travel – Page 33 – Moonlion Safaris

The Charm of Chemelil

Published on October 14, 2016October 27, 2016 by Rupi Mangat1 Comment

January 2016

On the foothills of the Nandi Hills in western Kenya, the plains of Chemelil support an industry that sweetens many a cuppa tea

By Rupi Mangat

In the first light of dawn, the rays of the rising sun touch the green leaves of the sugar cane fields that line the stretch of the Nandi Hills animating the day. Little black birds with a bright red-orange nape flit from stalk to stalk. Checking through the binoculars for a clearer view and then the bird book, it gets confusing – they look like Black bishops and the guide does say the geographical range is western Kenya but uncommon in moist grasslands and sugar cane fields. But these ones are a-flutter all over. Maybe l haven’t noticed something from afar that could make them something else. I wish one of my birding pals was with me.

The history of sugar cane plantations in western Kenya began in the early years of the 20^th century – the first crop planted by Jagat Singh Pandhal who made the lakeshore town of Kisumu his home after the completion of the Uganda Railway. Having arrived in the 1890s from a tiny village in the Punjab to find work on the railway, he tried his hand at many crops on land that was virgin bush earmarked for farming by the colonial government. He made and lost his fortunes and died in Kibos in 1958.

Sugar cane plantation in Chemelil In the foreground is an invasive weed from South America – it’s called parthenium.

In the early days, it was all hand labour with bull carts and tilling the land with jembes. My earliest memory of the family home is a mabati hut and us sitting at night clustered around a lantern for dinner while my aunt laboured over the jiko making chapatis.

The sugar industry in western Kenya today is the pillar of the economy. With the changing times came modernization and machinery. The sugar area began to extend and by 1948 there were large-scale sugar farms in Chemelil. Kibos is 30 kilometers from Chemelil along the same road filled with sugar cane plantations.

Then came the sugar factories – in 1968, the Germans built Chemelil Sugar Factory a year after Muhoroni Sugar Factory. I’m being given the spiel by Steven Kibet the assistant chief of Nyagor sub location that straddles River Nyando and the Nandi Hills.

“It takes 18 months for the sugar cane to mature,” continues John Saum Kado, the agronomist. “Nzoia produces the best quality sugar cane wth high sucrose. I all depends on the soil.”

Sugar cane along the Nandi Hils

Tea plantations in Sotik

Sunset in Chemlil

It sounds a little like wine.

With the changing times there are new concerns. The fast spreading noxious weed parthenium is spreading fast with no policy directive on how to exterminate. Like the ubiquitous water hyacinth on Lake Victoria. The authorities were aware of it in the early stages when it could have been eradicated. Now it’s too late. The tragedy with parthenium is that it has the potential of turning Kenya’s fertile soils infertile while carpeting them with a green veneer – making it a veritable green desert.

Taking the Awasi road to Kisumu, we run over Nyando again which begins its journey from the Mau hills and drains into Victoria. The rains have filled the rice paddies of Ahero and water birds like egrets stalk the fields for tasty water morsels.

Back in Chemelil, dusk pulls the sun to the horizon and lights the sky an amazing kladeiscope of colours – red, orange and gold behind the hills of Homa Bay.

Driving out of Awasi, the road to Ruma stretches ahead. It’s the only park with the rare Roan antelope left in the wild. Once widespread from the shores of Victoria to the Maasai Mara, they may well be on their way to extinction with 50 left. Yet humanity continues to edge in onto the park leaving little space for the last of the wild to be free.

Fact File

Try the new murram road from Londiani to Muhuroni – it’s scenic and winding with stunning views of the hills and valleys.

Take a leisurely trip to the western – it’s rich in agriculture, plenty to do on Lake Victoria and great sites o visit.

Combine a trip with the islands of Rusinga and Mfangano, the sugar fields by Chemelil from where you can visit prehistoric sites of Songhor and Fort Ternan with permission from the National Museums of Kenya.

Kakamega Forest, South Nandi Forest and North Nandi forest, Bonjoge national park, Koru are within easy reach of Chemelil.

White Water Rafting

Published on October 13, 2016October 27, 2016 by Rupi MangatLeave a comment

An adrenaline-filled weekend at Savage Wilderness, Kenya

“Now when the crocodile snaps the other end of your oar, don’t let go of it,” counsels Mark Savage, holding us in rapt attention. “If you let go of the oar, the crocodile will get you. Instead inch your way closer to the crocodile along the oar before it goes into the death roll.” At that point, some clue in. “What you do now is grab the crocodile’s jaws shut because it has very weak muscles to open it and jab its eyes with your two fingers like this.” At which point, some have realized that he’s pulled a fast one on us. He bursts out laughing seeing the shock on the faces of the more innocent.

“No, there are no crocodiles here,” says the man who introduced the adrenaline-filled extreme sport of white water rafting in Kenya in 1990. The group has already been briefed by an instructor on how to sit in the inflatable raft, how to hold the oar and paddle, what to do when you accidently fall off the raft and fitted us with sturdy helmets and life jackets.

Savage in his seventies is only doing the extra drill by the banks of the Tana at Sagana before we embark on the nine-kilometer run downstream through fast-flowing rapids which turns the water white because the flow is so turbulent due to the air trapped in the water.

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Filled with anticipation and a little nervous the group carries the raft into the water. At first it’s plain sailing with Savage calling the commands to test the group on the rowing skills – left paddle, right paddle, relax. Having said that, most of the steering is done by the guide at the back- and that’s him.

Images fill me of white water rafters falling off high, fast flowing rapids. I calm myself with the golden rule – stay calm in every situation. The river’s calm but the skies break open and we’re drenched with rain.

“We’re going to die,” shouts Savage suddenly as the raft is whirled around a rapid and then sits on calm waters. That’s just an introduction on what’s to follow and he’s pleased with the group’s performance.

The Tana that we’re rafting on, demands respect not only because it is Kenya’s longest river but because it is amazing filled with lagoons and pools. Flowing through pristine landscapes like the Tsavo and draining into the Indian Ocean through a web that forms one of the most awesome deltas in the world at Kipini, it is for Kenyans what the Nile is to the Egyptians – vital to life.

The sky clears and the sun appears again. The water is smooth as silk and richly coloured like dark chocolate – a sign of silting. Along the river banks, towering palms like the raffia with the longest leaf in the plant kingdom stand with fat old fig trees.

Savage points to the ‘walking palm’ with its roots on stilts which isn’t a palm but an ancient plant from the Carboniferous Period (359 to 299 million years ago), which has formed rich coal layers in the earth.

And then we’re onto the next rapid though swirling waters and down the drop. Pumped with adrenaline, we row the rafts to the waterfall to see which capsizes first. I’m hoping it’s not ours and thankfully we miss being dunked into the water. We watch the instructor un-capsize the raft and continue with the sail. Again the water turns smooth. Eastern golden weavers and Black headed weavers weave beautiful nests on the overhanging branches of the palms and thorn trees. Green pigeons perched high watch us sail by.

A few more rapids amidst screams and laughs. We jump off the raft to swim with the current downstream and then we’re on to the final rapid. It’s nick-named the toilet bowl because the water is really turbulent and for those who want to try it, go through the drill.

Somewhere during the drill, l miss an important point which is to swim for the red point on the rock. Once inside the toilet bowl the water flushes me downstream, past enormous rocks with water gushing over me. And then the oar appears and Savage pulls me back into the raft.

I’ve been saved.

Savage Wilderness

http://www.savagewilderness.org

It’s really active. Over two days, you can white water raft, kayak, rock climb, zip line, hike a hill, swim, cycle, climb a wall and bungee jump – or just laze.

It’s an hour’s drive from Nairobi in the absence of traffic. Camp or get a cottage. The lawns are beautiful, clean with areas for BBQs. The restaurant serves good wholesome, simple meals with tea, coffee and water available free.

Sail to Mfangano Island

Published on October 11, 2016October 27, 2016 by Rupi MangatLeave a comment

Epic Encounter with the Mountain Gorillas of Rwanda

Published on October 7, 2016October 27, 2016 by Rupi MangatLeave a comment

In Volcanoes National Park, 31 August 2016

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In the first light of dawn, the volcanoes of the Virunga Mountains line the skyline of Musanze, Rwanda’s second largest town in the north. The mountains share borders with Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). It’s simply breath taking.

We’ve driven 100 kilometers out of Kigali, the capital at 5 a.m. to make it for the start of the trek into the forests of the volcanoes in search of the Mountain gorillas that the outside world first got to know of in the 20^th century when the German explorer Captain Robert von Beringe saw them on the ridges of the volcanoes on 17^th October 1902.

Hiring boots and rain coats at Volcanoes National Park in the tiny town of Kinigi, we listen intently to the gorilla ranger about the family we hopefully will meet in a few hours – it’s Amahoro meaning peace in Kinyarwanda.

And then the journey begins with a 45 minute drive up winding roads through rural farmlands on the slopes of the park. My heart skips a beat when the ranger points to the sky-scraping peak of the volcano we are to scale – but the lure of seeing a gorilla is great. Fewer than 900 880 survive in the wild on the entire planet – and their only home is the Virunga mountains.

The trek begins through fields of wheat, white pyrethrum flowers, Irish potatoes and eucalyptus trees with farmers tilling to their crops and morning greetings. At the edge of the farmers’ fields, we hop over a stone wall that is the boundary between the farms and the forests of the gorillas.

The search is on. The mountain path narrows, gets dense and steep with fat forest trees, scrub, stinging nettle and tall bamboo fronds. Hours stretch to three. Panting for breath, Boniface Nzanzabandi my porter takes my hand to help with the steep incline up to a crater in the midst of the mountain. The gorilla trekkers are in there with the gorillas. An hour later, Rwambibi Leonard a gorilla tracker surfaces from the dense forest crater to guide us down and on the crater floor, stopping to catch my breath, there’s a faint rustle in the bush.

And l’m looking at a Mountain gorilla emerge from the dense forest. In that one moment, everything stops for me. It’s just me and the great ape.

“He’s 27 years old and weighs almost 200 kilograms,” tells Bahizi Edward the Rwanda Development Board tourist guide. The Silverback (adult males have white hair on their back and hence the name), is half my age and four times my size. Our eyes meet and l think, this is all that is left of his world – and l want it safe for him as l want for our children and generations to follow. His name is Gahinga.

The rest of the family follows, black flurry creatures on all fours – playful teenagers, infants and adults. Before the trek we’ve been advised not to talk, to keep a distance of a few feet, not to touch them or interfere with them and if the gorilla comes towards you in a mock charge not to run but to crouch in a ball.

For an hour we watch mesmerized as little gorillas climb and swing playfully from forest vines, teenagers chase each other, roll around and thump their chests while Neserwa the female nurses her three-month-old infant named Mafubo meaning someone who has an excellent character at the 12^th Kwita Izina gorilla baby naming ceremony the day after on 2^nd September at Kinigi. The Silverback sits, chews a stalk and lumbers away. It’s hide and seek as the troop appears and disappears in the jungle.

Then the Silverback thumps his chest and ambles across the grass patch. We watch him. For some reason he changes his mind and diverts a little. The six in our group step aside quickly. Maya and l are slow. He ambles towards us and with a little nudge of his bum, topples us over and walks away as the guards help us up.

The hour’s over before we know it and we’re ushered out of the crater and down the volcano to a world out of reach for the great apes.

Gorilla Gossip

Log on www.kwitaizina.rw

Rwanda gorilla conservation is a success story. From 400 surviving 40 years ago, there are 880 and growing today. The government’s goal is to have it off the Critically Endangered list that’s one step away from extinction in the near future. At the 12^th Kwita Izina ceremony 22 baby gorillas were named.

Volcanoes N.P. – home to five of the eight volcanoes of the Virunga Mountains (Karisimbi, Bisoke, Muhabura, Gahinga and Sabyinyo). It borders Virunga National Park in the DRCo and Mgahinga Gorilla National Park in Uganda. Dian Fossey who spearheaded gorilla conservation is buried in Volcanoes N.P.

Flights to Rwanda are affordable but save up for the gorilla permit which is USD 750 per person non-refundable. Read more on http://www.rdb.rw

Rwanda is a tiny, mountainous country at 26,337.6 square kilometers compared to Kenya’s 581309.9 square kilometres. The infrastructure is fantastic, no plastic trash in sight.

Mountain Gorilla - Copyright Maya Mangat