travel – Page 21 – Moonlion Safaris

Approaching Lamu Stone Town on Lamu island Photo: Maya Mangat

Nyota House in Stone Town Lamu

Published on August 5, 2017 by Rupi Mangat4 Comments

Published Saturday Magazine,Nation newspaper 5 August 2017

“This part of town was called Utukuni,” states Hadija Ernst of Save Lamu, a coalition of 36 local NGOs to promote Lamu’s sustainable development, while protecting its culture, history and natural resources.

Utukuni in Kiswahili means market. “It was a market street where the merchants had their warehouses.”

Rooftop Nyota House Photo: Maya Mangat

Rooftop view of Lamu from Nyota House Photo: Maya Mangat

Inside garden of Swahili House Museum with the central well to draw fresh water Photo: Maya Mangat

Continue reading “Nyota House in Stone Town Lamu” →

Legend of the Spire at A.I.C. Nyahururu Copyright Maya Mangat

Nyahururu’s Historical Church

Published on July 29, 2017January 1, 2024 by Rupi MangatLeave a comment

Published Saturday magazine, Nation newspaper 29 July 2017

Above: A.I.C. Church Nyahururu

A tall silver spire breaks the tree line beyond the gorge of the Ewaso Nyiro River flowing from Thomson’s Falls in Nyahururu. “It’s an old church,” tells Pushpa Ratna of Nyahururu Panari, that’s sandwiched between the gorge and Marmanet forest, and within an easy walk to the hippo pools and the historic falls first reported to the outside world by the intrepid Joseph Thomson in 1883. He is also the first European to walk from the coast to Lake Victoria through central Kenya which was deemed dangerous because of the fearsome Maasai.

Continue reading “Nyahururu’s Historical Church” →

Faceted City – Nairobi

Published on July 26, 2017 by Rupi Mangat1 Comment

Published Saturday magazine Nation media 22 July 2017

Above: Models in elaborately beaded costumes from Cameroon at African Heritage House – Picture copyright Gilbert Otieno

The old train streams out on the century-old metal sleepers of what was then the Uganda Railway. Leaving Nairobi Railway Station that is a historical building, the train slowly passes by a city that a hundred years ago was filled with swamps, grasslands and wildlife like rhino and lions. Continue reading “Faceted City – Nairobi” →

Masai giraffe looking at cement factory by Lukenya Hill on Athi-Kapiti plains outside Nairobi Copyright Rupi Mangat

Swara Plains Acacia Camp

Published on July 13, 2017 by Rupi MangatLeave a comment

A little garden of Eden

Published Saturday magazine, Nation media 8 July 2017

Above: Masai giraffe looking at cement factory by Lukenya Hill on Athi-Kapiti plains outside Nairobi
Copyright Rupi Mangat:

At first l think l must be seeing things but blinking my eyes again, l am looking at a fringe-eared oryx mixed in a herd of eland and wildebeest.

It’s a day full of surprises.

Swara Plains outside Nairobi Copyright Rupi Mangat

Continue reading “Swara Plains Acacia Camp” →

Castle Forest Lodge

Published on July 1, 2017January 1, 2024 by Rupi MangatLeave a comment

Kerugoya

A walk on Mount Kenya – mystical, magical

Published Saturday Magazine, Nation newspaper 1 July 2017

Above Castle Forest Lodge built in 1910 – the original house Copyright Rupi Mangat

The tarmac road comes to an abrupt end at the gate of Kenya Forest Service – Castle Forest Lodge. The contrast between the flat green carpet of tea fields and the miasma of natural forest on Mount Kenya’s eastern slopes is sudden.