'I saw devastation, people stripped of everything but will to live'

A herder stands beside his cattle that died from drought in Kenya’s arid north. [File, Standard]

Leaving the relative comfort of Nairobi for the drought-stricken North Eastern counties, I expected to experience hardship, but nothing could have prepared me for the sheer impact of the drought on communities in the Arid and Semi Arid  (ASAL) region.

My journey across Isiolo, Marsabit, and Samburu revealed a landscape that has been pushed past its breaking point-a region where the climate crisis has stripped away everything but the people’s raw will to live.

The ravaging drought, described as the worst in decades, has reduced the communities’ livestock to scattered carcasses and sparked human-wildlife conflicts and fueled inter-communal wars over scarce resources such as pasture and water.