In Kenya’s Northern rangelands it’s home to amazing wildlife
Published Saturday magazine, Nation newspaper 10 June 2017
Above: Southrern white rhino female and her calf at Lewa Conservancy with Mount Kenya as a backdrop – Copyright Rupi Mangat
From the high peaks of Mount Kenya to the plains at Lewa -copyright Rupi Mangat
From the high slopes of Mount Kenya, the northern rangelands fill the horizon with massif peaks and plains. Driving over the under pass on the main road before turning in to Lewa and Isiolo, elephants walk through it safely migrating between the low arid plains of the north and the high slopes of Mount Kenya.
Published 3 June 2017 Saturday magazine Nation media
It’s a dream world.
We sail past a forest of the tallest mangrove trees that l’ve ever seen. Sparkling white sand bars appear in the low tide. It’s an endless blue planet from where we are when suddenly a dolphin slips in and out – too far to tell what species it is.
Captain Lalli, of Kenya Wildlife Service Maya Mangat and Kiki Aarts of Subira House Lamu – picnic at sea sailing to Pate island Copyright Maya Mangat
Towards midday Captain Lalli stops to refuel the tank and produces delicious, juicy mangoes – an impromptu picnic on the ocean.
Sailing on, he points to Faza, then Ndau – once powerful and independent sultanates on the island of Pate. We pass a Kenya Navy patrol dinghy and then get off at Mtangawanda, a tiny ‘port’ so named because it has black sand on its shores.
Landing at Mwangawanda (the place of black soil) to catch matatu to Pate village on Pate island Copyright Maya Mangat
Sailing through a storm on Indian Ocean to Pate island Copyright Maya Mangat
Fisherman on Pate island Copyright Rupi Mangat
Fresh catch of the day on Pate island Copyright Maya Mangat
Fresh catch of the day on Pate island Copyright Maya Mangat
Published 27 May 2017 Saturday magazine, Nation newspaper
Saiiling to Mkokoni village by Kiunga Marina National Reserve Copyright Maya Mangat
A grand sweep of the bay edged by fascinating sand dunes tower the ocean’s chalk-white beach. We’re in sight of Kiwayu, one of the smaller islands opposite the KWS headquarters of Kiunga Marine National Reserve. It’s taken us two hours to sail here in a speedboat from Siyu on Pate island.
In the late afternoon, stepping ashore at Mkokoni village named after the mangrove trees – it’s quaint lined with swaying coconut trees and makuti-thatched huts of the Bajuni. The men are out at sea with only the women, children and the elders.
Sunset over Boni-Dodori. Since 2014, it’s listed as an Important Bird and Biodiversity Area by Nature Kenya and Birdlife International because of its diversity Copyright
Tall mangrove trees near Mkokoni, Kiunga Marine National Reserve Copyright Maya Mangat
Grand sweep of the bay at Kiunga Marine National Reserve Copyright Maya Mangat
Kenya’s choice for the worst option for energy – coal
Above: The 19th century Friday Mosque in Shella on Lami Island – copyright Rupi Mangat
Published The East African/Nation media – 12-19 May 2017
It’s a sweltering April afternoon. We’re inside the ‘box’, a term used by the locals in Kwasasi in Lamu county. The ‘box’ is a 900-acre tract of bushland scattered with centuries-old baobab trees and abandoned farms. It’s now marked with cemented beacons.
Fishers meeting at Kwasasi about the proposed coal plant in Lamu – 21 km north of Lamu on the mainlnd – copyright Maya Mangat
Few Kenyans beyond Kwasasi have ever heard of it because it is so remote – yet it is the proposed site for Lamu Coal Plant – something that will irrevocably change the face of the Lamu Archipelago in the Indian Ocean – forever and beyond repair.
Cemented beacon on the ground inside the ‘BOX’ 900 acres for the proposed plant- copyright Rupi Mangat
Inside the ‘BOX’ 900 acres for the proposed plant – deserted now by the community that lived inside it – this is a pen for goats and their droppings colected on the ground are used as manure copyright Rupi Mangat
At Kwasasi – Save Lamu – a coalition of more then 36 local Community-based organizations fighting to stop the coal plant – copyright Rupi Mangat
On the right hand side of the murram road, we’re outside the ‘box’ with a community of Bajuni fishers and small-scale farmers meeting with a team from Save Lamu, a CBO registered in 2012.
At Kwasasi – Save Lamu – a coalition of more then 36 local Community-based organizations fighting to stop the coal plant – copyright Rupi Mangat
Above: Siyu Fort is the only fort known to have been built by the locals under the thriving sultanate of Bwana Mataka bin Oman Famau in the 19th century -copyright picture Maya Mangat.
It’s neap tide.
Captain Lalli of Kenya Wildlife Service, carefully steering his speedboat christened, Pweza for octopus through the narrow mangrove han.
Reaching Siyu through the mangrove channal -copyright picture Maya Mangat.
Reaching Siyu at low tide with dhow on the banks-copyright picture Maya Mangat.
Captain Lalli of Kenya Wildlife Service, with whom l sailed five years ago to Kiunga Marine National Reserve is at the Lamu pier in his speedboat christened, Pweza for octopus. As the crow flies or the turtle swims, it’s a distance of 50 kilometers northwards. The 270 square-kilometer marine reserve borders the south side of Somalia.
Moonlion Safaris 