2018 – Page 9 – Moonlion Safaris

Mt Olorgesailie decked in cloud and wild flowers - copyright Rupi Mangat 5 May 2018

Time travelling through Olorgesailie

Published on May 5, 2018 by Rupi MangatLeave a comment

The fascinating metropolis of ancient ancestors

Above: Mt Olorgesailie decked in cloud and wild flowers – copyright Rupi Mangat 5 May 2018

Published: Saturday magazine Nation newspaper 5 May 2018

IMG_2809 (800x600) — Dry weather in November 2017 – Mt Esakut from Olorgesailie – copyright Rupi Mangat 5 May 2018

I’m alone walking between two ancient volcanoes on sands that have weathered the times and bleached white by the relentless sun with volcanic rubble strewn around. Tiny white flowers and petals of yellow on skeletal green stalks that otherwise are so brittle during the dry season carpet the ground.

I’m at Olorgesailie, home of our ancestors, the upright human or Homo erectus who walked out of Africa and into the bigger world a million years ago.

In my aloneness my mind begins to wander. Continue reading “Time travelling through Olorgesailie” →

In Nairobi National Park

Published on April 30, 2018May 1, 2018 by Rupi MangatLeave a comment

Amazing Skies, Savannas and Species

Published Nation newspaper-Saturday magazine 28 April 2018

Above: Impala herd browsing in Nairobi National Park with Nairobi skyline
Copyright Rupi Mangat

IMG_5120 (1280x960) — Wild flowers in bloom in Nairobi National Park Copyright Rupi Mangat

Armed with the colour printout of some common reptiles of Nairobi National Park by the reptilian guru Stephen Spawls, co-author of the amazing 500-page tome of ‘A Field Guide to the Reptiles of East Africa’, we drove in wanting to see some rarities like the Black-necked spitting cobra and Puff adder listed as highly venomous.

Continue reading “In Nairobi National Park” →

Orchids - indigenous to Kenya - Iphone Copyright Mark Nicholson

Undercover Story at Brackenhurst Botanic Garden

Published on April 23, 2018December 29, 2023 by Rupi MangatLeave a comment

Iphone mark 142 (1) (600x800) — Indigenous orchid in Kenya – Iphone at Brackenhurst Copyright Mark Nicholson

Above – Orchids – indigenous to Kenya at Brackenhurst in Limuru – Iphone
Copyright Mark Nicholson

Published Nation newspaper Saturday magazine 21 April 2018

“Africa and Madagascar were joined like this,” demonstrates Dr Mark Nicholson of Plants for Life and the person who has recreated the natural forest at Brackenhurst Botanic Garden in Limuru as a model to show that indigenous forests can be restored after removing plantations of exotic trees.

Continue reading “Undercover Story at Brackenhurst Botanic Garden” →

Nairobi Snake Park

Published on April 14, 2018January 1, 2024 by Rupi MangatLeave a comment

Face- to-face with Omieri again

Above: Omieri the African rock python in her new glass cage. Notice the burn mark on exreme right that she received in 1987 – which led to her death.
Copyrigt Rupi Mangat

Published: Saturday Magazine Nation newspaper 14 April 2018

In 1987 l went to see Omieri the she-python who suddenly shot to fame on account of having being caught in a fire that left her in very bad health. She was coiled lethargic in her glass cage and succumbed to her wounds on 25^th June 1987. In the passage of time, l forgot about her.

Fast forward to 27^th March 2018.

Thirty years later l’m face-to-face with Omieri again. This time though she’s dead, her long beautifully patterned body in a special glass case and preserved in ethanol. Her burn wound is visible but she’s now a national celebrity on permanent exhibition at the Nairobi Snake Park thanks to a young woman called Diana Injendi.

Continue reading “Nairobi Snake Park” →

Second peak of Iyale beyond the first copyright Rupi Mangat

Scaling Iyale

Published on April 7, 2018 by Rupi Mangat1 Comment

Published 7 April 2018 Saturday Nation magazine

In the Taita Hills

Iyale bare crystalline peak - copyright Rupi Mangat — Iyale bare crystalline peak – copyright Rupi Mangat

I’m back with a mission. Staring at the gigantic bare rock face of Iyale, one of the high peaks of the Taita Hills, l’m sizing it up to summit it.

The Taita Hills is the amazing chain of massifs that make the Eastern Arc Mountains made of 13 mountain blocks. The Taita Hills in Kenya is the extreme northern end with the rest in Tanzania. These amazing and ancient forest-capped crystalline mountains are the first massifs to catch the wind-swept ocean breeze off the Indian Ocean.

Continue reading “Scaling Iyale” →