Loiyangalani is a small town located on the southeastern coast of

Lake Turkana Lake Turkana (), formerly known as Lake Rudolf, is a lake in the Kenyan Rift Valley, in northern Kenya, with its far northern end crossing into Ethiopia. It is the world's largest permanent desert lake and the world's largest alkaline lake. B ...

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

. The town has a population of 5,117. Loiyangalani means "a place of many trees" in the native Samburu tongue. It is home to Turkana people and was founded near a freshwater spring in the 1960s where the

El Molo The El Molo, also known as Elmolo, Dehes, Fura-Pawa and Ldes, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the northern Eastern Province of Kenya. They historically spoke the El Molo language as a mother tongue, an Afro-Asiatic language of the Cushitic ...

people live. Its main industries include fishing, tourism and

gold panning Gold panning, or simply ''panning'', is a form of placer mining and traditional mining that extracts gold from a placer deposit using a pan. The process is one of the simplest ways to extract gold, and is popular with geology enthusiasts especi ...

. It is a popular tourist destination in Northern Kenya, as the surrounding

and Turkana villages offer unique (although somewhat commercialized) experiences. In June 2008, the 1st Cultural Festival took place at Loiyangalani and united all tribes of the Lake in celebration for one weekend. The town is home to an airstrip and lies near

Mount Kulal Mount Kulal is an eroded-down extinct volcano located in northern Kenya, just east of Lake Turkana. The mountain has an elevation of . The lakeside town of Loiyangalani is located west of Mount Kulal. Mount Kulal has been a biosphere reserve s ...

(50 km), known for its forest and stones. There are a few Lodges in the area, the "Oasis Lodge", the "Palmshade Camp", the "Mosaretu Women's Groupe Lodge", and the "Sailo Bandas" all located only a few hundred meters from the airstrip. ''Loiyangalani Division'' of Marsabit County is headquartered in Loiyangalani town. The town is sometimes spelled as ''Loyangalani''. Loiyangalani was the setting for

John le Carré David John Moore Cornwell (19 October 193112 December 2020), better known by his pen name John le Carré ( ), was a British and Irish author, best known for his espionage novels, many of which were successfully adapted for film or television. ...

's novel ''

The Constant Gardener ''The Constant Gardener'' is a 2001 novel by British author John le Carré. The novel tells the story of Justin Quayle, a British diplomat whose activist wife is murdered. Believing there is something behind the murder, he seeks to uncover the t ...

'', and was also a location for the film of the same title. In 2010, Loiyangalani was briefly made a district on its own from the former Laisamis district by the President of Kenya,

Mwai Kibaki Emilio Stanley Mwai Kibaki (15 November 1931 – 21 April 2022) was a Kenyan politician who served as the third President of Kenya from December 2002 until April 2013 and is regarded as one of Kenya's founding fathers. He had previously ser ...

References

{{First and second-level administrative divisions of Kenya Populated places in Marsabit County Lake Turkana