Above: Moshions. Haute Couture in Kigali. Copyright Rupi Mangat.
Published 5 October 2019
I’m in the heart of mille collines – Kigali in Rwanda – and l’m having a blast. The city is sophisticated, charming, spotlessly clean and elegant that l’m cast under its spell.
Above: African Rock Art with giraffe illuminated against the night sky, north Kenya. Copyright: Paolo Torchio
Published: The East African Nation Media 28 September to 4 October 2019, abrdiged version
“It’s the night sky, the same night sky seen thousands of years ago by another person,” explains Paolo Torchio. “It’s what l wanted to capture.”
The image is taken in Turkana in Kenya’s northern desert lands, the bedrock of human evolution from several million years ago. The rock illuminated by a galaxy of stars shines on a giraffe chiselled on it by our human ancestors. It’s dated between 10,000 and two thousand years ago.
“The sky is the same thousands of years later,” comments Torchio, “but the landscape is not.”
Above: Sabaki Estuary. Copyright Rupi Mangat
From the archives: May 2010
On the mudflats of the Sabaki, a strong sun beats down so fierce that it makes the water over the sand sparkle. On the bridge above, cars and matatus speed over the estuary – Kenya’s biggest – unaware of the stunning vistas below and of its importance as an IBA or an Important Bird Area.
Above: Roundabout in Gisenyi. Copyrght Rupi Mangat
Published: 21 September 2019
Gisenyi in western Rwanda is the other half of an urban landscape that includes Goma in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. So like Goma, Gisenyi is perched on the edge of the gas-filled Lake Kivu that is one of the African great lakes.
Above: Bajuni fishing boat at Kipini. Copyright Rupi Mangat
From the archives: January 2014
It’s 7 a.m. and we’re at the mooring bay in Kipini where the fishermen take a break from the deep sea and for their dhows and mashuas to be repaired. Their lives are centred around their fishing vessels with makeka’s spread on the sand covered with mosquito nets where they have spent the night. Local Pokomo women prepare breakfast for the men on the other side of the boats. We’re waiting for the boat to arrive from Ozi to sail us up the delta and it’s blazing hot.
Moonlion Safaris 