The Rendille are a Cushitic speaking ethnic group inhabiting the Kaisut Desert, which is in the North Eastern part of Kenya. They also inhibit the south eastern and southern regions of Mt. Marsbit in the Marsabit Central District .They are often referred to as “the holders of the stick of God”.

They are nomadic pastoralists who roam with their camels, goats and most recently cattle across about 16,000 square kilometers of Northern Kenya. Women, children, and older men live in semi-permanent villages that are moved only a few times a year and rarely more than a few kilometers.

The Rendille believe that they belong in the desert not by mistake but because its their “promised land”. In their popular morning prayers they pray “your people Wakh (God) cannot climb mountains, cross seas but remain in this promised land in which You have looked after our fore fathers, us and our children’s children….”.the Rendilles are confined to the desert because their most treasured livestock, the camel, cannot survive in cold mountainous and clay soil environment.