With the vultures watching
The White-backed Vultures atop the trees by the side of the red road of Tsavo give the game away. There has to be something in the sea of grass. We stop. It’s stunning scenery – a low ridge of black lava outcrop, long luscious grass topped with purple heads and one of the conical hills that make the Five Sisters. Continue reading “Tsavo in the Rain”
Above: Chyulu Hills from Kilaguni Serena Lodge in Tsavo West Copyright Rupi Mangat
“Look out for chameleons on every tree and bush,” l asked the Kenya Wildlife Service ranger as we drove very carefully through the tall lush grass growing over what is supposed to be the road. Heavy grey clouds sat atop the stately peaks of the Chyulu Hills draped luscious green.
The ranger looked at me incredulously.
On the magical mist mountains of Taita Hills
Above: The ancient crystalline rock face of Ngangao some 260 million years old in Taita Hills – during the time of the dinosaurs.
Copyright Rupi Mangat
Published: Saturday magazine, Nation newspaper, 19 May 2018
“It’s the nest of Taita thrush,” whispers Handrison Mwameso, the guide from Dawida Biodiversity Conservation group (DABICO). We’re inside Ngangao forest on the high peaks of the magical Taita Hills in southeast Kenya. We’ve walked a few metres from our campsite into the forest entering though a narrow path shaded by a bunch of Phoenix reclinata, a common palm tree here.
Searching for the skulls caves in Taita Hills
Published: 12 May 2018 Saturday Nation magazine Nation newspaper, Kenya
Above: Taita Hills – the magical mist mountains – copyright Rupi Mangat
The plan is to enjoy the indigenous forest of Vuria. I have no intention of puffing up to the peak which is the highest of the Taita Hills and the highest point at the coast reaching 2,228 metres (7,310 ft). But we lose the group in the forest. Trying to find it, we’re on the peak a few hours later, looking at the plains below. The mission was to search for the legendary skull caves of the Taita people.
The fascinating metropolis of ancient ancestors
Above: Mt Olorgesailie decked in cloud and wild flowers – copyright Rupi Mangat 5 May 2018
Published: Saturday magazine Nation newspaper 5 May 2018
I’m alone walking between two ancient volcanoes on sands that have weathered the times and bleached white by the relentless sun with volcanic rubble strewn around. Tiny white flowers and petals of yellow on skeletal green stalks that otherwise are so brittle during the dry season carpet the ground.
I’m at Olorgesailie, home of our ancestors, the upright human or Homo erectus who walked out of Africa and into the bigger world a million years ago.
In my aloneness my mind begins to wander. Continue reading “Time travelling through Olorgesailie”
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