We drive out of Karatu to reach the gates to Ngororongoro Conservation Area that’s home to the spectacular crater and the endless plains of the Serengeti – a fitting name borrowed from the Maa word, Siringit.
Dawn is breaking and the idea is to catch sunrise in the crater. At the gate, the baboons stir from the night trees, stretch and yawn to reveal massive jaws.
The gate keepers to the heavenly abode scrutinise our tickets, especially the Kenyan IDs. My Dad’s Kenyan ID states place of birth as India. For the Tanzania National Park’s (TANAPA = Kenya’s KWS) he must provide his passport to prove he is Kenyan or else he will not be allowed out of the NCA. Bizarre.
To cut a long story short, we do miss sunrise over the rim – but the view is surreal, for no one seeing this for the first time would believe there’s a crater below the opaque white-mist blanket
And as the ethereal orb in fiery hues of gold rises to chase away the mist, it’s jaw-dropping to watch the ancient crater reveal itself.
Above: Sailing on Angel’s Ark on Lake Naivasha to Crescent Island. Credit Bonnie Dunbar
The house is legendary as is the lake on whose shores it rests. Kilimandege – the hill of the birds has seen many novel visitors, chief amongst them Sally the hippo who wandered through the doors to sit in the lounge. The white-washed house was home to the famous couple Alan and Joan Root who shot some of the first epic movies on wildlife like the unforgettable Mysterious Castles of Clay and Mzima, Portrait of a Spring.
Meet the mighty river on its most dramatic stage where it plunges 43 metres on its journey north to drain into the Mediterranean. By RUPI MANGAT
Published: Nation media Sarmag 9 August 2025
The great expanse of water shimmers in the morning light as we fly over it to land in Entebbe, an hour’s flight from Nairobi. Yet less than two hundred years ago, the outside world knew nothing about this lake or the country that we now know of as Uganda.
Back then, Africa’s interior was a closely guarded secret by the Arab traders mainly for slaves, elephant tusks and timber. The mystery of the Nile’s origin became the driving force for the European explorers to enter the unknown. So when John Hanning Speke saw the lake in 1858 from a village near Mwanza in Tanzania, he uttered the unforgettable quote, “The Nile is solved”. He was ridiculed for it. The matter of the Nile was finally solved in 1875 when the journalist-explorer Henry Morten Stanley circumvented Victoria (as Speke christened it after the then British monarch, Queen Victoria), confirming it as the Nile’s source.
From Entebbe to the world’s most powerful falls
The Marina and jetty by the golf course on Lake Victoria at Lake Victoria Serena, Entebbe, Uganda. Image: Rupi Mangat
We’re wrapped in luxury at Lake Victoria Serena Entebbe on the edge of the Great African lake. Our journey into Uganda is to scale the mountains of the impenetrable forest in search of Bwindi’s Mountain gorillas that the outside world only got to know of in 1987 – and that not even by sighting our ape cousins but from the droppings below their night nests.
“The Mountain gorilla is the only subspecies of gorillas that is increasing in number and is now classified as ‘endangered’ from ‘Critically endangered’,” states Dr Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka, Uganda’s first wildlife vet. Their numbers have increased from an estimated 300 to 1063 in the wild today.
Dr. Glady Kalema-Zikusoka , Uganda’s first wildlife vet and founder of Conservation Through Public Health
Dr Gladys is a trail blazer. She and her husband Lawrence founded Conservation Through Public Health (CTPH) 20 years ago and have achieved international recognition for their ‘One Health’ approach that involves the well-being of the people who live alongside our ape cousin. Dr Gladys’ book, ‘Walking with Gorillas’ is a best seller, copies of which she signs after her presentation to the enraptured group.
The first leg of the journey is to Murchison Falls National Park – a 50-minute flight – to meet the Nile on its most dramatic stage where the mighty river plunges 43 metres through a 7-metre chasm on its 6,000-kilometre journey north to drain into the Mediterranean in the land of the pharaohs.
Murchison on the Nile
It was Baker with his wife Florence who came upon the ‘world’s most powerful waterfall’ in 1864, when looking to solve the Nile’s source – which they did not. They named the falls Murchison after the president of the Royal Geographical Society. However, the wandering couple came upon the lake (which today spans Uganda-DRC border) that glistens in the horizon as we land in 3,893-square-kilometre Murchison Falls National Park at Pakuba airstrip – the lake they named Albert after the British queen’s husband. The duo also documented Karuma Falls, a spectacular series of cataracts along the Nile spanned today by Karuma bridge along the main Kampala-Gulu highway.
The park is lush green like an emerald with towering Borassus palms that our safari guide jokes are planted by elephants! The seed passes through the elephant’s gut and germinates on the ground.
The common patas monkeys watch us from the road side. Unlike other monkeys that prefer trees to terra firma, the patas is mostly seen on ground and with its long legs is a fast runner. Unfortunately the Kenyan patas monkey is extinct in the wild – the Critically Endangered southern patas monkey (E. baumstarki). Found only in northern Tanzania today, the population is between 40–100 mature individuals remaining in the wild.
The Rothschild giraffes grace the plains nibbling on the acacias, Jackson’s hartebeest stand sentinel, a lioness in the tree stops all on track and finally the day ends with a drive to the top of the thundering falls on a road recently tarmacked over the new bridge spanning the Nile, doing away with the iconic ferry crossing.
The following day we sail the Nile to the bottom of the falls. A crocodile slithers into the river; others stay statuesque with jaws wide open to cool down in the afternoon heat. A herd of elephants frolic on the river’s edge hosing themselves with the rich red mud – a spa in the wild. FYI – Baker had by the age of 20, invented a powerful gun to kill an elephant with a single shot.
Pods of hippos pop around in the blue waters and we give them a wide berth. In 1870, Baker’s boat was attacked by an angry hippo on the Nile who munched a large mouthful of the wooden vessel. An hour later we sight the falls – and they never fail to impress. The river has risen and the force of the falls keeps the boats at a distance. All we can do is watch in awe with its permanent rainbow.
The Nile tumbling through a 7-metre gap down 43 metres to the land of the pharoahs. Pic: Rupi Mangat
More on Murchison Falls
It’s easily doable from Nairobi via road or by air with a range of accommodation in and outside the park. Combine the falls for a safari circuit with Budongo or Kibale forests for chimpanzee trekking; Queen Elizabeth National Park and Bwindi for the Mountain gorillas.
Log on to Uganda Wildlife Authority for current park fee.
Legend has it that God was so impressed with the gentleness of the mighty wanderer of the oceans, that he threw fistful of coins on its back – hence the Kiswahili name for it –Papa shilling which loosely translates to “Shark covered in silver coins.”
I arrive in time to catch the whale shark boat in search of the world’s biggest fish – the whale shark. It’s super-hot being March with the morning tide coming in. Volker Bassen, operator of the Whale Shark Adventures and co-founder of the East African Whale Shark Trust is at the helm with his crew of professional underwater video/photographers and dive masters.
There’s excitement on board for the whale shark is no ordinary shark. Despite being humongous – it can reach lengths of 60 feet and weigh as much as 36.000 kilograms – it’s so gentle that you can swim alongside it. Being a shark, it does have jaws but the teeth are tiny and harmless. Instead this giant of the seas is a filter feeder using its mouth to draw in water and filter out plankton and small fish.
Further into the ocean, the wind picks up, the waves gain momentum. The sky melds with the sea in shades of blue. The underwater world holds magic that awes the mere human on the boat. A pod of bottlenose dolphins in supreme grace slip in and out of the ocean, silvery grey against the dark blue. After a few minutes of curious playfulness around the boat, the dolphins vanish into their world.
Bottlenose dolphin with young in Kisite-Mpunguti National Marine Park
Copyright Rupi Mangat
There’s still no sighting of the whale shark. On my first whale shark adventure with Bassen in 2008, the big fish had appeared within moments of us reaching the reef. We reach a patch of the ocean that’s calm and jade green. Heads begin to bob in and out of the water. We’re in the company of the green turtles – the ancient mariners of the sea that have outlived the dinosaur. Being reptiles, they need air to breathe and pop their heads out of water for a few seconds. Joana Hancock of the Olive Ridley Project (the Olive Ridley is the most abundant of the turtles species found in all the world’s oceans i.e. Indian, Pacific and the Atlantic) later tells me that these are resident green turtles – for now until they migrate further into the endless ocean. In one of nature’s most amazing feats, the female returns to the beach she was born on to lay her eggs.
Green turtle – Kiunga Marine National Reserve
Copyright Maya Mangat
It’s nearing noon and still no big fish. Despite its gigantic size, you would think it’s easy to spot the whale shark. But this once abundant shark faces increasing collisions by the ocean liners, maimed by the propellers or caught in the massive seine purse nets in the fishing industry.
All the goggle-eyed snorkelers know that there is the odd day that the whale shark will elude all, for it is one of the most elusive creature on the planet. They jump into the water to swim with the turtles and be fascinated by the rich colours of the coral reef. Humans being warm-blooded mammals return on board having had their share of fun while the cold-blooded reptiles remain in the sea. On board there’s fresh fruits awaiting – and a surprise.
‘Mzee Pombe’ is a fixture by the reef which at low tide reveals a sandbar. Having paddled on his surf board with a cooler-box full of cold beers and soft drinks, his floating bar is an instant attraction and soon everybody has a drink in the hand.
It’s the last sail day of the season for the whale shark as it continues its swim in its constant search of food like the fish and coral spawn and the plankton blooms. There’s still so much we do not know about the ethereal Papa shilling that researchers like the EAWST team is dedicated to finding out to ensure the survival of the world’s biggest fish.
Swim with the Whale Shark
Join EAWST on a sail day in search of the whale sharks, turtles. dolphins and humpback whales.
The whale sharks arrive in Diani-Kenya around mid-December until mid of March as they continue with their migration on routes unknown and reappear a year later.
“You can never tell where they are going,” says Bassen. “It’s a very mysterious fish.
EAWST tagged 22 whale sharks between 2007 and 2010. One swam to Mozambique, one to Djibouti and one towards Australia.Due to lack of funding, the project stopped. However EAWST operates microlight spotter aircraftswhen the whale sharks and humpback whales are around to monitor their movements.
Note: the humpback whale season starts mid-July until end of September.
Kenya’s South Coast boasts one of the world’s most beautiful beaches with powder white sands and the tropical blue waters of the Indian Ocean. Protected by a stunning reef that’s rich with colourful corals and marine life, it’s paradise for beach lovers who love to walk barefoot on the beach, snorkel, scuba dive, deep sea fishing and kite surfing. Added now to the list is horse riding, a new adventure even for those who have never sat on a horse.
Clients riding on the beach at Diani on Kenya South Coast. Courtesy Sheila Somaia
“Everybody wants to ride on the beach,” states the Kenyan-born Sheila, patting one of her horses at the stable near the beach. “We ride between 7.30 a.m. and 9.30 a.m. and then in the evening between 4.30 p.m. and 6.30 p.m.,” tells the horse woman who fell in love with horses as a child, a passion that’s not waned six decades on. “It’s cooler for the horses before the sun turns on its heat,” she continues. “Horse welfare is the number one priority at this stable”.
Moonlion Safaris 