Tag: lamu

The Delta Delights: Sailing downstream the Tana Delta

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Published: Travel News magazine: Dec 2019-Jan 2020

It’s a moonless night.

Above the Scorpion unfurls its tail across the delta’s width before the river crashes into the ocean. I’m enjoying a lone sail with the boatman along the mangrove-lined river with its dunes silhouetted against the night sky. Everything is elemental, pure and magical. As the stars sparkle above, the water is lit with phosphoresce.

This is heaven on earth.

A room at Delta Dunes. Copright Rupi Mangat. One time use only (800x600)
A room on the dunes at Delta Dunes. Copyright Rupi Mangat.

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From Kalota to Kipini on Tana Delta

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Above: From the arch of the mosque near Fumo Liyogo’s grave near Kipini on the tip of Tana Delta – Rupi Mangat

Published: Saturday Nation magazine 16 November 2019

It’s a quiet brook at Kalota on the tip of the delta that is Kenya’s largest, the Tana. It’s here we hop on to the boat belonging to the Ozi Community Conservation Area that is supported by Nature Kenya, the country oldest natural history society started in 1909 by like-minded naturalist.

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Turtles Hatching

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On Manda Island in the Lamu archipelago

Above: Green Turtles hatching on Manda Island – Copyright Maya Mangat

“The turtles are hatching today,” announced an excited Famau Shukri of Lamu Marine Conservation Trust ( LaMCoT) over the phone. With exciting news like this first thing in the morning, l jumped out of bed and raced down the two flights of steps of Amu House, the historical 16th century old house in Lamu. “The turtles are hatching today,” l relayed the news to everyone at breakfast and plans immediately changed to sail to Shela the neighbouring village to Lamu Stone Town to meet up with Shukri.

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A Trip to Takwa

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Published 7 July 2018

Sun-burnished mangrove leaves float like skeins of gold thread on the blue waters of the Indian Ocean. We’re sailing from Lamu Stone Town on Lamu Island to Manda Island that lies across the channel. Our boatman points to the village settled by the Luo from the shores of Lake Victoria in western Kenya. The men quarry for coral on the island and chisel the hard rock into building blocks for construction. They are hardy men carrying up to five blocks on a shoulder to load the boats that carry them away. A statue of a quarry man with the bricks on his shoulder stands on the edge of the village that is called Jaluo after the people, so tells our Swahili boatman. Continue reading “A Trip to Takwa” →