In the drylands of Africa, pastoralists have been facing new challenges, including those related to environmental shocks and stresses. In northern Kenya, under conditions of reduced rainfall and more frequent droughts, one response has been for pastoralists to focus increasingly on camel herding. Camels have started to be kept at higher altitudes and by people who rarely kept camels before. The development has been understood as a climate change adaptation strategy and as a means to improve climate resilience. Since 2003, development organizations have started to further the trend by distributing camels in the region. Up to now, little has been known about the nature of, reasons for, or ramifications of the increased reliance on camels. The paper addresses these questions and concludes that camels improve resilience in this dryland region, but only under certain climate change scenarios, and only for some groups.

Compliance with Ethical Standards Funding This study was funded by The Royal Geographical Society with Institute of British Geographers Thesiger-Oman Fellowship. Conflict of Interest The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest. Research Ethics The research was approved by the Department of Geography, University of Cambridge Research Ethics Committee. Participants were fully briefed, verbally, in their own language, on the nature and purpose of the research, on matters related to confidentiality, and were encouraged to withdraw at any stage from an interview should they feel uncomfortable. Verbal consent to participate was obtained without pressure.