At the northernmost tip of Kenya lies the Jade Sea. With its shimmering waters oscillating between deep blue and turquoise, the world’s largest permanent desert lake is the most dominant feature of County 23 – Turkana. Lake Turkana runs for almost 250 km and is the world’s largest alkaline lake. Beyond having the world’s largest population of Nile crocodiles, it also serves as an important source of protein and even livelihood for the people around the lake, for the Turkana are known as pastoralists first but fishermen second.
This county bears very important history too, – from the archaeological remains of Turkana Boy found by fossil hunter Kamoya Kimeu in 1984, which is the most intact complete early human skeleton ever to be found in the world. Thought to have lived between 1.5 million and 1.6 million years ago, Nariokotome Boy, as he is otherwise known, is one of the world’s most significant archaeological finds.
A little more recently – around 300BC – was the construction of Namoratunga Stones, known as the earliest archaeoastronomical site in Africa. Essentially the 19 magnificent basalt stones are distinctly aligned with 7 star systems: Triangulum, Pleiades, Bellatrix, Aldebaran, Central Orion, Saiph, and Sirius; and conform to a 354 day calendar, pointing to the knowledge and skill of early stargazers in this part of Kenya. The view of the night skies over Turkana are magnificent, an ideal place for ancient and modern day astronomers to explore the skies. For the Turkana people though, Namoratunga is also known as the place where the devil turned men into stones and is an important site in the traditional community calendar.
At Lodwar, another statue holds fort, as the county capital has its own iconic replica of Christ the Redeemer. While it may be thousands of miles away from the original that sits atop Sugarloaf Mountain in Brazil, it also sits atop a hill perpetually looking over the community below. The Catholic Diocese in Lodwar has erected several statues outlining the stations of the cross leading up to the hilltop statue, making it a pilgrimage site for many Catholic faithful.
Another potential place of interest is the Lodwar prison that held the Kapenguria Six. The thought behind bringing them to Lodwar was its perceived distance from Mau Mau’s reach.
With access to the county opening up significantly, one has unprecedented opportunity to truly explore Turkana’s many exciting sites. Archeologically important, teeming with political history and a strategic point for astrophiles, what more could one ask of a place?
Our featured photographer is Brian Gatimu, a Nairobi based photographer and co-founder of Turn Up Travel Global Ltd, a touring company that organizes trips all year round. Brian loves (and we mean loves) to travel and hopes to cover the entire continent through pictures within the next four years. You can find more amazing pictures from Brian and his team on their Turnup Travel Facebook page or on Instagram and Twitter @turnup_travel