Author: Rupi Mangat

2013 Ecotourism Journalist of the Year (Ecotourism Society of Kenya) | Editor, Komba Magazine (Wildlife Clubs of Kenya) | Contributor, The East African and Saturday Magazine (Nation)

Urban Crowns

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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.”

african crowned eagle Ngong Road Forest Sanctuary copyright Washington Wachira (800x542)
african crowned eagle Ngong Road Forest Sanctuary copyright Washington Wachira

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!

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Ngong Race Course that is in Ngong Road Forest Sanctuary Copyright Rupi Mangat

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.

nest of african crowned eagle Ngong Road Forest Sanctuary copyright Washington Wachira (800x600)
Nest of African crowned eagle Ngong Road Forest Sanctuary copyright Washington Wachira (800×600)

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Searching For The Beauty of Africa – Step In At The Nairobi Gallery

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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.

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Hanging Gardens of Malindi

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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’.

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Humpback whale in Watamu, Kenya coast, Indian Ocean, doing its back flip Copyright Jane Spilsbury/Watamu Marine Association

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Whales and Waves Make Adventure in Watamu

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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.

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Humpback whale in Watamu, Kenya coast, Indian Ocean, in Seastorm the Hemingway boat impressing tourists. Copyright Jane Spilsbury/Watamu Marine Association

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Chasing After Shrews and Elephants in Arabuko-Sokoke Forest

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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.

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