This is gallery #4 of the "Great Kenya Adventure - 2019". Highlights from the whole trip are here. This gallery begins with a final shot of Lake Turkana, followed by the one-day trip across the Chalbi Desert and other deserts between Turkana and Marsabit. Crossing the Chalbi was one of the most exciting highlights of the whole trip. There were stretches of flat lands with nothing but sand and mirages as far as the eye could see, broken by semi-desert thorn-scrub, rocky mountains, an occasionally true oases, with standing drinkable water, palm trees, and small villages. Even in some of the driest sections, people managed to live - mostly semi-nomadic Gabra tribespeople with their camels.
After the desert crossing, we gained elevation in north-central Kenya, climbing the mountain range around Marsabit and arriving in Marsabit town for a 2-night stay. As recently as 20-25 years ago, Marsabit was a small frontier town and trading center for surrounding desert tribes, sitting on a rough, unpaved road between Archers Post (itself a frontier town just north of Kenya's central highlands) and Ethiopia. Now, Marsabit is a small city with some modern conveniences, and many NGOs have offices there for development work in nearby areas. The road is now beautifully paved all the way from Nairobi to Ethiopia. Despite the modernization, however, Marsabit still has a remote, frontier feeling to it.
Marsabit is also the name of a mountain and National Park/ National Reserve of the same name. Mount Marsabit occupies most of the national park and contains some fascinating ecosystems. The mountain is the highest point of a range that rises slowly from the desert, standing as an island of cool, lush forests high above the lands below. Marsabit National Park contains three craters with waterholes on their floors, and the park is host to a completely different suite of wildlife and birds than are found just a few miles away in the desert.
After Marsabit, we headed back down south, where we stayed at three spectacular camps on the way back to central Kenya. Although most of northern Kenya is hot and dry desert, most of the places we stayed we mountainous, cool, lush, and pleasant because of the high altitude. I therefore call the next gallery for the next segment of the trip "Mountain Oases of the Northern Kenya Deserts". Click here to view that gallery. Scroll below for photos of the Chalbi desert crossing and the area around Marsabit.
After the desert crossing, we gained elevation in north-central Kenya, climbing the mountain range around Marsabit and arriving in Marsabit town for a 2-night stay. As recently as 20-25 years ago, Marsabit was a small frontier town and trading center for surrounding desert tribes, sitting on a rough, unpaved road between Archers Post (itself a frontier town just north of Kenya's central highlands) and Ethiopia. Now, Marsabit is a small city with some modern conveniences, and many NGOs have offices there for development work in nearby areas. The road is now beautifully paved all the way from Nairobi to Ethiopia. Despite the modernization, however, Marsabit still has a remote, frontier feeling to it.
Marsabit is also the name of a mountain and National Park/ National Reserve of the same name. Mount Marsabit occupies most of the national park and contains some fascinating ecosystems. The mountain is the highest point of a range that rises slowly from the desert, standing as an island of cool, lush forests high above the lands below. Marsabit National Park contains three craters with waterholes on their floors, and the park is host to a completely different suite of wildlife and birds than are found just a few miles away in the desert.
After Marsabit, we headed back down south, where we stayed at three spectacular camps on the way back to central Kenya. Although most of northern Kenya is hot and dry desert, most of the places we stayed we mountainous, cool, lush, and pleasant because of the high altitude. I therefore call the next gallery for the next segment of the trip "Mountain Oases of the Northern Kenya Deserts". Click here to view that gallery. Scroll below for photos of the Chalbi desert crossing and the area around Marsabit.
