18 February 2017
There and back again.
That was the nature of my most recent adventure. Yesterday, Friday, I packed up the car with
two dogs, camp manager Marandi, lots of water, a box of snacks and myself. Destination and mission; pick up Candace at
the Korr airstrip and head to Loiyangilani by Lake Turkana to pick up roofing
mats (makuti) for sprucing up the Salato Camp dining hall with a new roof
cover. Part of the fun was that Candace
had no idea of the Loiyangilani ‘side trip’ as she thought we were going to
pick her up and bring her straight back to Ngurunit, only 43 km from Korr. Getting a flight from Nairobi was one way
Candace could take advantage of a long weekend to join Sue, Colin and myself in
Ngurunit. Then she would be able to go
back by road in the Land Rover, providing it continued moving with its rather
dodgy fuel tank issues. Due to that, my
other friends opted to stay in Ngurunit instead of risking the long trip to
Lake Turkana and back in their dubious vehicle.
They would hold down the fort while I went and finished the original
mission of securing roofing mats, taking Candace along on a surprise detour. The trip to Korr was fast and problem free as
the road was surprisingly good. Despite
being quite close to Ngurunit, I hadn’t been to that town in over 8 years. Arriving, I realized I hadn’t been missing
anything. Korr is located in a rocky and
desolate, mostly flat place on the edge of the Kaisuk desert. The wind is relentless and very hot. Fortunately, there were a few sturdy Acacia
trees to give shade at the edge of the airstrip. We had to wait over an hour for the plane’s
arrival as it hadn’t been able to land in Marsabit due to cloud cover. This forced the plane, with Candace in it, to
wait in Logologo, another hot, windy and desolate town along the Eastern
highway, for the Marsabit to Nairobi passenger to be brought down by road. The 6-seater plane finally landed in the heat
of the midday sun and Candace emerged having enjoyed her flight up from
Nairobi. She reported it was absolutely beautiful
and that even the hour waiting on the Logologo airstrip was interesting. The pilot, Melvin, actually lives in Logologo
at the old AIM (African Inland Mission) station that had a hanger for his
plane. He has rather recently come to
Kenya (from Canada, I think) and is still getting organized on what service he
can do for the North. He flies for MAF
(Medical Aviation Fellowship) and it was very interesting talking to him about
the possibilities of getting lower cost flights all the way into Ngurunit. I am hoping we will be able to connect a lot
more in the future. We chatted until his
Korr to Nairobi passengers showed up, some of which I knew. It was fun catching up a bit with people I
hadn’t seen for a long time. It is funny
how in this age of global connections, I often have more contact with people
living on the other side of the world than I do with my relative neighbors only
a few kilometers away.
I loaded Candace into the car, informed her of our
spontaneous adventure plans and we took off for Loiyangilani, an estimated 200
km and 4 or 5 hours away. I took a
different road out of town thinking to take the short cut through Illaut. Having not taken that road for at least 14
years, I took a wrong fork and soon saw I was headed slightly off from where I
thought I wanted to be. I am never lost,
just a bit off the intended route. I
always know where I am, just maybe not exactly on the specific path I had
thought to be on. It is on detours like
these that I find cool things and places I would not have found otherwise. So instead of getting concerned, we just
carried on in the general right direction towards the Ndoto mountains where I
knew we would eventually find the wind power road to Loiyangilani that we were
looking for. One little tricky rocky
uphill and we found ourselves passing through Farokoren, rather than
Illaut. I was able to point out to
Candace a primary school that we had been involved in building many years
ago. After that we found the road we
were looking for at the Arsim river crossing about 10 km closer to our
destination than originally planned. It
was a beautiful way to go. Good to know
for the future.
A few hours later, traveling on the incredibly smooth,
somewhat boring, wind power project road which cuts a swath through the flat
desert plains straight North, we stopped at Loibor Sedar to see an old camp
that I had worked on improving with the Lonjorin community way back in
2010. It had never really taken off for
tourists, but now with the new County Government, the Samburu Conservancy
rangers often used it for their base camp.
It was good to see it being used also as a community livestock camp with
water being piped in from the hills. It
opens up more grazing land which is essential during this difficult dry season. The main attraction was a hill of white sand
created by the strong wind picking up sand from the dry river bed and
depositing it on the hill. Amazing
natural feature. In the past I have
climbed it with the kids. The sand is so
deep and the hill so steep that it is a challenge to move upward. Coming down is a blast as you take huge steps
and slide down as you go. A bit like
skiing, though a lot hotter!!! We then carried
on North towards the lake and soon came to the wind turbine project. One comes over the top of a hill and suddenly
spread out before you are hundreds of space age huge wind mills dotting the
ancient barren hills covered with volcanic rock. So futuristic looking. An surreal sight!
An hour later another amazing sight, this one all natural,
comes into view. We come around a
corner and there is the jade sea, Lake Turkana, spread out before us. I’ve always said that the landscape there is
the closest I’ll ever get to visiting the moon without getting into a
rocket. The volcanic rock covers the
ground in fantastic formations all the way to the shores of a sheet of water
that looks like rock itself when it is a calm day. Only a few trees struggle here and there
among the rocks. This goes on and on for
over 20 km as we bounce along the shore towards Loiyangilani. Then over another hill and the oasis covered
with palm trees and houses scattered about comes into view. Barren and full of life at the same time,
Loiyangilani is a slightly forsaken looking place. Uncomfortably hot with a constant wind that
blows with a draining power. I find the
town very interesting but not so welcoming.
It is a must see place, which is why I took Candace with me, but not a
place one wants to stay long. We arrived
at Palm Shade hotel and met up with my husband’s cousin, Jane. Palm Shade is a lovely haven in a harsh
place. Jane had arranged how we could
get the needed roof mats and a lovely evening meal which included delicious
fish from the lake. We stayed in the
traditional mudded houses with plenty of windows to let the wind in, the only
way to survive the heat. We picked up
the mats in the evening at the village.
It was fun meeting all the women who wove the mats. The normal chaotic organizing, counting,
recording and packing of mats on the car roof for transport. Paying and leaving among a chorus of thanks
and good wishes for safe travel and ‘hope you come again soon’ sentiments. Candace was fascinated.
The evening was spent relaxing and meeting other
Palm Shade guests. One tourist couple,
who were not enchanted with the North.
And their disgruntled tour guides who love the North. I have made a new connection that I hope will
bring more tourists, this time happy ones, to stay at Salato Camp in Ngurunit. Networking is my strength and my joy. Northern Kenya does enchant me and I want to
share it with as many people as I can.
We woke early this Saturday morning and headed back to Ngurunit. Stopping for lunch under a tree, I found some
of my group members from one of my past camel projects. They were grazing their livestock on the
Acacia pods (sagaram). We shared our
water and our lunch. I never stop
marveling at how I can be seemingly in the middle of nowhere and suddenly,
there is someone I know. Those
connections keep coming back, often at times of need. We continued on and got back a few hours ago to
Sue and Colin enjoying the beauty of Ngurunit.
Now it is evening and I am watching the sun go down on my beloved Ndoto
Mountains. I am happy to have had the
Loiyangilani adventure there at the lake, but definitely happier to be back
again in my lovely, comfortable place. 
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