Tag: kenya

The peak of IYale - second highest of Taita Hills Copyright Rupi Mangat

More Hikes on Taita Hills

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Part 2 of 2

Published Saturday magazine Nation media 20 January 2018

Above: The peak of IYale – second highest of Taita Hills
Copyright Rupi Mangat

Older than the age of dinosaurs these hills continue to fascinate nature lovers

Critically endangered bird Taita apalis adult. Copyright Luca Borghesio
Critically endangered bird Taita apalis adult. Copyright Luca Borghesio

With a few more days in the hills with a mission to spot Taita apalis, our next stop is to Ngangao the largest forest block, Vuria the highest peak, followed by Msindunyi a tiny forest block where Dr Luca Borghesio and research assistant Lawrence Wagura – both associates of the National Museum of Kenya – discovered an undocumented population of Taita apalis in 2012. In total, the indigenous forests measure less than five square kilometres.

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Critically endangered bird Taita apalis adult. Copyright Luca Borghesio

Hiking in the Hills of Taita

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Part 1 of 2

An ancient massif of endemic plants and animals

Published: Saturday magazine, Nation newspaper 13 January 2018

Above: Taita apalis – criticaly endangered – fewer than 200 survive today in fragmented forests of the Taita Hills in an area of five square kilometers (copyright Luca Borghesio)

The mist swirls and whirls, white and dense, hiding and revealing the valleys and peaks of the hills. We’re on a climb to reach the top of the ancient bare rock that tops the forest of Yale in the Taita Hills.

Indigenous plant of the mountains - Lobelia gibberoa on Yale hilltop that is part of Taita Hills. Copyright Rupi Mangat
Indigenous plant of the mountains – Lobelia gibberoa on Yale hilltop that is part of Taita Hills. Copyright Rupi Mangat

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Lake Turkana from Eliye Springs Copyright Rupi Mangat

Life at Lodwar

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Twixt the desert and the lake

Above Lake Turkana from Eliye Springs Resort – Copyright Rupi Mangat

Publshed Saturday magazine Nation newspaper 6 January 2018

Lake Turkana from Eliye Springs Copyright Rupi Mangat
Lake Turkana from Eliye Springs Copyright Rupi Mangat

I’m in haven floating on the warm waters of the Jade Sea coined by Teleki. It’s the world’s largest permanent lake in the desert and the world’s largest alkaline body officially known as Lake Turkana on the northern reaches of Kenya’s once the ferocious Northern Frontier District.  It’s now a World Heritage Site.

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Brackenhurst Conference Centre and Botanic Gardens in Tigoni, 25-km northwest of Nairobi Copyright Rupi Mangat

Brackenhurst Botanic Garden

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Above: Brackenhurst Conference Centre and Botanic Gardens in Tigoni, 25-km northwest of Nairobi Copyright Rupi Mangat

Published: Saturday magazine, Nation media 28 October 2017

Lilac burst of an Acanth (400 species in Kenya). This is a South African Hypoestes, Copyright Rupi Mangat
Lilac burst of an Acanth (400 species in Kenya). This is a South African Hypoestes, Copyright Rupi Mangat

It’s popping with colour under the canvas of a gorgeous blue sky. Orange aloes in bloom attract an array of colourful sunbirds – Variable, Tacazze, Golden-winged and more. An African goshawk vanishes into the canopy of a tree and many more keep the birders glued skyward.

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Sand dunes of Shela looking across at Manda Island Copyright Rupi Mangat

Shela’s Splendour

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Published Saturday magazine Nation newspaper 21 October 2017

Above: Sand dunes of Shela looking across at Manda Island – Copyright Rupi Mangat

1960s picture of Shela with the 1829 Friday mosque so prominent - featured on the booklet on Shela ‘Quest for the Past’ an historical guide to Lamu archipelago by Chrysee MacCasler Perry Martin and Esmond Bradley Martin published in 1969.
1960s picture of Shela with the 1829 Friday mosque so prominent – featured on the booklet on Shela ‘Quest for the Past’ an historical guide to Lamu archipelago by Chrysee MacCasler Perry Martin and Esmond Bradley Martin published in 1969.
The 1829 Friday mosque in Shela today - notice the electricity power lines above that are nowhere in the 1960s picture. Copyright Rupi Mangat
The 1829 Friday mosque in Shela today – notice the electricity power lines above that are nowhere in the 1960s picture. Copyright Rupi Mangat

Shela was Lamu’s (town) poorer cousin. Set on the same island of Lamu, l’m reading an interesting account of Shela in ‘Quest for the Past’ an historical guide to Lamu archipelago by Chrysee MacCasler Perry Martin and Esmond Bradley Martin published in 1969. The sultan of Pate sacked Kitau on Manda island in mid-14th century and the people fled to Lamu town as refugees. 200 years later, they asked the Sheikh of Lamu if they could build their own town. He agreed but on condition that no stone building was to be built in Shela.

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