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Turkana Lake Life

Writer's picture: Heather KirkbyHeather Kirkby

During our time in Northern Kenya we had many ‘adventures within the adventure’. The first mini adventure was on Lake Turkana.  It is the world’s largest permanent desert lake, 13 times the surface area of Lake Tahoe. It is a saline lake: desolate, hot and windy. Three rivers flow in, none flow out. Evaporation is how water leaves the lake. It was the most northern point in our journey.


We loaded up a boat with our gear to head to the south end of the lake. After pushing off, neither boat motor would start. We enjoyed the views and the breeze as our two boat guys worked on the problem. The good news and the bad news was they looked really proficient at on-water motor repair. We set off in no time.



I chuckled that the lake was like the roads: bumpy and not a soul to be seen. In fact, I don’t think we saw another boat the whole time except for the three-palm sit-on-top kayaks. We boated for about 90 minutes to the south end of the lake to camp for the night and hike up two small volcanoes.


The boat dropped us at the foot of the first volcano, our afternoon objective. We hiked up and over, and the boat met us on the other side. Like all our hiking here, there are no ‘real’ trails and it’s hot, hot, hot. There are paths worn by humans and animals over many years. There was some debate about the best route between Jean, Reuben and one of our boat guys but they quickly reached consensus :) and we wound our way up the volcanic bump to ever-increasing stunning views.



From the crest we descended a big chute of rocks, the only “couloir” we’ll drop into this winter. As we neared the boat we could see dozens of goats way up high, defying gravity and clinging to wall-like cliffs. What is up with goats?



A short boat ride brought us to our campsite. We pulled up into a sandy shore and Reuben immediately pointed out crocodile tracks. Seriously! I wondered if a dude with gun would be our croc protection, but alas no.





We started pitching tents and some local tribes people showed up. There were steep cliffs between us and their village so they had walked around the edge of the lake, in the water, to our campsite. I imagined them being amazed by our tents, our thermarests and our modern gear. Maybe even our white skin. Our guide told me later it was the boat that was their source of awe. Looking at this photo, that is now pretty obvious.


It was a gorgeous night under the stars. Another divine meal cooked by David. An exciting moment came later when a UFO flew by. I told Justin it looked light a “sky submarine”. Others called it a rocket. We later confirmed it was an asteroid.



We rose at dawn to hike the second, steeper volcano, Nabuyaton. A young boy (10 ish) from the tribe just showed up and walked over with us and Reuben. In fact he gave Reuben some top tips on the route apparently. Justin pulled out his phone inclinometer and measured the volcano angle at 31-34 degrees. Steep but walkable. Hard volcanic rock, quite smooth. Trust your Salomon’s. Hazel dug deep past her discomfort into the panic zone. Stayed there a while then headed down with Justin. Proud of that kid. I have been spooked in the mountains many times in my life. I know the feeling intimately.



Will and I went to the rim and gazed into the crater which was more than a thousand feet deep and full of trees at the bottom!! Reuben blasted ‘Shake it off’ on the way down on his phone. Classic.




The return boat ride was rough as heck. We had a headwind most of the time. Occasionally a tailwind that was almost spooky because of the swell and how much it would throw the boat around. It was pretty clear we were in the hands of boating experts, thank goodness. Not their first rodeo.



What a fun adventure! Impressive napping skills:


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