There's a standoff at Suyian Ranch.
For the past week traditional herdsmen have invaded the land, burned down the tourist lodge and brought in thousands of cattle to steal pasture.
Now police reinforcements have arrived and from the overlooking escarpment are trying to decide how best to restore law and order.
Suyian Soul tourist lodge - known locally as "Anne's Camp" - is overwhelmed with cattle picking through the charred remains of the looted buildings.
"We don't allow people to just walk onto the land," said Anne Powys, whose family has lived on this 44,000 acre farm for more than 100 years and is used to making grazing deals with the neighbours.
"We'd been talking to the local community for two months, but the young warriors who were driving the cattle came and said 'we don't want to speak to anyone, we're coming to take the grass, by force, so don't get in our way.'
"We realised that it wasn't them but local politics had changed their minds and that was disappointing."
The anti-stock theft police moved in, but in the confrontation a young man was killed, sparking an escalation - now the herdsmen have built cattle kraals and moved in.
At sunrise on a clear day, the sharp peak of Mount Kenya frames the horizon.
Giraffes, elephants and buffaloes are among the wildlife browsing the acacia bush.
A parched savannah grassland rolls off far into the distance. Laikipia County is a vast but harsh place to raise cattle, needing careful management to avoid overgrazing.
Tens of thousands of extra cattle belonging to Samburu, Pokot and Laikipiak Maasai pastoralists destroy the delicate balance, tearing through the landscape, consuming every piece of pasture and moving on.
Approaching the squatters is difficult - we tried to speak to herdsmen but they are armed, and suspicious of our intentions they fired shots at our car.
Other herdsmen we spoke to blame failed rains: "It's because of drought," said John Lapollei, who was illegally grazing his cattle on a nearby farm.
"This is the only place there is pasture, the only place we can bring our cows," he said, aware it was against the law but willing to risk arrest by an under-resourced police force.
The commercial farmers blame overgrazing and poor management for destroying previously fertile pasture.
"It's not about drought. The reality is there are too many people and too much livestock and it's a global thing," said Anne Powys, who blames climate change for more extreme weather.
A local politician has encouraged the herdsmen to take over the land using racially charged language - white Kenyans own most large farms.
Elections are a few months away and politics here are tribal and ruthless.
"It's not about white ranchers - it's about the whole community. There's a landscape of different peoples here who are suffering," said Anne Powys.