to stretch it inot 2 days. We found a catholic mission on the way where we asked to spend the night and got a very nice room and even a delicious dinner and breakfast. Patricia from Spain, who has been living up here in the mission for almost 30 years, showed us around the place and told us about her life up here. The northern part of Lake Turkana is so remote and not a lot of people live up here. It’s mostly tribe people who live a very basic and traditional life. If it wasn’t for the church and other NPO’s who come up here, these people would not get any education nor medical aid. It was in deed impressive toalso see this part of Kenya.
They next day, we drove further south to Eliye Spring. Rolf was already waiting for us and showed us around in his resort. He had built a very nice site in the middle of the desert at Lake Turkana. We decided to camp but Rolf also offers some very nice bungalows to rent (they were a bit over our budget). We enjoyed a few nights there at the lake and had very interesting talks over dinner with Rolf. He had been living in Kenya for more than 30 years and started with some projects, one of them was Calabash, a restaurant that was built on a neutral ground between 3 tribes who were always fighting and even killing each other in the past. Through his work and effort, the situation had become a lot better. He told us that a few years back, no tourists ever came here because it was very dangerous due to the fights that were happening all the time.
Calabash was a bit further south, so Rolf took us there for a visit and we spent one night in their guest house. The next day, Rolf invited us to stay at his place in Kapenguria. He is living there in a small house together with his girlfriend and her son. On his premises, there are also two other huts, where two local women live with their children. When Rolf is away, they take care of his house and feed his rabbits. Once more, we were amazed by the hospitality of everyone here. Rolf’s house was very basic and he didn’t have much, but he told us he really enjoyed his life and freedom up here, knowing that he is improving the lifes of many people, like the women who lived on his land. There was also a girl, she was around 10 years old, who he rescued just a few weeks ago, because she was supposed to get circumcised. Her parents wanted to marry her so they wouldn’t have to take care of her anymore and Rolf intervened and talked to the parents so they would send her to school. The parents agreed but didn’t want to pay for it, so Rolf offered to pay for everything.
Our trip to Lake Turkana was one big adventure with so many experiences. The landscape was stunning and beautiful but even more, we were amazed by the people and the way they live up here. The hospitality we experienced is beyond words. There were some shocking moments, too, when we realized that these people still live a very traditional life, which comes with traditions that we cannot understand. We met many people who try to educate the people up here but it’s not always that easy to decied what is wrong and what is right when deciding between keeping old traditions or living a more modern life. It was defintiely nice to see all these people (locals as well as foreigners) trying their best to make this place a better one.
For us, it was time to continue our trip to the next country, after spending 3 months in Kenya all together, we were curious to see another place, but we left Kenya with a lot of great memories that will stick with us for ever. Thank you for having us - KENYA!
A short clip about our time in Kenya - enjoy :-)