In brutal drought, Kenyan herders look for hope underground

The United Nations water agency estimates that roughly 400 million people across Africa lack access to clean water.

Letoyie Leroshi walked for five days hunting water. After three years of drought in Samburu County, Kenya, the riverbeds were bone-dry.

Then Leroshi found a patch of wettish sand in the sunbaked Ewaso Ng’iro riverbed. He brought a group of fellow herders to dig. They hit water and the jubilant young men broke into song, a traditional call to their cattle and camels.

Harnessing Eastern Africa's groundwater could be a huge benefit for a region struggling to slake its thirst. Climate change is making drought more likely but, as in much of the continent, people in East Africa and the Horn of Africa lack the resources to tap groundwater on a wide and efficient scale.

For Leroshi and other Kenyan herders, the situation is desperate.

"We had thousands of livestock four years ago when we experienced short rains,” he said. “We have lost hundreds of our cattle and are now worried that if the rains fail yet again, we will lose everything.”

Leroshi and other herdsmen carry weapons and are prepared to fight if attacked by people trying to steal from them.

"Everyone else around is also armed and ready to steal our livestock,” he said.