02 · GALLERY
Five frames.
The lake is jade-green and pre-historic, ringed by black volcanic rock and palm scrub. The drive in from Marsabit is two days of corrugated dirt and 45-degree midday wind. Loiyangalani is a wind town: doum palms bend continuously, the music tents flap, and the elders come in painted ochre with goat-hair anklets that hiss as they move. Each community sings against the next, ceremonial chants stacking into something like a relay, and the lake behind you keeps doing what it has done since long before any of it.
Fly Nairobi to Loiyangalani via Aero Club charter, or convoy from Marsabit with a fixer. There is no fuel between Marsabit and the lake.
The most acoustically pure indigenous music gathering in East Africa, in a landscape that already feels like another planet.
Annual, late May or early June. The festival is timed for the cooler end of the dry season, but daytime temperatures still hit 40°C. Bring sun cover, water purification, and a hat that stays on.
Three days annually, May-June. Loiyangalani village hosts; programme afternoon through evening. No formal night sessions, the wind drops after sunset.
Aero Club of East Africa charter flights from Nairobi to Loiyangalani for festival attendees. Overland convoy from Marsabit is a two-day 4WD trip on corrugated dirt, fuel between Marsabit and the lake is non-existent. Travel with a fixer.