A historical Swahili house restored
Published The East African 13-19 May 2017
Above – main courtyard with five arches – copyright Christina Aarts
In the historical Lamu Stone Town that is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, stunning Swahili houses line the narrow lanes where only two people can walk astride with the donkey – and now with changing times, the motor-bike – having the right of way. Famed for their limestone architecture and wooden carved doors, many have a story to tell.
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.
In search of a palanquin
Published Saturday magazine, Nation newspaper 29 April 2017
Lounging in the circular living room of Grogan’s Castle with stunning views of Kilmanjaro’s two peaks Mawenzi and Kibo on the western side, the Pare mountain in Tanzania on the southern side and the plains of Tsavo on the eastern side, l chance upon an issue of Old Africa with a really interesting story of Lake Chala –which leads us to this little visited jewel lake in the caldera of Kilimanjaro straddling Kenya and Tanzania.
It’s a story of an epic expedition in 1891 by a woman – May French Sheldon – an American explorer and writer. Way ahead of her time, she left London unaccompanied by a male escort carrying gold rings to present to African chiefs and people who would help her in her explorations.
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.
With an amazing raptor-filled day in Tsavo West
Published Saturday magazine, Nation newspaper 22 April 2017
Above: Lappet-faced vulture with Tawny eagle in Tsavo West National Park at Lake Jipe on the Kenya-Tanzania border
Copyright Rupi Mangat
The road from Grogan’s Castle is a long thin thread through a bush-filled veld of Prosopis juliflora, one of the most terrible invasive plants in the world. These water-suckers compete for water with indigenous species and are so aggressive that one was found with roots at 175 feet deep in the earth.
Moonlion Safaris 