Conflict Over Fishing Spots in Lake Turkana
The beach looks ready for war: in the sparse lakeshore shade hundreds wait, sweaty from the heat, weapons at their feet.
In Kenya's hot, dry and lawless north even the fishermen are armed, but guns will not save them.
They live on Lake Turkana, the biggest desert lake on earth and a World Heritage Site, but the lake is threatened and so is their way of life.
"There are fewer and fewer fish," said 41-year-old Maurice Echerait, sitting next to handmade nets with discarded plastic bottles for floats by the ramshackle row of improvised shelters that make up Nayenae camp.
The reason, he says, lies 600 kilometres (370 miles) northwards up the Omo River, Turkana's main tributary, and rises 243 metres (797 feet) into the sky: 'Gibe III', Africa's tallest hydroelectric dam unveiled by Ethiopia last year.
The dam is now filling up so Turkana's water levels are falling and the seasonal flooding that helps the fish breed is disrupted.
Filiberto Strazzari