Ng’ikalei Loito outside her home. Photograph: Esther Sweeney/The Guardian Seven deaths and 15 injuries have been recorded in the past year as crocodiles move their habitats closer to human settlements Warning: contains graphic descriptions of crocodile attacks By Carlos Mureithi in Turkana. Photographs by Esther Sweeney Fri 17 Apr 2026 05.00 BST Last modified on Fri 17 Apr 2026 12.40 BST Share Prefer the Guardian on Google N g’ikalei Loito was walking out of the warm waters of Lake Turkana on a sunny afternoon, having just finished swimming with her two sisters-in-law, when she suddenly felt the crushing force of a crocodile’s bite on her legs. In excruciating pain, she instinctively clung to a partially submerged tree that was within reach and screamed for help, as the crocodile tried to drag her under the water. Loito’s thoughts raced to her five children. She wondered who would take care of them if she died. “When a crocodile attacks, it feels like death is certain,” she said. As shouting villagers waded into the water, eventually the crocodile let go of Loito’s legs, which were now bloody and badly mangled. She was carried out and taken to hospital, a three-hour drive away, in a police vehicle. View image in fullscreen Ng’ikalei Loito sits on her tricycle outside her house in Kalokol town in Turkana Attacks on people living along Lake Turkana in north-west Kenya have become common in recent years as rising water levels shift the habitats of Nile crocodiles – predators that can grow up to six metres (20ft) long and weigh up to 900kg (2,000lb) – closer to human settlements. View image in fullscreen The attack on Loito took place in December 2024 in Lowarengak town on the western side of the lake, near the Ethiopian border. Medics at the hospital plastered one leg and put an external fixator on the other. However, the following afternoon they found that both her legs were turning green and only one of her toes was responsive, so they decided to amputate them. “The legs were completely destroyed,” the 33-year-old recalled in an interview earlier this month that took place at her home in Kalokol town, her tricycle parked nearby. Loito used to cook and sell mandazi, a fried dough, in the town to support her family. She now depends on assistance from her mother and other relatives she lives with. “My life has totally changed. I am not able to do anything now,” she said. L ake Turkana, the world’s largest permanent desert lake, is one of eight major lakes along the Kenyan part of the Rift Valley, a geographic depression stretching 4,000 miles (6,500km) from Lebanon to Mozambique. In 2021 a government report found that the lake’s total surface area had expanded by about 10% over the previous decade. Lake Turkana map Many rely on Lake Turkana, the world’s largest alkaline lake, to catch fish for consumption and sale inside and outside Kenya. A fisher sets off on a log boat in Lochilet village in Turkana county The rising water levels in many of Kenya’s Rift Valley lakes have displaced tens of thousands of people and submerged homes, schools, farms, hospitals and infrastructure. Researchers have attributed the rise to various factors. The same 2021 report said the primary explanation was increased rainfall caused by the climate crisis. It also linked the phenomenon to tectonic movement in the Rift Valley. Another report that year , by the UN environment programme, said climate change may make the flooding of Lake Turkana more frequent over the next two decades. View image in fullscreen View image in fullscreen View image in fullscreen View image in fullscreen Clockwise from top left: What was once a toilet on the Long’ech peninsula has now been partially submerged by the rising water level of Lake Turkana. A fisher rows his log boat off Long’ech. Felisters Dapat, who lost her 10-year-old son, stands on the lakeshore in Long’ech. The lakeshore in Lochilet village. Elijah Chege, county warden for Turkana at the Kenya Wildlife Service (