Lokichar is a small town in

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

Turkana County Turkana County is a county in the former Rift Valley Province of Kenya. It is Kenya's largest county by land area (followed by Marsabit County), and also its northwesternmost. It is bordered by the countries of Uganda to the west; South Sudan ...

. Lokichar is situated in the heart of the dusty and arid Turkana basin (desert) in the

Rift Valley A rift valley is a linear shaped lowland between several highlands or mountain ranges created by the action of a geologic rift. Rifts are formed as a result of the pulling apart of the lithosphere due to extensional tectonics. The linear dep ...

, 550 km north-east of Nairobi. Until 2010 it was a forgotten backwater of Turkana cattle-based pastoralists with a pre-2010 population under 1,000. The principal activity was basket weaving and other native crafts to cater for the sparse traffic. The 2011 discovery of oil by Tullow Oil, talk of the Uganda/South Sudan oil pipeline to

Lamu Lamu or Lamu Town is a small town on Lamu Island, which in turn is a part of the Lamu Archipelago in Kenya. Situated by road northeast of Mombasa that ends at Mokowe Jetty, from where the sea channel has to be crossed to reach Lamu Island. ...

passing through, and the opening of the border to the new state of

South Sudan South Sudan (; din, Paguot Thudän), officially the Republic of South Sudan ( din, Paankɔc Cuëny Thudän), is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered by Ethiopia, Sudan, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the C ...

has started to transform its prospects. The 2012 population for the area was 2,000 and rising. There is a small non-commercial airport.

See also