Category: 2020

Snows of Kilimanjaro from Tsavo West

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Above; Snow-capped Kilimanjaro from Tsavo West Kitani bandas April 2020. Courtesy Severin Safari Lodge

Published: The East African Nation media

By Rupi Mangat

It was predicted that the snows of Kilimanjaro would vanish by 2020…but look at what’s happened

Kilimanjaro’s snow hat is perfectly on its head – that is on its dome-shaped Kibo also dubbed the roof of Africa because at 19,340 feet high, it’s the continent’s highest point.

Late March and the first surprise after leaving Diani famous for its powder white beach and blue warm water on Kenya’s South Coast was the mist covered peaks of Shimba Hills.  It was surreal watching from the ridge of the escarpment as the mist rose, warming up to the rising sun.

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From Masindi Exploring Kabalega’s Kingdom, Uganda

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Above: Approaching Murchison falls in the National Park. Copyright: i Rupi Mangat 2017

Published: The East African Nation media

Part 2 of 2

By Rupi Mangat

At first glance Masindi gives the impression of a one-street, non-descript town with relics of colonial architecture. But is has interesting history as Sally Wareing, the retired octogenarian teacher who bought a run-down hotel and turned it into a charming garden hotel called New Garden View Court Hotel. It’s 90 kilometres from the world’s most powerful waterfall, Murchison.

Kabalega Primary School Masindi Uganda (800x600)
Kabalega Primary School Masindi Uganda built 1914. Copyright Rupi Mangat

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In Kabalega’s Kingdom: Bunyoro in Uganda

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Above: Royal tomb of King Kabalega near Hoima in Uganda. Copyright Rupi Mangat

Published: The East African Nation media 25 April 2020

By Rupi Mangat

Powerful and progressive, Kabalega defended his kingdom against colonial onset

It was the taxi driver who announced, “The royal tomb of Kabalega is here.”  He brought the car to a halting screech when he realized l was serious about seeing it.

At that point Kabalega was quite unknown to me. I was whiling away days in Masindi visiting friends. With time on my hands and no intention of doing Murchison Falls – for now dubbed as the most powerful waterfall in the world – which l had visited in 2017, l was following in my late grandmother’s steps to Hoima. She gave birth in each of the three East African countries with the last born in Hoima in the 1940s.

Hoima was only 60 kilometres further west of Masindi and another 20 to Lake Albert, one of the African great lakes in the rift.

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Artist's impression of One of the newly discovered sixgilled sawshark species (Pliotrema kajae). Copyright: Simon Weigmann,

Not one but TWO new species of Sawsharks discovered in Zanzibar and Madagascar

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Discovering a species in the 21st century is exciting but to discover two new species is super-exciting. 

By Rupi Mangat

Above: Artist’s impression of One of the newly discovered sixgilled sawshark species (Pliotrema kajae). Copyright: Simon Weigmann,

Published: The East African Nation media 11-17 April 2020

These bottom dwelling sharks support long saw-like snouts called rostrums with which they stun, rip and eat their prey. They are so new to science that they have never been photographed in the ocean!

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Maasai giraffe at Ecoscapes Conservancy Lake Naivasha

A Weekend Away on Lake Naivasha

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By Rupi Mangat

Above: Maasai giraffe at Ecoscapes Conservancy Lake Naivasha

Published: Saturday Nation 4 April 2020

We’re in a land from the time of the dinosaurs. While there may or may not have been dinosaurs around Lake Naivasha, there’s a tiny wasp that has been around for some 60 million years ago when dinosaurs where going out of fashion.

Driving on Moi North tarmac road that circles part of the freshwater lake that is the highest of the rift lakes, the earth road that follows is a gorgeous grove of fig trees – Ficus wakefieldii to be precise because there are over 750 species of fig trees in the world. Each one of them has strong trunks with wide spread branches that look like a work of art in a natural gallery.

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