Above: The dinosaur at Kitale Museum. Copyright Rupi Mangat
Published: 9 February 2019
The Maasai of old called it Ol Doinyo Ilgoon which morphed into Mount Elgon that frames the town of Kitale. By a stretch of imagination, the Maasai saw its shape as that of a woman’s breast.
Continue reading “A Collection From the Old Days at Kitale Museum”
Above: Mount Elgon. Copyright Maya Mangat
Published: 2 February 2019
The grand massif dominates the western skyline around Kitale. Superlatives describe it as the oldest extinct volcano in East Africa dated at 24 million years ago – much older than the 19,340-foot tall, three-million-year old Kilimanjaro that is Africa’s tallest.
With an eighty kilometre diameter, Elgon also boasts the largest volcanic base in the world. It would have once towered over Kilimanjaro but over millennia much of it has been eroded to leave behind dramatic bare faced cliffs and peaks with the highest, Wagagai at 14,177 feet in Uganda. Elgon now is East Africa’s fourth and Africa’s eighth highest mountain with a dramatic 40-square-kilometre caldera.
Wild flowers on Endebess cliff on Mount Elgon. Copyright Maya Mangat
Above: Kitale Nature Conservancy police. Copyright Maya Mangat
Published: 26 January 2019
It’s been an exciting night camping in Saiwa Swamp National Park sandwiched between Mount Elgon and the Cherangani Hills. After a filling breakfast at the roadside kiosk near the park, we’re off to Mount Elgon, Africa’s eighth highest peak. A sign near Kitale perks our interest – it’s Kitale Nature Conservancy.
Continue reading “Wandering Through Kitale Nature Conservancy”
Above: Kapenguria Museum – The Heroes Cells of the Kapenguria Six on trial. Copyright Maya Mangat
Published: 19 January 2019
We’re at Barnley’s farm near Saiwa Swamp famous for its rare herd of sitatunga, the marsh-loving antelope with its water-repellent coat and splayed hooves when we learn that the road from Kitale to Kapenguria and beyond is now smooth as silk. It has the mind wandering to a destination that we hadn’t planned on doing because until recently the un-tarmacked road was treacherous despite the short distance.
Kapenguria was the place in the 1950s that the colonial government saw fit to have the famous freedom fighters arrested and tried in a place that boasted a path for a road minus any modern amenity like electricity and running water. Continue reading “Kapenguria’s Famous Address: The Kapenguria Museum”
Above: Sitatunga in Saiwa Swamp National Park. Copyright Maya Mangat
Published: 12 January 2019
It’s the last days of 2018 and we’re en route in search of things still not seen over the many years. Topping the list is the sitatunga of Saiwa Swamp past Kitale. The sitatunga is special for it is strange and rare, an antelope of the swamps and the only protected area to see it is at Saiwa Swamp National Park that measures a paltry 2.9 square kilometres. It takes pride of place as Kenya’s smallest national park.
Moonlion Safaris 