Above: Humpback whale in Watamu, Kenya coast, Indian Ocean, doing its back flip
Copyright Jane Spilsbury/Watamu Marine Association
Published 13 October 2018 Nation Saturday Magazine
The waves surged, heaved and fell at full throttle, grey and dark with the wind howling. In the raging ocean, with a lurching stomach, l kept my eyes glued on the equally dark, grey heavy clouds threatening to burst at any point. And they did.
Continue reading “Whales and Waves Make Adventure in Watamu”
Published 29 September 2018
Above: Seen on Sept 13 2018 at Soysambu. The male in the photo is SM2 (collared) who is Flir’s son and the female is SF3, Valentine’s daughter. We think Flir and Valentine are sisters so they would be cousins. Unknown father’s but they are one or two of the males in Nakuru National Park. Copyright: Kat Combes
There’s so much happening at Soysambu, the wildlife conservancy straddling the soda-fringed Lake Elmenteita in the Great Rift Valley. It draws one like magnet to keep up with its intrigues. For starters the wildlife haven is set picturesquely between the fresh water Lake Naivasha and the alkaline Lake Nakuru and being part of the volcanic upheavals from the last 20 million years or so, it’s a tapestry of little mountains with craters, volcanic rubble and an inch-thick layer of soil good only for hardy grass and trees.
Continue reading “Soysambu’s Cats, Colobus, Raptors and All”
Published: 15 September 2018
At the Nyatote gate of Ruma National Park in Lambwe Valley near Lake Victoria, metal casts of the roan antelope (Hippotragus equines langheldi) are nailed to the gates. This subspecies of the handsome antelope with a face that looks like it was painted by a make-up artist is only found in Ruma –which means it is endemic. It is a handsome antelope, the size of a horse. It has distinct facial markings — black-rimmed eyes set against white, very much like a traditional African mask. Wearing a coat of russet copper, it really is a noble looking antelope. Both male and female have ringed horns.
Continue reading “Ruma the famous park for Roan, Rhino and Rothschild”
Published: 8 September 2018
It’s a world full of sights and sounds. In the first light of the day the lake is as still as glass without a ripple under an intense blue sky. The shrill of the African fish eagle pierces through the quietness of the morning. Out on the beach by the light house at Lake Vitoria Safari Village at Mbita Point the otter family enjoys a swim while the Pied kingfishers jack-dive to retrieve the tiny omena to feed on.
Part 2 of 2
Published:1 September 2018
Above: Lioness at dawn in Maasai Mara National Reserve August 2018
Copyright Rupi Mangat 2018
The wildebeest crossing takes the entire day. The following morning packed with a picnic breakfast and lunch from Crocodile Camp on the banks of the Talek river by Talek gate, we’re inside the reserve but this time heading to the Olkiombo plains on the west side of Mara with the Oloololo escarpment lined in the horizon. The Talek is a main tributary flowing into the mighty Mara River. Continue reading “The Big Cats of the Mara”
Moonlion Safaris 