Isiolo- Part 2 – Isiolo Town

For part 2 of the Isiolo series, some pictures of the town itself and its environs.

Isiolo has grown exponentially in the last 5 or 6 years as the road that leads there has been rebuilt and now actually resembles what most of us would refer to as a road rather than a mud track.
As one drives into town the two buildings that immediately jump out are the huge cathedral and the Mosque.
(The Italian priest who built the cathedral apparently died when he climbed up to fix one of the windows above the altar and fell, hitting the large cross on the way down.)
Churches seem to be everywhere you go, no matter how remote the place.

The people were very friendly and inquisitive, it seems that although Isiolo is on the main route north to Lake Turkana that few tourists stop there for any length of time.
At least here the kids didn’t run away crying when they saw me (granted that happens almost everywhere not just in small African towns.)
They were not too keen on having their photos taken though, a phenomenon I encountered through much of Kenya and which I am told is due in large part to the thousands of photographers that visit Africa, take pictures of the poor with their big expensive cameras and leave, leaving the local population feeling somewhat exploited.It’s such a shame though because around the golden hour the light is simply majestic.

The other thing that struck me (though not unique to Isiolo) was the hand painted shop fronts, often named after events that were taking place at the time they were built. Which goes some way to explaining why its ok to have a “Twin Towerz (sic) Hotel”.

It’s worth noting that the last picture in the slide show shows a red shirt marking the spot where a man was eaten by a crocodile less than 2 weeks before the shot was taken, the red shirt was all that remained of the unfortunate fellow.
In fact there were many places, especially near the rivers and lakes, that my guides said we couldn’t walk, because as it was rainy season and the usually barren landscape was a riot of greenery it was too easy for crocodiles and other predators to hide, making it too dangerous.
I was wearing a red shirt that day so I decided to take their advice.

And so, some pictures……….

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