Overview

The Chalbi Desert is a small desert in northern Kenya near the border with Ethiopia. It is east of Lake Turkana and contains North Horr. Marsabit is the closest major urban center.
Chalbi desert is composed of saline and alkaline sediments and stabilised sand dunes; a resulting formation of the old bed of Lake Chalbi. During the Pleistocene (1.8mya to 10,000 years BP) this lake drained the volcanoes of marsabit. It has since dried up to form the extensive Chalbi desert.