Amboseli’s award-winning gold-rated eco-camp still thrills
Above: Tortilis Camp – overlooking the tortilis-filled plains of Amboseli – copyright Rupi Mangat
Published Nation newspaper, Saturday magazine 6 May 2017
Twenty-two years ago l landed at Tortilis Camp bordering Amboseli National Park and l was enchanted – a tiny camp, beautifully built in a grove of equally beautiful thorn trees that looked like they had been sculpted to adorn the camp.
Critically Endangered vultures threatened by wind farm
Published The East African, Nation media 22-28 April 2017
Ruppell’s vulture landing – copyright Munir Virani
Since 2015 four of the eight species of vultures in Kenya have been listed as Critically Endangered by the International Union of Conservation of Nature (IUCN). This means they are one step short of becoming extinct.
Aeriel view of Grogan’s Castle with Kilimanjaro
Copyright Grogan’s Castle
Published Saturday magazine, Nation newspaper 15 April 2017
He couldn’t have chosen a better spot to build his castle.
In the first light of the day the 360-degree panorama from Grogan’s Castle is dramatic – with the two ice-clad peaks – Mawenzi and Kibo – of Kilimanjaro from the veranda of the legendary maverick – Grogan himself.
In my mind’s eye l can see him hoping off his eccentric bed – a flat metal sheet bolted against the wall and encased in a wire cage – nothing frivolous about it – and taking in the grandeur of it all – the Pare mountains in Tanzania that are part of the Eastern Arc Mountains stretching from Kenya’s Taita Hill to Tanzania’s legendary Usambara’s and more. Circling around, his eye would have taken in the shimmer of Jipe, the lake on the foothills of the Pare and shared between Kenya and Tanzania and then the wilderness of Tsavo.
Published Saturday magazine, Nation newspaper 1st April 2017
Above: The gorge with Ewaso Nyiro river flowing from the wetland at Nyahururu via Thomson’s Falls to Lorian swamp in the arid lands – copyright Rupi Mangat
Thomson’s Falls in Nyahururu reveals more in its ravine flowing in the depths of South Marmanet Forest
“The elephants have been spotted,” announces Walter Muriithi of Panari Resort Nyahururu sandwiched between the rocky gorge of Thomson’s Falls and South Marmanet Forest. We rush out to drive the few kilometres around the forest bordered by local farms and stop at the electric fence. It’s a deterrent to keep the elephants from raiding the farms.
Published Saturday Nation magazine
18 March 2017
Kitui county’s little-known hill in its southern side is a show stopper
This is drama fit for Nat Geo Wild. There’s a sheer copper-coloured cliff in front of us. We’re perched on a rocky outcrop by the side of a dam deep in the forested hills of Mutito. The dam that provides clean fresh water to the town of Mutito was built in the 1930s by British missionary and still functions.
Moonlion Safaris 