Celebrating the leftovers of Kenya’s old architecture

The Turkana cultural festivals are perhaps the few occasions that provides the opportunity to celebrate the architecture on the move—designed to cater for nomads in an environment that remains hot throughout the year, with little vegetation, shade and water.

After harsh hours on the sandy terrains and rays of sun hitting through the deserted plains and hills, some feel-good breeze welcomes you to Loiyangalani.

This is the place of many trees in the desert— named after the local Samburu language—and indeed an oasis surrounded by a sea of sand and hot air.The journey through the stretches from Nairobi to Loiyangalani takes at least two days on the road and almost two hours of flying for those who take the option of a chartered plane.

At the dry Loiyangalani airstrip, we are met by what looks like the whole village. Clad in resplendent ochred regalia, its action and action here.

They are here to usher a group of enthusiastic tourists on a mission to savour the natural flavours of the traditional life existing side-by-side with new trends.

This is at the recent second edition of the Turkana cultural festival, two days of spontaneous cultural action that easily transform the village—in terms of cash flow, the number of people in the village; even activities on the menu.

Since last year, when the German embassy organised the inaugural Turkana festival, the rural village market hosting different communities around the Lake Turkana gathers to showcase their community’s treasures— architecture, authentic fashion, invaluable indigenous knowledge that the communities have survived on; music, dance and other performing and visual arts.

Just like its name suggests, the area offers an oasis of opportunities—especially for visitors interested in cultures of these communities.

There is some water too—even some hot water spring, which is a contrast to the rest of the surrounding area.

Besides dances and music, the festival also feted traditional architecture from the area.

The traditional architecture— featured in the Turkana festival and the actual ones where the community lives—symbolise the nomadic lifestyle of the communities—Pokots, Samburus, Turkana, Elmolos and even Gabbra— who are stakeholders of the Loiyangalani community.

They are deceptively similar in shape and looks, but each has its unique defining characteristic which ignorant eyes may easily dismiss. We spent the first night in a Samburu hut.

With the city skyscrapers; mansions and villas in mind, you might be reluctant to spend a night in the small huts. But not until you step inside and experience the soft strokes of the wafting breeze that defy the hot air outside.

Using branches, the Samburu erect the imaginative houses with several poles.

Walls are neatly covered by one of the by-products of their animals— skins; their roof made of woven mats called “suuti.”

For the Samburus who have adopted a new lifestyle, houses are larger and are mud-walled with a splash of some cow dung to embellish it.

This includes the roof. On the other side, the Turkana use the materials they easily get from the oasis that dot their landscape and the lake.

With intricately woven reed work, the Turkana women put up neat huts where they live with their families and animals. Just incase any heat accesses the building, there is room for escape; the small windows.

The Rendille’s use palm leaves for roofing to minimise the effect of the heat. To match the nomadic life, the Rendille hut is made of wood.

The huts are also tinier and easy to transport when on the move. As part of their survival tactics, the communities living around— as evident in their display— have a wealth of indigenous knowledge on how to store, lighting fires and even herbal concoctions eaten in the place of conventional meals when times are dry in the wilderness.

“For me, this is real Africa,” says Wolfgang Deschler, a German citizen who has been running the Oasis Lodge since 1981. “Nairobi is not Africa. If I go to Nairobi, I always try to keep it very brief. Living here is different.”

But Deschler who first came to Loiyangalani in 1981 is a little disappointed that though most of the community still lives the traditional way, modern lifestyles are slowly wiping out the traditional knowledge that has helped the community survive here.

“Soon, we might have shopping malls competing for space here.” says Deschler.

The change is evident. A few metres into the village are several palm thatched huts; some mud walled, a few that borrow from metropolitan architectural styles. They are cemented and iron sheet-roofed something that makes them very hot throughout the day.

Getting there
Loiyangalani by Road-INFO.

There are two routes to Loiyangalani from Nairobi by road: Nairobi -Gilgil -Nyahururu -Rumuruti -Maralal - Baragoi -South Horr -Loiyangalani.

2. Nairobi - Nyeri -Nanyuki -Isiolo -Archer’s Post -Wamba - LoiyangalaniThe first route has a tamarcked road to Rumuruti then a rough road to Loiyangalani and normally takes two days.

The second route is a longer than the first one.There are no matatus that connect directly to the area except on hire and other special arrangements.

-No regular flights, but there are chartered flights.