Category: 2017

A meeting of the elders - the chimps of Gombe National Park - from the Kasakela group Copyright Rupi Mangat

Rendezvous with the Chimpanzees of Gombe

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Above: A meeting of the elders – the chimps of Gombe National Park – from the Kasakela group  Copyright Rupi Mangat

Click to watch the chimps of Gombe National Park

Published in Saturday magazine Nation newspaper 2 December 2017

Sunrise over Kigoma – copyright Rupi Mangat
local fishing boat belonging to Congolese fishers at Kigoma – in French – Notre Tresor – our treasure. copyright Rupi Mangat
local fishing boat being repaired at Kigoma – . copyright Rupi Mangat

The night air is fading as we make our way to the secluded bay on Lake Tanganyika at Kigoma to climb into the motorboat to Gombe National Park. It’s the only way to get there. Continue reading “Rendezvous with the Chimpanzees of Gombe” →

Exploring the Mountain from Naro Moru

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Above: Art in nature …on the nature trail at Mount Kenya Eco-Resource Centre – copyright Rupi Mangat

Published Saturday Magazine, Nationewspaper 25 November 2017

Naro Moru with Mount Kenya completely invisible - copyright Rupi Mangat
Naro Moru with Mount Kenya completely invisible – copyright Rupi Mangat

An impenetrable white mist blankets everything outside my window at day break and clears slowly to reveal the own street tiny town of Naro Moru that’s epically famous as the base for scaling the massif hidden in the clouds – Mount Kenya. For the entire three days of hanging around God’s mountain as the Kikuyu call, the country’s tallest mountain stays hidden in the clouds.

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Kigoma on Lake Tanganyika

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The end of the road   

Published  Saturday magazine Nation media 18 November 2017

Kigoma Railway Station- Copyright Rupi Mangat
Kigoma Railway Station- Copyright Rupi Mangat

Superlatives fill the lake as l dive into the dazzling blue warm waters Lake Tanganyika. It is Africa’s longest and deepest lake – a veritable African Great Lake in the Albertine Rift, the western arm of the Great Rift Valley. It is also the world’s longest freshwater lake stretching 675 kilometers and holds 18 per cent of the world’s fresh water.

Continue reading “Kigoma on Lake Tanganyika” →

"Dr Livingstone, L presume?" The epic soundbite delivered by Henry Morten Stanley (l) to Dr David Livingstone(r) on 10 November 1871 Copyright Rupi Mangat

Modern-day Ujiji on L.Tanganyika

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Above: “Dr Livingstone, L presume?” The epic soundbite delivered by Henry Morten Stanley (l) to Dr David Livingstone(r) on 10 November 1871
Copyright Rupi Mangat

Along the East African coast of Tanzania - the sturdy palm oil tree – an important economic oil plant Copyright Rupi Mangat.
Along the East African coast of Tanzania – the sturdy palm oil tree – an important economic oil plant Copyright Rupi Mangat.

We’re driving through a narrow cobbled street, ten kilometers south of Kigoma to reach the historic village of Ujiji a few meters from the shores of Lake Tanganyike. The road is lined with simple single-storeyed houses fitted with tin roofs – like the old Arab-Swahili settlements along the East African coast and sturdy palm oil trees – an important economic tree.

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The century-old Orion Tabora Hotel Copyright Rupi Mangat

Tabora

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Above:The century-old Orion Tabora Hotel  Copyright Rupi Mangat

The half-way town from Arusha to Kigoma

Published Nation media Saturday magazine 4 November 2017

Road map of Tanzania - trace our journey from Nairobi via Arusha to Tabora and then L.Tanganyika
Road map of Tanzania – trace our journey from Nairobi via Arusha to Tabora and then L.Tanganyika

650 kilometers west of Arusha, we’re in Tabora

It has long intrigued me. David Livingstone and Henry Morton Stanley, the hard-wired calculating American (but British-born) journalist spent five months in 1872 at Kazeh near Tabora after the epic meeting in Ujiji on the shores of Lake Tanganyika – with Stanley’s famous quote ‘Dr Livingstone, l presume’.

Continue reading “Tabora” →