Service with the Kenya Police in the north is certainly 'Active'

Showing a group of armed Kenya Police climbing a rock in search of cattle raiders. The photograph is part of a series of official photographs (Copyright Reserved) entitled 'Life in the Northern Frontier Province of Kenya'. It has two typewritten captions on the reverse. The first reads: 'Cattle raiders are well armed, casualties not uncommon'. The second reads: 'Though Kenya is more usually associated with the green pastures, cool glades and ice-cold streams of its lovely highlands, the Northern Frontier Province has all the ingredients of the desert. The scattered nomad population of wandering Hamites move from one grazing ground to another with their precious flocks and herds. Miles of low thorn bush are empty save for lion, rhino, giraffe or occasional buck and zebra, the water holes are few and often hotly contested by opposing tribes. The camel which can travel immense distances without drinking, is a treasured possession for this is the beast which will make the long safari to the well which is life itself to these people living in a land where water is more precious than gold'. Dated '1940s' in the original typescript catalogue