Tag: featured

Lake Elmenteita Wildlife Sanctuary Under Power Struggle

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Above: Pylon being erected near Lake Elmenteita. Copyright Rupi Mangat

Published: Daily Nation 6 November 2019

In the name of ‘development’

It’s mid-morning by the salt-crusted shores of Lake Elmenteita. A flock of Great White Pelicans lift off the islands on the lake in animated ribbons, circling higher and higher on the hot air thermals to fly off to Lake Naivasha or Lake Nakuru. They will spend the day on the lakes on either side of Elmenteita and return at dusk to settle on the islands for the night.

Great white pelicans herding fish for breakfast. Copyright Rupi Mangat
Great white pelicans herding fish for breakfast. Copyright Rupi Mangat

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Frolic at the Falls: A Splash of a Time at Shimba Hills Sheldrick Falls

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From the archives: Saturday nation magazine – December 2009

Above: Sheldrick Falls in Shimba Hills National Reserve. Credit Shimba Lodge

It’s two kilometer’s track from Shimba Hills Lodge to Sheldrick Falls tells Azana Omari, the naturalist at Shimba Hills Lodge. Almost 17 kilometres away as the crow flies, Indian Ocean’s magnetic blue lines the horizon and further, the faint outline of Tanzania’s Usambara Mountains. An old male giraffe, dark with age stands in the midst of the savanna sprawl.

Shimba Hills National Reserve. Credit Shimba Lodge
Shimba Hills National Reserve. Credit Shimba Lodge

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On High Water in Nakuru

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Above: Grey crowned cranes in Lake Nakuru National Park. Copyright Rupi Mangat

Published: The East African Nation media 19 to 25 October 2019

The salt ribbon around the lake has disappeared, swallowed by the rising water. It’s a phenomenon that researchers studying the lake since the first recorded data, attribute to a 50 year cycle that happened in 1901 and 1963. Continue reading “On High Water in Nakuru” →

On the plains of the Athi-Kapiti in search of the Cheetah

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Above: Cheetah on the plains. Copyright Mary Wykstra founder of Action for Cheetahs

Published: 19 October 2019

It’s exciting at Lisa Ranch on the plains of the Athi-Kapiti with the iconic Lukenya stretched in the far horizon. The 6,000 acre ranch is both for livestock and wildlife and we’re here in search of the cheetah.

Thirty kilometres south-east of the ranch is Nairobi National Park and the busy Kitengela town.

In the bigger picture, Lisa Ranch is part of the Machakos ranches that are nestled between the Konza Technocity to the west and the Mombasa highway in the east with the Nairobi-Mombasa railway cutting through. This vast terrain measuring 300 square kilometres or 85,000 acres is one of the last wildlife areas that until a century ago hosted the Mount Kilimanjaro – Mount Kenya migration of wildebeest, elephants and other big game.

Wildebeest on Lisa Ranch.Copyright Rupi Mangat (800x600)
Wildebeest on Lisa Ranch.Copyright Rupi Mangat

Continue reading “On the plains of the Athi-Kapiti in search of the Cheetah” →