Turkwel River

The Turkwel River (sometimes spelled Turkwell River) is a river flowing from Mount Elgon in the border of Kenya and Uganda to Lake Turkana. The river is called Suam River from its source to the border with the West Pokot District of Kenya. The name Turkwel is derived from the Turkana name for the river, Tir-kol, which means translates to a river that "withstands the wilderness". The River Turkwel or Turkwell begins from the lush green Mount Elgon, traverses the Southern Turkana Plains, crosses Loturerei Desert near Lodwar and empties to the world's largest desert lake, Lake Turkana.

A controversial hydro power plant was built by the Kenyan government in the early 1990s with the help of France. The plan was to harness the waters of the Turkwel. The project was initially supposed to cost 4 billion Kenyan shillings, but ended up costing more than 20 billion.