A historical Swahili house restored
Published The East African 13-19 May 2017
Above – main courtyard with five arches – copyright Christina Aarts
In the historical Lamu Stone Town that is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, stunning Swahili houses line the narrow lanes where only two people can walk astride with the donkey – and now with changing times, the motor-bike – having the right of way. Famed for their limestone architecture and wooden carved doors, many have a story to tell.
A forest of the Kikuyu Escarpment
Published Saturday magazine, Nation newspaper 13 May 2017
Along the path in the forest that rhymes with mutamaiyu or the African olive tree or the Olea europaea (African variety) someone signals to the left and a whole bunch of humans vanish into the evergreen forest that’s part of the larger Kereita forest – a place of the warriors – on the Kikuyu escarpment.
Following the markings on the GPS the group’s looking for a stunner – the Bar-tailed trogan which l have seen at eye-level in the forests of Mount Kenya. It’s not a bird that you ordinarily find flying around – although if we did, the world would be more colourful.
“Gatamaiyu forest is an IBA,” tells the doyenne of all birds, the amazing Fleur Ng’weno. “It was listed as an Important Bird Area because it has a wide variety of forest highland birds and also because the Abbot’s starling is found here.”
Amboseli’s award-winning gold-rated eco-camp still thrills
Above: Tortilis Camp – overlooking the tortilis-filled plains of Amboseli – copyright Rupi Mangat
Published Nation newspaper, Saturday magazine 6 May 2017
Twenty-two years ago l landed at Tortilis Camp bordering Amboseli National Park and l was enchanted – a tiny camp, beautifully built in a grove of equally beautiful thorn trees that looked like they had been sculpted to adorn the camp.
In search of a palanquin
Published Saturday magazine, Nation newspaper 29 April 2017
Lounging in the circular living room of Grogan’s Castle with stunning views of Kilmanjaro’s two peaks Mawenzi and Kibo on the western side, the Pare mountain in Tanzania on the southern side and the plains of Tsavo on the eastern side, l chance upon an issue of Old Africa with a really interesting story of Lake Chala –which leads us to this little visited jewel lake in the caldera of Kilimanjaro straddling Kenya and Tanzania.
It’s a story of an epic expedition in 1891 by a woman – May French Sheldon – an American explorer and writer. Way ahead of her time, she left London unaccompanied by a male escort carrying gold rings to present to African chiefs and people who would help her in her explorations.
Critically Endangered vultures threatened by wind farm
Published The East African, Nation media 22-28 April 2017
Ruppell’s vulture landing – copyright Munir Virani
Since 2015 four of the eight species of vultures in Kenya have been listed as Critically Endangered by the International Union of Conservation of Nature (IUCN). This means they are one step short of becoming extinct.
Moonlion Safaris 