diff --git a/kodev b/kodev
index bc233844b..589251a7f 100755
--- a/kodev
+++ b/kodev
@@ -94,7 +94,14 @@ ${SUPPORTED_TARGETS}"
             assert_ret_zero $?
             ;;
         android)
-            [[ -n ${NDK+x} ]] || export NDK="${CURDIR}/base/toolchain/android-ndk-r12b"
+            if [ -z "${NDK+x}" ]; then
+                if [ -n "${ANDROID_NDK+x}" ]; then
+                    # some distributions use `ANDROID_NDK` instead, fall back to it
+                    export NDK="${ANDROID_NDK}"
+                else
+                    export NDK="${CURDIR}/base/toolchain/android-ndk-r12b"
+                fi
+            fi
             [ -e "${CURDIR}/base/toolchain/android-toolchain/bin/arm-linux-androideabi-gcc" ] || {
                 { [ -e "${NDK}" ] || make -C "${CURDIR}/base/toolchain" android-ndk; }
                 make android-toolchain