In pushing eastward the Turkana had arrived at a dramatic ecological and cultural frontier. All the way to the shores of Lake Turkana lay arid land peppered with the occasional cultivatable oasis. Hard country inhabited by communities that were radically different from any the Turkana had encountered before. There were three communities living in close association and herding a variety of livestock that included exotic creatures with long necks and humps on their backs - the first camels the Ateker had encountered.