Category: Safari Stories

A Cliff with a macabre tale in the Taita Hills

Published on by Rupi Mangat1 Comment

Above: Plains of Tsavo from the Mwachora Hill. Copyright Rupi Mangat

Published: 15 June 2019

The road from the peak of Ngangao that is part of the magical Taita Hills loops steep into the plains of Tsavo with amazing views of the solitary massifs of Sagalla and Kasigau. I’m taking a break from hiking to discovering the tastes and tales of Taita.

I’m full of respect for the pikipiki having reached Mwatate safely. It’s the town on the flat lands at the junction of the historical road that was action-packed during the WW1 fought between British East Africa (Kenya) and German East Africa (Tanzania).

Kasigau mountain from Mwachora Hill. Copyright Rupi Mangat (800x450) (800x450)
Kasigau mountain from Mwachora Hill. The area was a battlefield during WW1. Copyright Rupi Mangat

Continue reading “A Cliff with a macabre tale in the Taita Hills” →

Camel Crazy in Maralal

Published on by Rupi MangatLeave a comment

Above: Maralal Camel Derby by Weldon Kennedy

Published: 2007 Saturday Magazine, Nation

Maralal’s one of those really interesting towns in the outback, a frontier perched in a valley near a great fault line that happens to be the Great Rift Valley with a stunning view of the deep gorge that on a windy day can sweep a skinny person off the edge and into the deep sink.  It’s also a town that’s the headquarters of the Samburu, cousins of the Maasai and in modern history, where Mzee Jomo Kenyatta was under restriction order after his compulsory confinement in Lodwar where he had been for two years short of elevan days.  Maralal became known as the half way house between Lodwar and Nairobi, where Kenyatta and his young family stayed from 4 April to August 14 1961 before they were flown to Nairobi.  The house is a museum, aptly called the Jomo Kenyatta House.

kenyatta_house_image_fM6MY
Kenyatta House in Maralal

Continue reading “Camel Crazy in Maralal” →

Kenyatta Caves in the magical Taita Hills

Published on by Rupi MangatLeave a comment

Part 1 of 2

Published: 1 June 2019

Above: Outside the Communist Cave on Charles Miekenyi Mwakio’s farm that houses Kenyatta Caves – in Taita Hills. Copyright Rupi Mangat

I’ve hired a piki-piki for the day in the Taita Hills, the ancient crystalline massifs that date before the age of the dinosaur – between 290 and 180 million years ago. The dinosaurs came in 252 million years ago and lasted until 60 million years ago.

Ngangao forest in Taita Hills - copyright Rupi Mangat
Ngangao forest in Taita Hills – copyright Rupi Mangat

Starting out from Ngangao forest that is the largest patch of the indigenous forest on the Taita Hills measuring 1.9 square kilometres, the plan is to visit a cave l’ve been very curious about: Kenyatta’s.

Continue reading “Kenyatta Caves in the magical Taita Hills” →

Let’s Go to Hell

Published on by Rupi MangatLeave a comment

Published: December 2007

Above: A boulder blocks the slot canyon at Hells Gate National Park, Kenya. by Heyandrewhyde

Fiery mountains spitting out red-hot molten lava, earth-shattering forces from deep in the earth’s belly and floods have shaped what is a trip to ‘hell’.

‘Let’s go to hell,” says our local Maasai guide from the Olkaria Maasai clan living in and around Hell’s Gate National Park, an hour’s drive from Kenya’s capital city Nairobi.

The trip to hell sounds funny for we’re in a very picturesque setting with the scent of the leleshwa, a shrub of the dry lands used by the Maasai as a deodorant by sticking the leaves under their underarms.

“Okay, let’s go to hell,” replies the group of well-fed women.

Gorge,Hell's Gate National Park by Toppazz (800x600)
Gorge,Hell’s Gate National Park by Toppazz

Continue reading “Let’s Go to Hell” →

Grey Crowned Crane on its nest Copyright: International Crane Foundation / Endangered Wildlife Trust Partnership

Footballers at Lake Ol Bolossat

Published on by Rupi MangatLeave a comment

Published: 18 May 2019

I have little fingers running through my hair sitting by Lake Ol Bolossat in central Kenya. First it’s the girls returning from school who are surprised to see me standing in the field near their village. A smile and a ‘hi’ gets them closer. After a few minutes of checking me out, they open up with questions like ‘what is your name?’, ‘where are you from?’ They find it strange when l  reply l’m Kenyan. “But you are not black,” says one.

Korongo girls' fotball team at Lake Ol Bolossat Copyright Rupi Mangat Feb 2019 (800x450)
Korongo girls’ fotball team at Lake Ol Bolossat Copyright Rupi Mangat

Continue reading “Footballers at Lake Ol Bolossat” →