Experiencing Turkana has been, and still is, my ultimate safari dream. In 2005, my good safari friend Henk and I “made it” to Turkana – albeit for two days. We chartered a Cessna to drop us early morning at Loyangalani, the (only) remote settlement on the eastern shore, and pick us up the next evening. We had a satellite phone for emergency use, and even found the only local 4x4 to move around.

It’s been called The Jade Sea (for its color), Lake Rudolf (by discoverers Count Teleki and Lieut. Von Höhnel in 1888, for their Austrian prince), and since 1975 Lake Turkana (for its major tribe).

Turkana is the epitome of remoteness: a windswept and very hot desert ocean in northern Kenya, just south of Ethiopia, surrounded by barren volcanic lava beds with little to no vegetation. Only the river Omo feeds the lake, there is no outlet but evaporation, and the water is saline and barely drinkable. Only a few Turkana, Rendille, Gabra, and El Molo survive on its shores.

The region around Lake Turkana has become famous as one of the great sources of evidence of modern man's earliest existence. In 1967, Richard Leakey discovered the Koobi Fora fossil site on Turkana’s eastern shore. The Koobi Fora deposits, rich in mammalian, molluscan and other fossil remains, have contributed more to the understanding of paleo-environments than any other site on the African continent.

Here are 28 photos of my first brief stay at Turkana, of its breathtaking scenery and its wild people.