Tag: travel

Swan Lake: A Fascinating Performance at Lake Oloiden

Published on by Rupi MangatLeave a comment

Above: Great white pelicans herding fish for breakfast. Copyright Rupi Mangat

Replace the swan with pelicans because in Africa we have pelicans and not swans. We’re sailing on Lake Oloiden that’s changes dramatically every so often that it keeps everyone guessing – what next? Salty or fresh?

 

We’ve woken up to a spectacular performance by the pelicans – that is the Great white pelicans – performing a ballet that’s captivating. On a blue lake, flotillas of the great white birds synchronize their dive in the water, upturning their white butts like a ballerina’s tutu while their enormous yellow bills vanish in the water to swallow the fish they have herded below. It’s spectacular.

Continue reading “Swan Lake: A Fascinating Performance at Lake Oloiden” →

African Twilight

Published on by Rupi MangatLeave a comment

The Vanishing Rituals and Ceremonies of the African Continent

Above: African Heritage House bathed in morning light. Copyright Maya Mangat

Published: The Star newspaper, Kenya – 2 March 2019

“It’s my dream to set up a pan-African centre where artists from all over Africa can come and see the creativity from all parts of Africa,” said Joseph Murumbi, Kenya’s first foreign minister and second vice president.

at 2 (800x605) (800x605)
African Twilight images – Courtesy Alan Donovan

He never lived to see his dream for his house that had one of the most extensive and valuable collections of all things African, was allowed to fall in ruin after he sold it to the government on condition that it would be turned into the Murumbi Institute of African Studies. Murumbi died shortly after that in 1990 when he saw his once cherished house and indigenous garden in Muthaiga, Nairobi bulldozed away. Continue reading “African Twilight” →

Mara in Motion

Published on by Rupi Mangat2 Comments

Above: Elusive leopard in Mara early morning. Copyright Maya Mangat

Published: 23 February 2019

The view is dramatic view of the great Mara from the heights of Siria Escarpment of the big game country.

Maasai Mara Jan 2019 Copyright Rupi Mangat 2 (800x450)
Maasai Mara plains from Siria Escarpment. Jan 2019 Copyright Rupi Mangat

A few miles from Mara’s Oloololo gate, dots appear. It’s a trio of elephants in the midday heat at a mud hole splashing themselves with muddy water. The muddy water is a great sunscreen and a body mask – every one’s concerned about their looks.

Continue reading “Mara in Motion” →

A Collection From the Old Days at Kitale Museum

Published on by Rupi MangatLeave a comment

Above: The dinosaur at Kitale Museum. Copyright Rupi Mangat

Published: 9 February 2019

The Maasai of old called it Ol Doinyo Ilgoon which morphed into Mount Elgon that frames the town of Kitale. By a stretch of imagination, the Maasai saw its shape as that of a woman’s breast.

Mount Elgon from Kitale Copyright Rupi Mangat for one time use only - 9 Feb 2019 article on Kitale Museum (800x450)
Mount Elgon from Kitale. Copyright Rupi Mangat

Continue reading “A Collection From the Old Days at Kitale Museum” →

On The Heights of Elgon

Published on by Rupi Mangat3 Comments

Above: Mount Elgon. Copyright Maya Mangat

Published: 2 February 2019

The grand massif dominates the western skyline around Kitale. Superlatives describe it as the oldest extinct volcano in East Africa dated at 24 million years ago – much older than the 19,340-foot tall, three-million-year old Kilimanjaro that is Africa’s tallest.

With an eighty kilometre diameter, Elgon also boasts the largest volcanic base in the world. It would have once towered over Kilimanjaro but over millennia much of it has been eroded to leave behind dramatic bare faced cliffs and peaks with the highest, Wagagai at 14,177 feet in Uganda. Elgon now is East Africa’s fourth and Africa’s eighth highest mountain with a dramatic 40-square-kilometre caldera.

wild flowers on endebess cliff mount elgon copyright maya mangat dec 2018 (800x450)

Wild flowers on Endebess cliff on Mount Elgon. Copyright Maya Mangat

Continue reading “On The Heights of Elgon” →