One of the more memorable things about Isiolo is not a sight at all but a sensation: the moment the green Central Highlands give way to brown semi-arid scrub. The shift is dramatic and rapid. As you arrive from Meru or Nanyuki, the road descends through increasingly dry terrain until the character of the landscape — and of Africa — changes completely. Many travellers stop here simply to register that transition. The Isiolo–Moyale highway (A2) is now paved all the way to the Ethiopian border, making the road north far more accessible than it once was, but the landscape shift remains just as striking.