Culture, History and Adventure in KENYA, the Cradle of Mankind

28/09/2025

TEKWA Cultural Tours offers another of their exciting adventures to North-Eastern Kenya, Marsabit County, to the CRADLE of HUMANITY. In a comfortable Mercedes truck you will travel way up to the border with Ethiopia, visit Illeret and the TBI where you will meet with up to 3,5 Mio year old fossils of our forefathers as well as "homo erectus" footprints (1,5 Mio years), already very similar to ours. You will also meet and interact with some of the 14 ethnic groups, some Cush*tes other Nilotes but all pastoralists and get familiar with their history which goes back to pre-Abrahamic times in Near East. Crossing the Chalbi Desert will be another highlight of this tour. And at the end you will relax in a lodge in Samburu Reserve and enjoy the beauty of Kenya's wildlife and nature. Doesn't that sound exciting! Hurra up - and get in touch with TEKWA! There are only 4 seats available! (0790 39 72 28)

05/05/2025

05/05/2025

Dear friends. What about profiting from the Southwinter and travel up North while the sun is not quite so hot? TEKWA offers 2 12-day tours, one in July (05-16), another one in August (02-13). We would like to show you some of the places where our ancestors moved around and where their fossilised remains are digged out under your eyes. Don't miss this opportunity of going back to our roots and roaming around in the Cradle of Humanity. For further information, please, get in touch. Your TEKWA Team.

09/01/2025

LAST CHANCE!
JOIN US IN THIS INFORMATIVE ADVENTURE!
ONLY 2 SEATS LEFT!

08/09/2024

THE NEW DATES FOR TEKWA'S EXCITING AND INFORMATIVE CULTURAL TOURS THROUGH MARSABIT COUNTY (North-Eastern Kenya) ARE OUT.

06/06/2024

Hope to see you all in our Global Village at National Museum of Kenya, on Museum Hill, Nairobi coming Saturday.

10/05/2024

We are sure, the “CRADLE of HUMANITY" has been on your bucket list for quite some time. You would like to know, where it all started, where we all come from, how we have survived and developed for more than 4 Mio years. Therefore, join one of the two latest unique, informative and adventurous tours to East-Turkana offered by TEKWA. Visit Koobi Fora, the TBI (Turkana Basin Institute) and have all your questions answered. You will also roam along the shores of Lake Turkana, the largest desert lake in the world, like our ancestors did, admire the salty plains of the Chalbi Desert, get an impression of the largest wind project in sub-Saharan Africa and meet the beautiful people of Marsabit County , pastoralists who wander through those vast realms and manage to survive in a most arid territory with their camels, goats and sheep.

26/04/2024

CONT 4: We left Loiyangalani driving along the lake. Parts of the road are new because the rising water levels have submerged the old road. After turning eastwards and later northwards we came through territory usually full of goats, ship and camels. This time these places were almost empty. Definitely the result of the 4 year long drought, which killed at least half of the herds. When finally the rains came, they caused further havoc in decimating the rest of the animals by washing them away. It was encouraging to see many young animals within the small herds left giving hope to a new future. We had our usual picnic lunch at Karsa Gate and then visited the famous Petrified Forest nearby. It is always a very special experience to touch a stone which 20 Mio years ago was part of a tree trunk. The road towards Koobi Fora was more than bad. The acacia bushes had not been cut for months and we were forced to sit on the inner seats in order to avoid scratches from the thorns. Never a dull moment up North! But we were lucky to reach this iconic camp which has also suffered from the rains and the rising lake water. Soon the open air dining area will be flooded. As already mentioned, nowadays the bats are in charge of the place. Even the nets put under the roof couldn’t prevent them from leaving their traces in the rooms and beds of the clients. We will definitely have to look for another accommodation as long as this place has not seen a serious renovation. What a pity! The visit to TBI (Turkana Basin Institute) in Illeret was definitely a highlight. Mr. Martin showed us not only the latest finds (no pictures of course!), as well as how they transport the finds to the Lab and finally clean them. You may think you are at the dentist’s. Finally we were shown the Hydroponic farming, developed by TBI in these soilless surroundings. Hydroponics is the technique of growing plants without soil using water based nutrient solution. The local Dassanach women are encouraged to pass by and get instruction of how to set up their own small hydroponic garden. We would have liked to visit the footprints excavation site, but time did not allow it, as the short road from Koobi Fora to Illeret is no longer passable and we had to use the 3-hours road. We can only hope that this beautiful and culturally highly interesting area will see some major improvements soon. On the way out we visited the fossilised tortoise, the crocodile and the elephant. All three about 2 Mio years old and ancestors of our present species. Unfortunately the keys would not open the padlocks at the first two sites. But we got a glimps.

26/04/2024

In Loiyangalani we usually stay at Malabo Lodge. From there we explore the town of Loiyangalani which has a population of about 30,000, many pastoralists who move in and out – mainly the men with their animals while the women have become sedentary.
We pay a visit to Layeni, one of the two villages, where the El Molo, a Cush*tic and probably the smallest ethnic group in Africa, have successfully avoided extinction through integrating women of surrounding ethnic groups (mainly Nilotic Turkana and Samburu). Their numbers have risen from about 200 in 1983 to over 2000 today – at the cost of their Cush*tic language. Nowadays the El Molo speak Samburu, a Nilotic Maa-language.
Finally we say hello to our good old friends, a group of Rendille women, living in a small settlement within Loiyanganlani. They are happy to leave their usual chores for an hour, to chat with us, put on their traditional leather clothes and do some singing and dancing with us. Of course, we always carry highly appreciated goodies with us like maize meal and sugar.