Common Questions

The Isiolo sales yard runs Monday, Wednesday and Friday. It is the region's principal livestock market — cattle, goats, sheep and camels arrive from across Isiolo County, from Samburu, Turkana, Wajir, Marsabit, Moyale and Garissa, and from across the Somali border. Demand visibly rises around Eid al-Adha.

Market fees are set by the county and have been a point of dispute between traders and the county in the past; we could not verify the current fee schedule, so ask at the yard before you sell.

It depends heavily on which market. In NDMA's May 2026 survey a two-year goat averaged Ksh 6,325 across the county — about Ksh 9,000 at Isiolo town but Ksh 5,500 at Merti; cattle averaged Ksh 43,100, reaching Ksh 50,000 at the Isiolo yard against Ksh 35,000 at Oldonyiro.

The livestock price board on this site shows the latest bulletin's figures for each market, the terms of trade, and exactly how old the numbers are.

The National Drought Management Authority classifies the county every month on a four-step scale: Normal (indicators within seasonal ranges), Alert (rain, vegetation or water out of range), Alarm (production and access affected) and Emergency (lives and livelihoods at risk). The classification is published in the monthly Isiolo County Drought Early Warning Bulletin, a free PDF on NDMA's knowledge web. At the end of May 2026, after the March–May long rains, the county was classified Normal and improving across all livelihood zones — a turnaround from the Alert and Crisis conditions earlier in the year, though NDMA still rated the underlying food-security situation as Crisis (IPC Phase 3) on an improving trend.

The Hunger Safety Net Programme is run through the National Drought Management Authority. In May 2026 its cash transfer reached about 6,620 households in Isiolo County — roughly 39,700 people, about Ksh 17.9 million that month — alongside relief food distributed through the Office of the President and cash transfers from organisations like the Kenya Red Cross and PACIDA in specific wards.

Isiolo's two treatment plants draw on the Isiolo River system, and the water company (IWASCO) says uncontrolled upstream abstraction and vandalised infrastructure keep cutting supply — so rationing recurs. The county has been shifting from emergency water trucking to boreholes, but several rural boreholes remain broken after vandalism.

At community water kiosks a 20-litre jerrican cost Ksh 2–5 in May 2026, after the long rains recharged rivers and pans, and the average return walk to water was about 1.4 km. In outlying settlements people paid more — about Ksh 20 from vendors at Modogashe's traditional river wells. Costs and trekking distances climb again through the June–September dry spell.

Isiolo is a node of the LAPSSET corridor and a Vision 2030 flagship site, but most of the promised projects are unfinished. The international airport was commissioned in 2017 and still operates below capacity; the resort city planned at Kipsing Gap remains on paper; an export abattoir and the Ksh 545 million modern market stalled, and the county has moved to revive them.

So far the projects have produced land speculation and compensation disputes more reliably than jobs. Residents have protested that Isiolo landowners were offered Ksh 25,000 per square metre for the corridor against Ksh 45,000 in Garissa — a gap leaders blame on Isiolo's missing title deeds, since most land here is held communally without them.

Isiolo sits on the A2, about 285 km north of Nairobi — tarmac the whole way. The town is the last sizeable stop before the northern rangelands, and long-distance traffic between Nairobi and Moyale passes through daily.

Fresh milk averaged about Ksh 85 a litre in May 2026, from Ksh 80 in Kinna to Ksh 100 in Merti. The price moves with the rains: that month, after a good long-rains season, households milked about 2.3 litres a day — roughly a quarter above normal — most of it from cows and camels. In the dry months production falls sharply and the price climbs.

Much of the camel-milk economy is run by women — the Anolei cooperative processes up to 7,000 litres a day in the rainy season and trucks it to Nairobi's Eastleigh.

Resource-based conflict does occur in dry months, when herds from several counties converge on the remaining pasture. NDMA's May 2026 bulletin recorded only minimal incidents as the long rains eased pressure, though residents of Cherab and Chari wards reported bandits from Samburu East scouting the area. Community representatives — Borana, Samburu, Turkana and Rendille — signed a peace pact in April 2025.

In an emergency the national police lines are 999, 112 or 911, toll-free.

Two community stations broadcast from town: Radio Shahidi 91.7 FM, run by the Catholic Diocese of Isiolo, covering Isiolo and parts of Meru, Samburu and Laikipia; and Baliti FM 102.7, started in 2012 by the Foundation for Women Pastoralists, reaching about 130 km around town. Market, drought and peace information mostly travels by radio here.

Two each year: the long rains from March to May (MAM) and the short rains from October to December (OND). On the 30-year average the short rains are the bigger season here, with November the wettest month. The rain outlook tool on this site shows where the current season stands against those averages.

In the outlying wards, schools depend on the same boreholes and wells as everyone else, so shortages track the seasons. After the long rains, NDMA's May 2026 bulletin reported no areas facing water shortages, with rivers and pans recharged — but earlier in the year severe shortages had disrupted learning at schools in Cherab and Sericho wards, and the bulletin again flagged borehole repairs in those wards as a priority before the June–September dry spell. Borehole vandalism has kept several rural schools dependent on water trucking in past dry seasons.