Chasing the Leakeys: Kenya's Natural Beauty, Part IIAfter several miles of rugged road in a landscape which struck all of us as moonscape, we rounded a corner of a rocky, barren outcrop to see the beautiful jade waters of Lake Turkana spread before us. With little to no foliage of any kind and a beating sun, it felt hard to imagine how people and animals thrive in this environment, but this region has sustained life for all of the recorded time known to man. The Leakeys maintained their camp along the northern shores. Lake Turkana, the world's largest alkaline inland lake and one of the saltiest, rests on the edge of the Chalbi Desert that stretches from northern Kenya into Ethiopia. We stayed in a true desert oasis fed by hot springs.
Peter Matthiessen chronicles his travels throughout Eastern Africa in the early '70's in his book, The Tree Where Man Was Born (Penguin Classic, 2010). He delights in his great good fortune at joining a small group traveling to the area known then as the Northern Frontier District, which stretches from Isiolo north into Ethiopia, the very same area in which we ESHA travelers spent the greatest amount of time. Like Matthiessen, we 
definitely felt lucky to be led by Steven, who steered our bush car, Taita, expertly through all manner of terrain and road condition and made countless introductions to the people living there. Matthiessen begins by lamenting that the life and landscape he is witnessing is likely disappearing. Forty years later, his descriptions of his travels around Lake Turkana, including the people and their customs, sound very familiar, especially the way in which the landscape simultaneously inspires awe and wonder while being challenging to travel.
definitely felt lucky to be led by Steven, who steered our bush car, Taita, expertly through all manner of terrain and road condition and made countless introductions to the people living there. Matthiessen begins by lamenting that the life and landscape he is witnessing is likely disappearing. Forty years later, his descriptions of his travels around Lake Turkana, including the people and their customs, sound very familiar, especially the way in which the landscape simultaneously inspires awe and wonder while being challenging to travel."There is no road around the south end of the lake, only the foot trails of the few Turkana who pick their way over the lava flows to Loiyengalani. A bad track climbs out of the Rift and heads for South Horr across a region of black boulders, cairns, and strange circles in the sand..." (p. 71)The landscape, the people and even the road remain very much unchanged.
Laurel
Photos:"Laurel Admires the View," Lake Turkana (Claudia Daggett)
"Sunset over Lake Turkana" (Jamie Waters)
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