Above: Brackenhurst Conference Centre and Botanic Gardens in Tigoni, 25-km northwest of Nairobi Copyright Rupi Mangat
Published: Saturday magazine, Nation media 28 October 2017
It’s popping with colour under the canvas of a gorgeous blue sky. Orange aloes in bloom attract an array of colourful sunbirds – Variable, Tacazze, Golden-winged and more. An African goshawk vanishes into the canopy of a tree and many more keep the birders glued skyward.
Published Saturday magazine Nation newspaper 21 October 2017
Above: Sand dunes of Shela looking across at Manda Island – Copyright Rupi Mangat
Shela was Lamu’s (town) poorer cousin. Set on the same island of Lamu, l’m reading an interesting account of Shela in ‘Quest for the Past’ an historical guide to Lamu archipelago by Chrysee MacCasler Perry Martin and Esmond Bradley Martin published in 1969. The sultan of Pate sacked Kitau on Manda island in mid-14th century and the people fled to Lamu town as refugees. 200 years later, they asked the Sheikh of Lamu if they could build their own town. He agreed but on condition that no stone building was to be built in Shela.
Part 2 of 2
By the river’s edge
Published 14 October 2017 Saturday magazine Nation newspaper
Above: Tarangire – land of the giants – centuries-old baobab tree and elephant
Copyright Rupi
It’s stark dry – August at the height of the dry season. Tall and golden, the sun-bleached grass shimmers under the blazing sun interspersed with stoic baobabs and towering termite mounds. We drive across the dry riverbed and into Tarangire National Park from the adjoining Randilen Wildlife Management Area and watch a family of banded mongoose playing around a termite mound.
Published in The East African Nation media 7-13 October 2017
Laos in Southeast Asia, virtually unheard of in Africa is now the leading retailer in ivory, mostly sourced from recently poached elephants in Africa
Laos is now the hot-spot for rich Chinese tourists to gamble and purchase things they can’t do so easily at home – like jewellery and carvings from elephant ivory, rhino horn and consume wild animal products from endangered species – like tigers and bears.
Amidst the baobabs
Published Saturday magazine, Nation newspaper 7 October 2017
Above: Elephant dwarfed by centuries-old baobab tree near Randilen Wildlife Management Area by Tarangire National Park, Tanzania
Picture Galib Mangat
There are few grand arrivals as memorable as this.
Stopping at the gate of Randilen Wildlife Management Area that hosts the stunning Tarangire Treetops eco-lodge, the rangers excitedly run down the rock kopje hearing our Mama Safari – the Toyota Royal Crown Saloon 1985 model.
Moonlion Safaris 