Tag: travel

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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Tarangire - land of the giants - centuries-old baobab tree and elephant Copyrith Rupi Mangat

Tarangire National Park

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Part 2 of 2

By the river’s edge

Watch the drama

Published 14 October 2017 Saturday magazine Nation newspaper

Above: Tarangire – land of the giants – centuries-old baobab tree and elephant
Copyright Rupi

It’s stark dry – August at the height of the dry season. Tall and golden, the sun-bleached grass shimmers under the blazing sun interspersed with stoic baobabs and towering termite mounds.  We drive across the dry riverbed and into Tarangire National Park from the adjoining Randilen Wildlife Management Area and watch a family of banded mongoose playing around a termite mound.

Banded mongoose dig a grub-fest by Silale Swamp Copyright Rupi Mangat
Banded mongoose dig a grub-fest at Silale Swamp Copyright Rupi Mangat

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Elephant dwarfed by centuries-old baobab tree near Randilen Wildlife Mangement Area by Tarangire National Park, Tanzania Picture Galib Mangat

Tarangire Treetops

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Amidst the baobabs

Published Saturday magazine, Nation newspaper 7 October 2017

Above: Elephant dwarfed by centuries-old baobab tree near Randilen Wildlife Management Area by Tarangire National Park, Tanzania
Picture Galib Mangat

There are few grand arrivals as memorable as this.

Stopping at the gate of Randilen Wildlife Management Area that hosts the stunning Tarangire Treetops eco-lodge, the rangers excitedly run down the rock kopje hearing our Mama Safari – the Toyota Royal Crown Saloon 1985 model.

Chatu the python in Randilen Wildlife Management Area by Tarangire National Park, Tanzania Picture Galib Mangat
Chatu the python in Randilen Wildlife Management Area by Tarangire National Park, Tanzania Picture Galib Mangat

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Building from the early 1900s - Barclays Bank on Jinja main street Copyright Rupi Mangat

Jinja on the Nile

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where the river starts

Published 30 September 2017 Saturday magazine Nation newspaper

Above: Building from the early 1900s – Barclays Bank on Jinja main street
Copyright Rupi Mangat

Source of the Nile at Jinja - copyright Rupi Mangat
Source of the Nile at Jinja – copyright Rupi Mangat

“Speke passed on the Buganda side and standing on a rock by the river asked ‘what is the name of this river?’,” relates Captain Masanja of Jinja Sailing Club sailing us down the Nile from the mighty Victoria at Jinja, the quaint little town on the Ugandan shores – 90 kilometes from Kampala and 236 kilometers west of Kisumu on the Kenyan shores. Continue reading “Jinja on the Nile” →

Jinja Nile Resort - in the foyer, pictures of the men whose lives revolved around the mystery of the Nile - from left to right - Baker, Speke, Burton and Livingstone - copyright Rupi Mangat

Jinja Nile Resort

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The enigma of the Nile unfolds

Published Saturday Nation magazine

Above: Jinja Nile Resort – in the foyer, pictures of the men whose lives revolved around the mystery of the Nile – from left to right – Baker, Speke, Burton and Livingstone – copyright Rupi Mangat

The Nile flows smooth. Returning 16 years later to the same spot, in my mind’s eye l recall my first spotting of the rapids – the Bujagali – at this spot on the outskirts of Jinja. The cascading waters turned white by the very force of the river, had us captivated. I was with a group of Egyptians – and it is one of the few times l have watched grown-up men overcome with emotion have tears in their eyes. Without the Nile, Egypt would perish. Continue reading “Jinja Nile Resort” →