Above:Karanja the black rhino – his skeleton next to a model of a white rhino – copyright Rupi Mangat
Pubished 17 November 2018
In keeping with his celebrity status, Karanja the black rhino charmed important dignitaries that included the ambassadors to Kenya from Italy, Ethiopia and Algeria, researchers, curious guests and all to his opening day on 31 October 2018 at the Nairobi National Museum.
Above: The Wildlife Foundation Centre at Naretunoi Conservancy, Kitengela
Copyright Rupi Mangat
Published: 10 November 2018
“We have everything here,” says Moses Parmisa of The Wildlife Foundation. “If you had spent the night here you would have heard the lions and the hyenas.”
We’re chatting over a cuppa tea and cakes at The Wildlife Foundation Centre on a lawn dotted with wooden sculptures collected from different parts of Africa. On arrival we’ve been met by Impi the two-year-old female antelope whose mother was killed by a predator. The foal was found on the grounds and now thinks she’s a ‘people’.
Continue reading “Naretunoi Conservancy Neighbours Nairobi National Park”
Meeting the Apex Hunter in Ngong Road Forest Sanctuary
Above: African crowned eagle at nest Ngong Road Forest Sanctuary copyright Washington Wachira
Published: 3 November 2018
“Listen,” said Fleur Ng’weno of Nature Kenya.
A piercing shrill drifted through the trees in the forest.
“It’s the African crowned eagle.”
It was what we were hoping for but like any creature on the wild, nothing is guaranteed.
Quietly we walked along the path and there in the tall croton tree, was perched Africa’s mightiest raptor by its nest.
An OMG moment!
Here we were at the Ngong Race Course that is in Ngong Road Forest Sanctuary, in one of the busiest part of a city of four million people – and in its midst we’re in a natural forest that’s home to some of the rarest creatures including the Jackson tree snake.
Urban Crowns
I’ve borrowed the title from a short film by Washington Wachira, a young ornithologist studying the African crowned eagle.
Above: Sculpture by Francis Nnaggenda at Nairobi Gallery – Copyright Rupi Mangat
Published: 27 October 2018
After an exhausting and stress-filled morning spent in the government office to renew a passport, l needed an energizing boost. The answer lay in the neighbouring Nairobi Gallery, built in 1913 as the PC’s office and dubbed ‘matches, hatches and dispatches’ where all marriages, births and deaths were recorded.
Continue reading “Searching For The Beauty of Africa – Step In At The Nairobi Gallery”
Above: Orchid bloom in Hanging Gardens of Malindi – Copyright Rupi Mangat
Published: 20 October 2018
Everyone’s heard of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World – but the hanging gardens of Malindi had me intrigued. Malindi is more famous for its wide bay, protected by three reefs that make it totally safe for swimmers and ocean sport fanatics. From March till December the monsoon winds create the perfect conditions for kite surfers, so much so that this tiny little historical town where six centuries ago a ‘Malindi lad’ showed Vasco da Game the Portuguese sailor the sea-route to India, is now doubly famous as the ‘Mecca for surfers’.
Moonlion Safaris 