Contained within the opening chapters of 'Where Giants Trod, The Saga of Kenya's Desert Lake' by Monty Brown, a more eloquent introduction to the region, I believe, cannot be found. The following passages have been borrowed as a synopsis, hopefully to give the reader a general overview and better understanding of what is to be encountered should one decide to visit this far flung corner of the world.
'Kenya's remote northern lands are hot, arid and intensely thirsty. Infrequent exceptions are few isolated mountain ranges, on whose aloof summits cool evergreen forests flourish, fitfully nurtured by the life-giving moisture gained from high flying clouds souring inland from the distant Indian ocean. It is a country of barren and immense aspects, twisted and rendered by cataclysmic convulsions of a long ago past. Within it lies a unique landscape in which there may be found the only true desert of large extent in East Africa, and the far reaching stretch of water... Lake Turkana… screened from the outside world by the mighty Abyssinian mountains to the north, the flat, arid and seemingly endless wastes of the east, the unhealthy horrors of the Nile lowlands in the west and the refreshing highlands to the south. The beckoning sheet of water lying in its bed of no escape, whipped by lashing winds and burnt by the intensity of the relentless equatorial sun, it is always reliant on the caprices of the tropical rainy season for replenishment.
... Into this remote backwater of Africa - one of the last unexplored areas of the 'Dark Continent' - the first white men slowly filtered during the final decade of the nineteenth century. With the discovery of a great lake, named at the time Lake Rudolf, an enticing new Mecca for prospective explorers was revealed. An irresistible attraction drew travellers to the lake, it was, in fact, the last major expanse of captive water on the continent to release its mysteries to geographers. Wanderers of many nations turned their thoughts and footsteps towards that dramatic place. Who could tell what exotic discoveries still awaited on the trails to the sparkling lake, lying imprisoned in a land of such desolation ...an epicentre of human drama thrived in this obscure and isolated corner of the continent far removed from the more apparent arenas of the outside world's labours. In its own small way it was a magnificent stage, on which acts and scenes ranging from full comedy to heavy tragedy were played.
The turbulent character of Kenya's Northern Frontier District, as it once was entitled, has persisted into present times, albeit in a modified and updated form. To this day the endless swaying and striving of combatants continues, in an unceasing battle for survival and dominance in a land of great age, beauty and harshness; where as always, there is little compromise between man and nature, the weaklings of body and mind do not survive long.
... Newcomers initiated changes to the conservative tribal routines, but they did not entirely disrupt or destroy the structure of the nomad's age-old customs and traditions. Many of these tribal disciplines live on to the present day, preserving unique systems developed patiently over the years for the maintenance of life in the desolate lands ...where nothing can be done to control the vagaries of the climate - seven lean years occur as frequently as the seven fat years, if not more often. As a consequence, the desert dwellers' survival mentality - a combination of stoicism and fatalism - has been hammered into those living in that inhospitable but starkly beautiful country'.
The
main players in this unfolding drama; the Turkana, Samburu and Rendille
are large pastoralist tribes who have established themselves in the region
over countless years. Their respective territories have expanded and contracted
according to the dictates of nature. To this day the government authorities
exercise very little control in the region, and attempts to police or
administer areas beyond the confines of the larger settlements are invariably
met with indifference and sometimes hostility.
These nomadic people have resisted outside interference for centuries. They spurned the introduction of Christianity during colonial times, seen then and now, as merely as a tool of control, and in turn they resisted the setting up of missionary schools by non-participation. Following this pattern to the present day they exhibit a disdain for the affectations of European dress so popular in most other regions of Kenya. Their conspicuous presence, wandering proudly across the vast landscape with spear in hand and coloured cloth draped over their bodies, irritates those eager to be 'westernised'. When they meet a foreigner, their gaze is direct, calm and assured - untroubled by any insecurities. This supreme confidence and assumed superiority gives credance to perceived wisdom that they of all people have preserved their integrity as Africans, surviving as they do in one of the harshest environments in the world. To summarise, a quotation from John Hillaby's 'Journey to the Jade Sea' when he crosses paths with a group of young Samburu warriors:
"I
sometimes had the impression that they were
staring a me but their eyes showed me that they were
staring forward and I happened to be in the way".
