Above: Humpback whale in Watamu, Kenya coast, Indian Ocean, doing its back flip
Copyright Jane Spilsbury/Watamu Marine Association
Published 13 October 2018 Nation Saturday Magazine
The waves surged, heaved and fell at full throttle, grey and dark with the wind howling. In the raging ocean, with a lurching stomach, l kept my eyes glued on the equally dark, grey heavy clouds threatening to burst at any point. And they did.
Continue reading “Whales and Waves Make Adventure in Watamu”
Published 6 October 2018 Saturday magazine, Nation newspaper
Above: Copyright Nobert Rottcher -Golden-rumped elephant shrew in Arabuko-Sokoke forest
When friends in Malindi announced they were off to Arabuko-Sokoke forest I was on it – and for one sole reason – to look for the ‘only to be found here in the world’ animal, the Golden-rumped elephant shrew.
On reaching the ancient forest that’s just meters from the Indian Ocean, l’d missed the early morning birders who had wandered off into the forest at the crack of dawn. Undaunted and in need of a good walk, l strode off in search of the sengi that is now the new name for the shrew.
Continue reading “Chasing After Shrews and Elephants in Arabuko-Sokoke Forest”
Published 6 October 2018
I feel like l’ve stepped into a hidden, magical world on the heights of the Aberdares. We’re entering a part of the Aberdares that until recently was shrouded in mystical mists only accessible for tough hikers and mountaineers. We’re in the northern part of the 160-kilometer range that looms in the skyline when driving along the Nairobi-Naivasha upper road or towards Nyeri-Nanyuki.
Published 29 September 2018
Above: Seen on Sept 13 2018 at Soysambu. The male in the photo is SM2 (collared) who is Flir’s son and the female is SF3, Valentine’s daughter. We think Flir and Valentine are sisters so they would be cousins. Unknown father’s but they are one or two of the males in Nakuru National Park. Copyright: Kat Combes
There’s so much happening at Soysambu, the wildlife conservancy straddling the soda-fringed Lake Elmenteita in the Great Rift Valley. It draws one like magnet to keep up with its intrigues. For starters the wildlife haven is set picturesquely between the fresh water Lake Naivasha and the alkaline Lake Nakuru and being part of the volcanic upheavals from the last 20 million years or so, it’s a tapestry of little mountains with craters, volcanic rubble and an inch-thick layer of soil good only for hardy grass and trees.
Continue reading “Soysambu’s Cats, Colobus, Raptors and All”
I had never heard of Ngobit River, didn’t even know such a river existed. But before we ventured that far from Gilgil, Solomon Gitau from Kipipiri joined us to show where the colobus monkeys from Kipipiri were. Kipipiri is in the fabled ‘Happy Valley’, and the range stretches in front of the taller and longer Aberdares.
Moonlion Safaris 