i'm anne soy, the bbc‘s senior africa correspondent, and i've spent the past few months stuck in nairobimpact of the covid—i9 pandemic. today, i'm leaving the city to find out about another crisis which has the potential to be even more destructive than covid—i9 for some areas of my country. nairobi is one of the hotspot areas for covid—i9, and so movement in and out of the metropolitan area is forbidden, except for essential services — that includes journalists like us — but we still had to get this letter from the media council of kenya, just to certify that we are allowed to travel outside the metropolitan area. and we also have our press cards, to show the security officers who are making sure that there's no movement in and out of that area. we are travelling to northern kenya, where they reported a swarm of locusts almost the size of moscow at the beginning of the year. albert lemasulani's family have lived on this land for generations. they are samburu nomadic herders, who rely almost entirely on their animals. taking care of their livestock is not only their way of life, but cruc

i'm anne soy, the bbc‘s senior africa correspondent, and i've spent the past few months stuck in nairobit of the covid—i9 pandemic. today, i'm leaving the city to find out about another crisis which has the potential to be even more destructive than covid—i9 for some areas of my country. nairobi is one of the hotspot areas for covid—i9, and so movement in and out of the metropolitan area is forbidden, except for essential services — that includes journalists like us — but we still had to get this letter from the media council of kenya, just to certify that we are allowed to travel outside the metropolitan area. and we also have our press cards, to show the security officers who are making sure that there's no movement in and out of that area. we are travelling to northern kenya, where they reported a swarm of locusts almost the size of moscow at the beginning of the year. albert lemasulani's family have lived on this land for generations. they are samburu nomadic herders, who rely almost entirely on their animals. taking care of their livestock is not only their way of life, but crucial

anne soy has this report from kenya, where locust—trackers are on the frontline to fightback.t every man is destroyed his crop. i'm as county he invites his neighbours and shows them how to grow food for bob but this challenge he has never had to stop it is a disaster stop it affects not just to stop it is a disaster stop it affects notjust me, it affects other farmers one there, one there. so into days, all farms will be finished. there is nothing. and together, ina swarm, there is nothing. and together, in a swarm, they consume as much food in one day as 2500 people would in a year. tracking them is a difficult task we have come to send the co—ordinate. reporting mean. a spectacular sight. never seen anything like this. millions upon millions of locusts everywhere. look at that tree. they have taken over and you can barely see the leaves. they are eating them and once they are eating them and once they are done and fly away it will be left there. albert has now trained team works with to collect information on the ground. they feed it through an ca rsey to ground. they feed

anne soy has this report from kenya, where locust—trackers are on the front line in the fightback.ting every plant on their path. francis watches helplessly as locusts destroy his crop. it is cleared. my crop has been cleared. his has been a model farm. as the agricultural officer here, he invites his neighbours and shows them how to grow food. but this is a challenge he has never had to deal with. this is a disaster. it won't affect just me alone, there are also farms there, another one there, another one there. it's something like in two days, all of these farms will be finished. there is nothing. this is what you call poverty. each locust can eat its own body weight daily. and together in a swarm, they consume as much food in a day as 2,500 people would in a year. these are young locusts that aren't flying yet. they are most destructive at this stage of growth. and when they start flying, they can move up to 150 kilometres in a day. tracking them is a difficult task. we have come to spot them and send the coordinates. but volunteers like albert are supporting efforts to control