Our time in Loiyangalani includes a few trips to swim in Lake Turkana, about a mile west of town. Brushing aside thoughts of crocodiles, we douse our sun-scorched bodies in the cool water. On our final night, Turkana dancers meet us on the shoreline as the sun sets. Everyone joins them for some hearty footRead More
A Land of Ethnic Conflicts, Livestock Raiders and Cheetahs
At 6 am, our group leaves in two vehicles. I am driving Gumps with Semej and Omar, Kit, Chip and Corwin. Kura has David, Maina and a dozen other passengers under canvas in the back of the Defender. We will drive from Korr to Loiyangalani through a semi-desert land that is lawless and wild. IfRead More
Halhalo and the Bush Dinner
We have settled into a few nights in the village of Korr, one of the largest settled villages in the Kaisut region with a surrounding population of 14,000 people. Bound by a need to support each other in a harsh place, Somali Muslim and Christian communities (African Inland Church, Catholic and Lutheran) co-exist peacefully withRead More
Now, Our Husbands Wait for Us
The Korr region is rich with opportunities to photograph the lives of the Rendille people. In our travels from village to village, we come upon scenes of daily life – a woman skinning a goat that has just died, women carrying water and firewood, donkeys loaded with goods as they make the return trip fromRead More
You See Us, Mama Rungu
After our stop in Lengima village, we drive the two vehicles out into the vastness of the Kaisut Desert. Low trees and scrub bushes dot the terrain, broken only by cone-shaped volcanic hills and dry river beds. The huts of the nomadic villages, dark in color and low to the ground, are barely visible untilRead More
Please Teacher, Give Us More Instruction
Visitors to northern Kenya, including Kenyans, are always astonished to see a part of Kenya so neglected and poor. For the few tourists who come to the north, there is the inevitable comparison to the other pastoralists in the south and central parts of Kenya, the Maasai. Kura and I once spent three days lookingRead More
Amina Rage Bakes a Cake
After lunch, we drive outside of town to a local campsite with thatched huts, a long drop latrine and real showers that come down from a large water container perched above a small surround of reeds. The dramatic mountains provide a stunning backdrop to the setting. We rest in the afternoon, moving our bodies toRead More
Lunch at Ishmaels
The road from Ndikir to Ngurunit is one of the worst in the district. Last November I drove this road in the dark, plowing through sand that was at times three feet deep. The sand was so deep that it would come over the hood of the truck, necessitating the use of windshield wipers. ThisRead More
May I Take From You Your Shadow
David duChemin and his assistant, Corwin Herbert, are traveling with us in order to document our work, and the conditions of the pastoralists in northern Kenya. Our journey begins at 6 am with a transfer from Nairobi, a quick stop in Nanyuki to pick up the Gumpsmobile, Semeji (BOMA’s security man) and Maina (our mechanic). Read More
Humbled Revelations
Kura and I spent yesterday mapping out our schedule for the north. Since our focus on this trip is to capture as much of our work through the lens of David duChemin, we have decided to concentrate on two villages – Korr and Loiyangalani. We will make stops in Laisamis village to photograph some ofRead More