Which desert of northern Kenya lies east of Lake Turkana?

The desert of northern Kenya east of Lake Turkana is the Chalbi Desert.

Chalbi is a small desert in Marsabit County, near Kenya's border with Ethiopia. It occupies the basin between Lake Turkana and Mount Marsabit, making its position east of the lake a useful geographical clue in this question.

Much of the desert is an ancient lake bed. Around 10,000 to 11,000 years ago, the basin held a shallow lake; today, dried mud, salt deposits, rocky ground and lava formations dominate the landscape. Rain can transform the hard surface into sticky, difficult-to-cross mud.

The name Chalbi comes from the language of the Gabra people and means “bare, salty area.” Gabra pastoralists and other communities use the wider region for herding goats, cattle and camels. Fossils from the former lake, including aquatic species such as Nile perch, help scientists reconstruct past climates in East Africa.

The Chalbi Desert is sometimes confused with the Nyiri Desert, another Kenyan desert farther south. The Lake Turkana clue points specifically to Chalbi.