Why I Love Kenya Issue 7 May/Jun 2018

MAY-JUNE 2018 ISSUE 7

Spellbound in Shaba Wildlife ‘Tracking’ Nairobi to Mombasa on the Madaraka Express Sir Richard Branson:

Why I Love Kenya

THE OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE KENYA TOURISM BOARD & KENYA TOURISM FEDERATION

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Foreword

by Honourable Najib Balala EGH, Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of Tourism & Wildlife

I am delighted to welcome you to the seventh issue of Why I Love Kenya Magazine, which offers a safari in itself.

We begin with the Greatest Wildlife Show on Earth, the annual migration of the wildebeest, a theatre of the wild that is due to arrive in Kenya’s world famous Maasai Mara National Reserve at some point in the next few months. A tragi-comic spectacle of epic proportions, the migration features a cast of thousands – 1.7 million plunging wildebeest, three hundred thousand galloping zebra, four hundred thousand careering gazelles and twelve thousand eland. And that’s before we take in the circus of predators that follow in their wake: lions, cheetahs, leopards, hyenas, jackals and vultures. Plus, the massive Nile crocodiles that wait in eager anticipation amid the swirling waters of the Grumeti River.

Moving north, we wander through the blossomfilled reaches of Shaba National Reserve where the elephant herds are crossing the thick brown waters of the Ewaso Nyiro River.

Heading west, we encounter the vast bulk of immeasurably ancient Mount Elgon, the so-called ‘Mountain of Illusion,’ where we enter the bat-filled Kitum Cave. It is here that the great herds of elephants come to mine the salt they crave, thus creating vast cathedrals of tusk-gouged splendour.

Returning south, we encounter the magnificent sable antelope in the coastal forests of the Shimba Hills.

Finally, we return to Nairobi where we meet up with a very distant relative, the 1.6 million year-old Turkana Boy. I hope you enjoy your virtual travels… and that you’re already planning your real-time itinerary.

Magical Kenya awaits you.

Honourable Najib Balala EGH, Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of Tourism & Wildlife

WHY I LOVE KENYA May-June 2018

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EXPERTLY CRAFTED DELIGHTFULLY SERVED

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36 22 Contents PUBLISHER: Mike Jones MANAGING EDITOR: Jane Barsby EDITORIAL CONSULTANTS: Lyndsey McIntyre, Stuart Butler MARKETING CONSULTANT: David Stogdale, Chairman of the Marketing Committee, Kenya Tourism Federation BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT CONSULTANT: Olivia Constantine

CREATIVE TEAM: Pam Kubassu Papa, Moses Ochieng, Sam Ndung’u PHOTOGRAPHIC AND EDITORIAL CREDITS: Angama Mara, Campi ya Kanzi, Charles Tomalin / Alamy Stock Photo, Chris Howes/Wild Places / Alamy Stock Photo, DSWT / Freya Dowson, Eric Lafforgue / Alamy Stock Photo, Fairmont Mount Kenya Safari Club, Greg Armfield, Hemingways Nairobi, Ian Redmond, John Saul, Kenya Railways, Mark Boulton, Mills Publishing Ltd, Mövenpick Nairobi, Nick Turner / Alamy Stock Photo, Owen ‘Squack’ Evans, Paul Mckenzie, Peter Barritt / Alamy Stock Photo, Raptor Rehabilitation Trust, Rhino Ark, Safaricom Marathon, Sam Stogdale, Sean Dundas Safaris, Senckenberg Research Institute, Shaun Mousley, Silverless, Stuart Boulton / Alamy Stock Photo, The Sands at Nomad, Virgin Limited Edition EDITORIAL ENQUIRIES: editorial@colourspace.co.ke ADVERTISING ENQUIRIES: mike@colourspace.co.ke Published by MJS Colourspace Ltd. Victoria Towers, Kilimanjaro Road, Upper Hill, Nairobi Tel: +254 (0)20 2738004, 2737883, +254 (0)727 794041 IN ASSOCIATION WITH:

www.mountkenyatrust.org

Cover photograph: Stuart Butler Copyright © 2018 Why I Love Kenya Magazine. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior permission of the publishers. The publishers do not accept responsibility for the advertising content of the magazine and nor do they promote or endorse products from third-party advertisers.

Printed in Kenya. www.whyilovekenya.com

01 Foreword 04 Zoom Lens 06 Wide Angle Lens: The Green Hills of Africa 10 Cameo Shot: Richard Branson 12 In the Frame: Escape to the Shimba Hills 16 Moving Image: The Sable Antelope: Endangered Giant 18 Wide Angle Lens: Love Me Tender 20 Positive Take: The Kitum Enigma 22 Depth of Field: Spellbound in Shaba 28 Wide Angle Lens: The Towers of Nairobi 30 Focus On: The Annual Migration of the Wildebeest 32 Exposed: The Maasai Legend of the Warthog 34 Portfolio: On Top of the World 36 Spotlight On: Nairobi to Mombasa on the Madaraka Express 40 Wild Action: The Golfing Safari 44 Message from the Kenya Tourism Board 46 In Close Up: Nairobi - Portal to Africa... and more 50 Snapped: Take Away... and Give Back 52 Kenya Brief

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Kick-off at the World Cup of Wildlife Between July and October, Kenya’s Maasai Mara National Reserve is the location for the Greatest Wildlife Show on Earth, the annual migration of the wildebeest. Dubbed the World Cup of the Wildlife, the migration sees some two million animals migrate from the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania to the greener pastures of the Maasai Mara National Reserve in Kenya. Though unlike the World Cup, the migration rarely runs to schedule and can kick off at any time. Such is the pace of technological migration, however, that you no longer have to leave your wildebeest watching to chance. Simply visit www.discoverafrica.com, click on HerdTracker and you have a direct line to the professionals on the ground. There are reports, videos and even a tracking map that allows you to determine which lodges are closest to the migration.

The Gathering of the Clans

Run Wild

It’s quite a sight: the gathering of the clans of northern Kenya in their brilliant costumes; a showcase of music and dance; and a beauty pageant of camels – the treasured possessions of the people of the north. Set on the blazing hot, wind-whipped shores of Lake Turkana, the Marsabit Lake Turkana Cultural Festival June 28-30 is the ultimate in photoopportunities and a unique chance to meet and mix with the twelve tribes of the north including the Turkana, the Rendille, the Boran and the Gabbra.

It’s also the northern people’s own chance to meet, mix, mingle and make peace. For more information see www.facebook.com/ltcfmarsabit

© Safaricom Marathon

© ERIC LAFFORGUE / Alamy Stock Photo

If you’d like to run alongside 137 rhinos, 182 giraffes, 1,160 zebras, 26 lions and 1,400 humans while pounding your way through one of the most beautiful conservancies in Africa, then register for the 18th Safaricom Marathon on June 30th, 2018. An enduringly iconic event, the Marathon is run against the glittering backdrop of Mount Kenya and across the golden savannah of the Lewa Wildlife Conservancy.

It’s not just that this marathon ranks as one of the ‘must do’ running events of the world; it’s also that since 2000 its runners have raised seven million US dollars for wildlife conservation. You’ll also be running in very good company; Eliud Kipchoge, the reigning Kenyan Olympic Gold Medallist will be leading a pack that is drawn from 20 countries. Your most formidable opponents, however, are likely to be the 182 giraffes, some of whom have been known to run for at least half a mile alongside their two-legged competitors. For further information: www.safaricommarathon.com

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WHY I LOVE KENYA May-June 2018

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© DSWT / Freya Dowson

Positive Charge

The passing of a matriarch Kenya’s elephants lost one of their greatest protectors when Dr Dame Daphne Sheldrick MBE died on April 12th. Working alongside her husband, David Sheldrick, Daphne devoted her life to wildlife conservation. The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust pioneered the science of raising orphaned elephants and returning them to the wild; it also provided Nairobi with one its best-loved attractions, the enchanting elephant orphanage.

By virtue of her many books, articles, television and film appearances, Daphne spread the message of wildlife conservation worldwide. She received widespread recognition: in 2006 Queen Elizabeth II appointed her Dame Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, while the Kenyan government made her a ‘Moran of the Burning Spear’. The United Nations Environmental Programme numbered her amongst the elite ‘Global 500 Roll of Honour’ while the BBC awarded her the momentous ‘Lifetime Achievement Award.’ Finally, The Smithsonian Magazine, named her as ‘one of the 35 people worldwide who have made a difference’ in terms of animal husbandry and wildlife conservation.

Daphne will be sadly missed by the world and its wildlife alike.

© Rhino Ark

The Rhino Charge is an annual off-road motorsport competition held in Kenya in which entrants are required to visit 13 points scattered over approximately 100 km² of rough terrain within a 10 hour period. The event is organised in order to raise funds to support the activities of the Rhino Ark Charitable Trust, an NGO which works towards a noble cause: the conservation and protection of Kenya’s mountain range ecosystems, the so-called ‘Water Towers’.

The 2018 Rhino Charge is set to take place on June 2nd at a secret location. For more information: www.rhinocharge.co.ke

We’ve got some bottle

© Owen ‘Squack’ Evans

Recent research has revealed that, globally, we humans buy a million plastic bottles a minute, but only 91% of them are recycled. Meanwhile, the nonrecycled bottles are a menace to the planet – they kill creatures on land and sea and they leach toxins into the soil we use and the water we drink.

Worse still, it takes 450 years for a plastic bottle to break down completely.

In response to these figures, East Africa has adopted the Throttle the Bottle campaign, which is dedicated to reducing the use of throwaway plastic water bottles and promoting the use of re-usable stainless steel and individual water bottles. For more information go to the Facebook page: Throttle.The.Bottle

© Raptor Rehabilitation Trust

Beware! Chicks underfoot It’s a great story. According to The Mount Kenya Trust, a pair of Mackinder’s eagle owl chicks were found under a tree in the wildlife corridor down which the elephants migrate between the mountain and the plains below. Miraculously having avoided been trodden on by the migrating elephants, the chicks were rescued and sent to the Raptor Rehabilitation Trust in Nairobi where they were lucky enough to be accepted by a foster mother of a different species. In March this year they were released back to their home on the slopes of Mount Kenya.

You can watch the video of their release into the wild here: https://www.facebook.com/RaptorRehabTrustKenya/

WHY I LOVE KENYA May-June 2018

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The Green Hills

of Africa

A herd of kongoni graze the rolling Chyulu Hills, Kenya’s youngest mountain range. In the background rises the might of Mount Kilimanjaro. Photo by Shaun Mousley.

WHY I LOVE KENYA May-June 2018

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Your

Beach link DIANI LAMU VIPINGO ZANZIBAR Also flying you to 13 other destinations across Kenya and Tanzania from Wilson Airport

www.flysafarilink.com +254 (0)20 669 0000

res@flysafarilink.com

@FlySafarilink

Mahali Mzuri © Virgin Limited Edition

In this issue, world-famous entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson English business magnate, investor, philanthropist and founder of the Virgin Group - tells us why he loves Kenya.

What were your first impressions of Kenya?

I found Kenya to be a beautiful country – full of wonderful people, wildlife and landscapes. It’s always such a pleasure to spend time here. Every visit is always a fantastic experience.

What is it that you love about Kenya?

There are so many things: the abundance of nature and the kindness of the people. Kenya offers a vast landscape of untouched beauty; it always gives one such a sense of peace. You can get so incredibly close to the wildlife in their natural environment. And there’s a unique sense of harmony about Kenya that you won’t find anywhere else on Earth.

What’s your favourite Kenyan experience?

I’ve had the pleasure of going on a number of safaris in Kenya but one of my favourite experiences is to take a group of local children on safari. It’s a chance for young people to learn about conservation and the wider world around them.

What prompted you to set up your camp in the Olare Motorogi Conservancy of the Maasai Mara?

On one of my visits to Kenya, I was told by my great friend, Jake Grieves-Cook, that the annual migration of the wildebeest was in danger of being restricted by development. Jake suggested that, along with a number of other people, I invest in the area with a view to expanding the protected area for the benefit of both the

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local community and wildlife alike. I followed his advice and we opened our 12-tent safari camp, Mahali Mzuri, on the Olare Motorogi Conservancy in 2013.

Why the Olare Motorogi Conservancy?

The abundance of animal life in the Olare Motorogi Conservancy is quite simply jaw-dropping. I’ve been lucky enough to enjoy the glory of the animal kingdom at its most dramatic just half a mile from the camp. Operating within a conservancy means that we are able to better control the number of vehicles and guests. This means the conservancy is not crowded, which is better for the guests and for the wildlife. We’re also able to ensure that our guides adhere to a strict code of conduct and thus more effectively manage the impact of tourism on the environment. Working with the conservancy has also enabled us to create our own relationships and friendships with the local communities.

And what about the greater picture of Kenya on the world stage?

In recent years, the brutal poaching of Africa’s iconic wildlife has reached crisis point – driven by the ease with which poachers are able to operate in far too many of Africa’s national parks and wildlife reserves. Kenya has, however, demonstrated good leadership in reducing the supply of ivory and rhino horn by burning 105 tons of confiscated ivory, which is equivalent to the tusks of roughly 8,000 elephants. She has also incinerated one ton of rhino horn. This sent an unambiguous message to poachers and traffickers alike to the effect that Kenya is no longer prepared to tolerate this bloody global trade. I think President Kenyatta said it best when he said ‘ivory is worthless unless it is on our elephants’.

cameo shot

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Escape to the

Shimba Hills Experience the last of the coastal rainforests, sanctuary of the magnificent sable antelope.

Floating a misty-cool 400 metres above the palm-fringed beaches of Kenya’s glittering coastline, the Shimba Hills National Reserve offers a unique blend of wood-cloaked downs, wandering elephant, breeze-fanned hills, plunging waterfalls, liana-strung jungle and the primeval stillness of one of the last remaining coastal rainforests on earth. Famed as the only Kenyan habitat of the rare and magnificent sable antelope, this unique Reserve is within thirty minutes of the beach, commands panoramic vistas over the Indian Ocean and plays host to one of the most enchanting tree hotels in Kenya. »

Photo © Charles Tomalin / Alamy Stock Photo

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in the frame

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What to do and see After the blazing brightness of the beach, these coastal hills promise cool and shade. They also offer some truly panoramic picnic sites with views stretching down the forested flanks of the escarpment to the hazy blue of the Indian Ocean. On a clear day you can also see the imposing mass of Mount Kilimanjaro rising behind the Taita Hills to the west.

The ancient culture of the sacred kayas Deep in the ancient forests are a number of sacred ‘Kayas’, the ancient spiritual centres of the Mijikenda people. Originally fortified residential sites, the ‘kayas’ are now largely uninhabited but still widely used for sacred ceremonies and burials.

Visits can be arranged by consulting the Warden.

Walk in the wilderness and bathe at Sheldrick Falls For the more energetic, the trail leading down through the lush woodlands to the spectacular torrents of the 21 metre high Sheldrick Falls offers a scenic walk, a plunge in the pool or a picnic by the cascades. You may also see blue monkey, buffalo and elephant on the way. Walks take place at 4pm daily and take around 30 minutes to descend and 45 minutes return. All walks must be accompanied by a KWS Ranger.

To join the walk, please contact KWS Headquarters on the outskirts of Kwale town.

Elephant spotting The forests of the Reserve hold substantial numbers of elephants, which may be seen to unique advantage against the unusual backdrop of gentle downs and leafy woodlands. Herds can be found all over the Reserve but Elephant Hill is a good place to start.

Last sanctuary of the magnificent sable antelope The Reserve offers sanctuary to the last breeding herd of indigenous sable antelope in Kenya. Perhaps the most beautiful of the large antelopes, the hard-to-spot, solitary, territorial males have a satin-smooth, jet-black coat and majestic sweeping horns while the dark reddish-brown females congregate in groups and are thus more easily spotted.

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in the frame

Unique wildlife Although one of the smallest Reserves in Kenya, Shimba also protects the bulk of Kenya’s black-and-white colobus population while providing shelter to a number of translocated Maasai giraffe and plains zebra.

An ornithologist’s paradise More than 230 species of bird have been recorded in the Reserve, which also offers sanctuary to 13 rare or restricted bird species. The Reserve also hosts Palaearctic birds during late March - early April.

The last of the coastal rainforests and home to some of the oldest plants on earth The Reserve hosts one of the largest areas of coastal forest remaining in East Africa. It is also home to some of the oldest plants on earth, many of the massively buttressed forest trees being centuries old.

Older still, in origin at least, are the fern-like cycads, age-mates of the dinosaurs that first flourished on earth some 200 million years ago.

Butterfly haven The Reserve is host to about 35% (300 species) of Kenyan butterflies including the rare Acraea aubyni and Npetis rogersi and the endemic Charaxes acuminatus shimbaensis. Butterflies are best observed in the Longomwagandi Forest and the Makadara Forest.

Reserve of rare biodiversity A total of 1,100 plant species have been recorded in the Reserve, around 280 of which are endemic to Shimba Hills and nearly one fifth of which are considered globally rare.

Need to know The Reserve is 35 km south-west of Mombasa and can be easily accessed from Diani or Ukundu – buses and taxis are in plentiful supply. It is also possible to stay in an enchanting selfcatering chalet with stunning views over the tree canopy.

Immediately adjacent to the Shimba Hills National Reserve is the spectacular Mwaluganje Elephant Sanctuary, which provides the elephants with an ancient migration route between the Shimba Hills and the Mwaluganje Forest Reserve. Home to some 150 elephants, such is the wide open landscape of the sanctuary that multiple elephant sightings are guaranteed while the photo opportunities are unrivalled.

For more information: kws.co.ke Sheldrick Falls

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moving image

‘Clad in their black attire like the chief mourner at a funeral... with all the pomposity and self-importance of village Billy goats... so brilliant an addition to the catalogue of game quadrupeds - so bright a jewel amid the riches of zoology.’

Sir William Cornwallis Harris, explorer and trophy hunter, who first described the species in 1838.

The Sable Antelope:

endangered giant

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f you’re planning on visiting the Shimba Hills National Reserve, which lies behind the southern reaches of the Kenyan coastline, you may be interested to know that this reserve protects Kenya’s only population of sable antelope. Initially, this thought may not thrill you, but wait until you’ve set eyes on this almost mythical, black-magic unicorn of a beast. This is no piffling soft-beige plains-pronker; this is a massively regal creature, horse-like in size, shape and mien; and equipped with some of the most dazzlingly impressive horns on the planet.

Sables don’t relish photo-opportunities and, given their size, can prove bafflingly difficult to find. Easiest to spot are the females, who cluster in strictly hierarchic herds numbering 15 to 25 creatures, along with their caramel-coloured calves. A cinnamonrusset in colour, they sport the same dynamically sweeping horns as the males, and are looked after by one dominant bull, to whose harem they unquestioningly belong.

Surprisingly, given that they are large, haughtily magnificent, glossy-black with striking white markings and scimitar-sweeping horns up to a metre in length, the bulls are more difficult to spot; they often prefer to graze apart from the domestic trivia of females and offspring. Fiercely protective, however, the bull will always escort his harem to drink: because this is the time when a lion is most likely to strike. Many a lion has, however, come seriously unstuck when tackling an enraged sable antelope.

Brave to a fault, they are more than capable of disembowelling a lion, leopard or hyena on the prongs of their sabre-sharp horns.

As for the non-breeding bulls, they must content themselves with stamping, snorting and horn-crashing in celibate bachelor groups, posing for optimum effect on the grassy knolls of the reserve, or speculating as to when the dominant bull can be challenged. The females, meanwhile, stand by their man, and give birth to only one calf at a time, which they conceal for three weeks in the long grass, before nudging them gently back under the mildly enquiring gaze of the harem.

Sable-style With its conspicuous mane and horse-like build, the sable antelope is known as Hippotragus niger: the black horse-goat.

Sable-sustainability The sable antelope is one of the most endangered of the antelopes. There are two isolated populations, which are commonly regarded as subspecies.

The so-called Giant Sable of north-western Angola is endangered, and was actually feared extinct until a population was discovered a few years ago; and the so-called Shimba Sable, or Roosevelt’s Sable, which is as threatened as its Angolan relative and was awarded protected status after its numbers plummeted to less than 120 in the 1970s.

For more information on the Shimba Hills National Reserve visit: www.kws.go.ke

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Love me tender Lion cub nuzzling its mother, Maasai Mara National Reserve, Kenya. Š Paul Mckenzie

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GOLFING AT THE EQUATOR IN THE HEART OF KENYA While staying at Fairmont Mount Kenya Safari Club, enjoy a game of golf at the only golf course bisected by the Equator in Africa allowing one to leisurely cross from the Northern to the Southern Hemisphere. With a picturesque landscape and positioned 7,000 feet above sea level, the 9 hole, par 3 manicured golf course provides a serene atmosphere and ideal backdrop for that relaxing game of golf.

Requirements *Green fees applicable *Golfers to bring own golf kit and apparel

Fairmont Mount Kenya Safari Club is located within Mount Kenya Wildlife Conservancy

MOUNT KENYA SAFARI CLUB

FOR MORE INFORMATION EMAIL: KENYA.RESERVATIONS@FAIRMONT.COM OR PHONE: +254 62 2036000

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Edge of caldera at Koitobos Peak - summit of Mount Elgon, Kenya © Nick Turner / Alamy Stock Photo

The Kitum enigma High in the mist-wreathed hills of Western Kenya, stands a shape-shifting giant known as the Mountain of Illusion. 24 million-years-old, Mount Elgon is the second highest mountain in Kenya, (after Mount Kenya). She’s also a dormant volcano with one of the largest calderas in the world (8km in diameter) and the largest base (80km) of any freestanding volcano in the world. In her prime, Elgon might have been Africa’s Everest.

Held sacred since the dawn of time, it was the hunter-gatherer El Kony people who painted the rust-red cattle on Elgon’s caves, and it is from the El Kony that she takes her name. Seldom visited, Elgon is nonetheless worldfamous for her salt-mining elephants, who wander the moorlands and trek deep into the dark zone of caves.

They’re known as the ‘Troglodyte Tuskers’.

In the salt mines of the troglodytes

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t’s an energetic scramble up the mighty flanks of Elgon to the mouth of Kitum Cave. The path has been trodden by giant forest hogs, reputedly the size of sofas, which ‘rootle’ here nightly. Elephants too follow this path, tiptoeing delicately along trunk to tail.

A sheet of water cascades over the mouth of the cave, creating its own rainbow. The roof is pierced by petrified tree roots and branches, remnants of a prehistoric forest. Slowly, your eyes adjusting to the gloom, you edge into the belly of the cave. The floor is soft with centuries of elephant and buffalo manure, the air sharp with the ammonia-stench of bat droppings. A ceremonial gathering place since the dawn of time, the ceiling is soot-blackened by a million fires.

Following your guides, a trio of Kenya Wildlife Service rangers clanking with guns and torches, you adopt a neanderthal hunch and grope your way into the gloom. A dull twittering comes from its depths, and the faint fluttering of wings. In the beam of your torch, translucent spiders with long silver legs glow like malevolent fairy-lights.

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As the grey shafts of distant daylight are quenched by inky blackness one of the rangers says, ‘turn off your torches.’ The gloom is suffocating, and the distant twittering swells to a shriek. ‘If you have enemies’, comes his voice out of the darkness, ‘this is a good place to forgive them and make your peace.’ He’s right: rancour is redundant in the jaws of Hell.

We turn our torches back on, thankful for their light. He illuminates the ceiling. Billions of blood-red eyes stare down at us. Thousands of tiny wings beat. The roof is encrusted with Rousette fruit bats. Alarmed by the light, they flutter briefly into swirling life: and then settle again.

Phew. It’s a terror as old as time – bats in your face… or your hair.

Nor can you help wondering if the guides are SURE the elephants are far away at this time of year. You throw an involuntary glance over your shoulder lest the slow grey shapes are even now lumbering through the blackness.

About Mount Elgon National Park Altitude: 2,100 – 4,321 m above sea level.

Habitat: wet montane and bamboo forests and Afro-alpine moorlands.

Fauna: elephant, leopard, giant forest hog, zebra, bushbuck, waterbuck, buffalo, duiker, baboons, black and white colobus, blue monkey and golden cat.

Birds: 240 species.

Activities: walking, trekking, cave exploration.

Access: by road or air (Eldoret airport is 70 km away and Kitale Airfield now has scheduled flights from Nairobi).

Around and about: Western Kenya is a largely undiscovered region. Highlights include: Kisumu, the Cherangani Hills, Lake Victoria, Saiwa Swamp National Park and the Kakamega National Forest Reserve.

Further information: kws.go.ke Did you know you can take an incredible virtual tour round the Mount Elgon caves? Just visit www.vEcotourism.org, click on the Take a Tour tab and select the salt-mining elephants.

A rare photo of the ‘Troglodyte Tuskers’ inside Kitum Cave © Ian Redmond

Tusk marks © Chris Howes/Wild Places / Alamy Stock Photo

Suddenly, the walls widen into a womb-like chamber. It’s domed like a medieval basilica and the ceiling is fan-vaulted. But this is not the work of man. This is where the pregnant she-elephants and their children come to mine the salt.

Their tusks have created the delicate tracery of arches.

Beyond the salt cathedral lie mirror-still pools and the caverns are rent by giant gashes. Clamped in the jaws of one is the skeleton of a baby elephant. The ranger shines his torch down another. Far below, clearly illuminated in the yellow light, is a perfectly rounded clay pot. ‘How do think it got there?’ he asks. It’s a good question: the shaft is far narrower than the pot; yet the pot is unbroken.

Time slows in the beam-lit darkness. Disorientated, and sense-bewildered you stumble along hooked on the rangers’ flashlights. Eventually, a sliver of silver-grey light creeps along the tunnel and widens into a wedge of daylight.

Rounding a rocky corner you gaze on the sun-gilded mouth of the cave.

Standing on its rocky lip you look down into the forest glade.

© Chris Howes/Wild Places / Alamy Stock Photo

And breathe. Deeply.

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spotlight on

Spellbound in

T

Shaba

he pre-dawn sky is streaked lilac-pink and the river is chocolate-brown and fast flowing. We’re walking, still bleary-eyed, through the still-sleeping lodge.

Shaba Sarova Game Lodge is built on a series of crystal clear springs, which flow from the rocky ranges that encircle it. There are little wooden bridges to be traversed and grey-blue pools where terrapin swim.

And everywhere there is the sound of water.

It has rained profoundly overnight, a rarity in the arid north of Kenya, and the trees are dank and dripping. As for the mighty Ewaso Nyiro River, which dominates the lodge, it is mutinous and swollen: its waters so laden with mud that it flows with a sullen soup-like consistency. On its bank lies a large lump of driftwood, yellow-green and half-embedded in the slime. Closer inspection reveals four stubby feet and a long snout. ‘The Brown River’, as its name translates, is renowned for its crocodiles. But they’re not welcome in the lodge.

This one has come ‘by invitation’ to the Crocodile Viewing Point. It’s a strongly fenced area lying far below the lawns of the lodge. It’s here that the great beasts come for scraps from the lodge’s kitchens. They have, or so we’re told, a predilection for chicken. A green-clad guard

leans over the iron fence and observes the crocodile, ‘it’s one of ours,’ he says, ‘there’s a group of them. They own this place. If others come, they scare them away.’ The crocodile opens one eye as if to confirm his vigilance. Then he resumes his imitation of a log.

The safari vehicle is waiting. Our driver and his Samburu tracker are leaning against its long khaki bonnet. Wilson, the Samburu, is wrapped in a red, sky-blue and white toga, his chest crisscrossed with bandoliers of beads and his brow adorned by a crown of beads that terminates in a large pearl-white button. There’s a knife on his belt and a beaded knobkerrie in his hand.

We grind our way over the black lava flows that stretch rocky tentacles across the land. It’s a tough ride. Dawn is breaking and the air is heavy with a subtle perfume. Suddenly, out of the ghostly grey light glow a thousand starry-white shapes: they’re squat blossom-bushes wreathed in tiny bell-like flowers. And the further we drive into the magnificence of Shaba National Reserve, the more these ethereal white flowers crowd the landscape until, or so it seems, we’re driving through a vast enchanted garden.

Far below us snakes the great brown river, beyond it towers a range of sheer rock faces that are as ridged and striated as rotting teeth. One crag stands proud of the others. ‘The Flag,’ says Wilson. ‘Why The Flag?’ we ask. ‘There used to be a flagpole up there,’ he says. We gaze up at the vast grizzled peak. What kind of madman could have climbed up there to plant a flag?

‘Which flag?’ we ask. ‘British,’ says Wilson.

That explains it.

»

© Peter Barritt / Alamy Stock Photo

depth of field

© Shaun Mousley

© Shaun Mousley

© Shaun Mousley

WHY I LOVE KENYA May-June 2018 23

depth of field

As the sun rises, so the animals arrive to populate this surreally beautiful land. Long-necked gerenuk trot amidst the white flowers, pausing now and then to stand on their back legs like shoppers reaching up to the highest shelves in the supermarket. One is stoically munching on white flowers. Beneath the doum palms, their untidy foliage ragged and grey, graze herds of Beisa oryx. Creatures of the arid north, their coats are as elegantly pale grey as bespoke Saville Row suits. Black spiralled horns, straight as tuning forks, rise above lugubrious black-and-white ‘war painted’ faces. Maddeningly photogenic, they decline to deliver a photo opportunity and disperse in cloud of skittishly flicking tails.

Striding imperiously onto his grassy stage, a statuesque Grevy’s zebra obliges us with a pose. With his satellite-dish ears and pinstriped pelt he presents a very different picture from his common cousin the Burchell’s zebra. He’s much larger, more muscled and infinitely more regal. As the camera clicks he stamps his foot as if to say, ‘enough’. And then gallops away.

Heading down to the river, the stands of doum palm thicken. The ground is strewn with their discarded fronds and our tyres crunch over the small brown fruit than rain down from above. Hornbills shriek in alarm and, amid the general cacophony, we don’t at first realize the presence of a herd of elephants. They appear, as if out of nowhere: a matriarch and her brood of seven – descending in size like Russian dolls. The smallest, his trunk wrapped firmly around his mother’s tale, is no more than four feet high. But they have no interest in us: they’re on a mission.

‘Heading for the river,’ says Wilson, ‘we’ll catch them later.’

And so we do.

But it’s much later and much has happened along the way. We’ve driven through glades where blue-necked Somali ostrich peck:

24 WHY I LOVE KENYA May-June 2018

tab title

© Shaun Mousley

and around vast rocky outcrops where lines of baboons sit as motionless as judges. We’ve startled grazing bushbucks and put nervous herds of antelopes to flight. Our passage has been watched by pairs of tiny dikdiks quivering in the undergrowth, and by roaming pairs of bat-eared foxes their fat tails streaming out behind them in the perfumed air.

We’ve been peered at over bushes by the fabulously jig-saw patterned, Reticulated giraffe and stampeded by nervous waterbuck. But we haven’t seen another single vehicle. And now, returning to the lodge for breakfast, we’re grinding along a rocky track high above the coils of the river. The heat is rising and the white flowers are wilting. ‘Do you see the elephants?’ says Wilson casually.

Need to know Shaba National Reserve is one of Kenya’s three northern reserves, its sisters being Samburu and Buffalo Springs. All are renowned for their so-called ‘special five’ (gerenuk, Beisa oryx, Grevy’s zebra, Reticulated giraffe and Somali ostrich). Immortalized by the film, Born Free, Shaba was the chosen haunt of naturalists George and Joy Adamson, both of whom had camps here.

And there they are. The herd has crossed to the far side and is wallowing in the shallows. We’re too late. We’ve missed the ‘money-shot’. Or have we? In the distance, ears flap, trunks wave and suddenly the cavalcade turns around and re-crosses the river. Shaba has delivered. And how.

Wildlife highlights: elephant, lion, leopard, cheetah, hyena, jackal, buffalo, hippo, zebra, oryx, gerenuk, gazelle, gerenuk, hyrax and klipspringer. Birds: 395 recorded species.

Back at the lodge, the guardian crocodile has moved out into the fast-moving river. His snout is pointing up stream and his tail is waving lazily in the slipstream. ‘Fishing’ observes the guard. ‘He’s got his mouth open.’ And frankly, so have we: in wonder.

Sarova Shaba Game Lodge is ideally placed for visits to all three reserves. It also offers first-class guides, captivating grounds, excellent food and one of the most beautiful sundowner spots in Kenya, amid the sculptured rocks of the Ewaso Nyiro River. For further information: www.sarovahotels.com

Shaba, the land of The Flag and the perfumed garden has ensnared us.

And we’re spellbound.

Daily flights from Wilson Airport to

SAMBURU www.flysafarilink.com @FlySafarilink

WHY I LOVE KENYA May-June 2018 25

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wide angle lens

The Towers of Nairobi Nairobi National Park is not only Kenya’s oldest national park but it is also the only national park within a capital city in the world. Photographer and conservationist, Paras Chandaria captured this wonderful photo of giraffe against the modern city skyline illustrating Nairobi’s truly unique offering as the safari capital.

Paras is a supporter of Friends of Nairobi National Park (FoNNaP) - a non-profit society dedicated to assisting the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) in nurturing and preserving biodiversity within the Park and the broader ecosystem.

© Paras Chandaria

28 WHY I LOVE KENYA May-June 2018

WHY I LOVE KENYA May-June 2018 29

focus on

Great minds...

V

isit the Serengeti or the Maasai Mara when the annual migration of the wildebeest is ‘on’ and you’ll be more than ready to believe you’re observing ‘the greatest wildlife show on earth.’ It certainly feels like it as oneand-a-half million wildebeest plunge across the plains of Africa hotly pursued by legions of lions and a rabble of every other carnivore worth its salt. And when the great droves of animals hurl themselves down the muddy banks of the river and into its churning brown torrents, where the slit-eyed crocodiles wait, it’s about as ‘nature red in tooth and claw’ as it’s possible to get.

But what might not be quite so obvious is that while watching the ‘greatest wildlife show on earth’, you’ll also be watching one of the greatest biological algorithms on earth. It’s known as Swarm Intelligence (SI to the cognoscenti) and it has inspired gaggles of geeks from Google to the CIA to pound off down intellectual trails even more tumultuous than those of the wildebeest.

A phrase first coined in 1980 by scientists Gerardo Beni and Jing Wang during their research into the construction of cellular robotic systems, SI is officially described as ‘the collective behaviour of

30 WHY I LOVE KENYA May-June 2018

decentralized self-organized systems’ but it is perhaps more simply described as the group behavioural patterns that some creatures evolve so as to allow them to optimise their environment. First observed in the behaviour of ants, which march, fight and forage as if directed by some celestial colonel-major, SI explains how creatures as diverse as birds and microbes have generated a form of central intelligence that prompts them to act in uncanny unison. Hence, millions of wildebeest plunge across the plains, swirls of birds dip their wings at exactly the same moment, and zillions of tiny fish shiver into shifting silvered curtains as ethereally beautiful as an oceanic Aurora Borealis.

But these creatures are not the only ones to respond to the promptings of SI. Over the last ten years scientists have applied the dynamics of SI to control everything from the movement of men to machines. The CIA, for instance, are using it to create artificial intelligence programmes, NASA are using it to map the planet, the European Space Agency is using it to create what they describe as ‘self-constructing orbital swarms’, doctors are using it to plot the growth of tumours, and Google are using it to mine data. And in Italy, they’re even using it to regulate the otherwise hot-blooded behaviour of their milk tanker drivers.

Great minds think alike, fools rarely differ Hans Beer-Pot, Dabridgecourt Belchier, 1618

The wildebeest, however, remain serenely unaware of all such ploys. All they know is that at a certain time of year the grass grows greener in the Mara than it does in the Serengeti, and that they’ve got to get their teeth into it as soon as possible. Never mind the crocodiles in the Grumeti River or the lions on the plains.

The migration is, however, a somewhat erratic instance of SI in action. It doesn’t run to schedule, and one-and-a-half a million wildebeest can take it into their heads to take off from the Serengeti at any time between the end of July and the beginning of November. As can the thousands of zebras and gazelles that head companionably along for the ride. Similarly, the wildebeest might thunder along in groups of up to twenty thousand at a time, or they might potter along in two’s and three’s. And then, at some point towards the end of October, the thought will arrive simultaneously in around one-and-a-half million brains that it’s time to head off back to Tanzania. And the crazy caravanserai will career off again.

© Sam Stogdale

A cyclical journey that covers some eight hundred kilometers, the great migration is the single largest movement of wildlife on earth and one of nature’s most awe-inspiring spectacles. It’s also one of its most muddled. Until 1969, for instance, there was no such thing as a migration, the wildebeest having remained stolidly stationary since the dawn of time. Nor do all wildebeest necessarily sing from the same hymn sheet. Sometimes they all set off, sometimes only some of them do. Sometimes they pull up short and mill about, and sometimes it seems as if they’re deliberately heading in opposing directions. And nor do all the wildebeest migrate: the blue (which is grey) does, and the black (which is brown) doesn’t. And just to confound it all, there are some blue wildebeest living in the Ngorongoro Crater that have chosen to throw a collective spanner in the SI-works by refusing to migrate despite the fact that they’re blue.

SI might be fickle, but it does deliver some very definite advantages. To protect against attack, for instance, SI prompts the wildebeest take it in turns to sleep at night. And to determine the proximity of danger, it has caused them to learn to listen to the pitch of the alarm calls emitted by other animals – particularly baboons – so as to gauge the degree of danger.

© Angama Mara

All of which begs the question, why if they’re so SI-smart don’t the wildebeest know that there are thousands of crocodiles waiting with their jaws cranked open in the Grumeti and Mara rivers? And why don’t they know, as surely we all do, that the grass is not always greener on the other side?

Need to know When: The migration typically begins in July in the Serengeti and returns from the Maasai Mara in October.

Where: The migration can be observed in the Serengeti National Park, which is Tanzania’s second-largest park after the Selous and supports the greatest concentration of plains game in Africa.

It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and an International Biosphere Reserve.

Alternatively it can be seen in Kenya’s Maasai Mara National Reserve, Kenya’s most visited protected area, which is technically an extension of the Serengeti National Park.

© Angama Mara

WHY I LOVE KENYA May-June 2018 31

exposed

The Maasai legend of the

Warthog

It’s a common sight on the savannah plains: a warthog drinking from a waterhole whilst kneeling on his front legs. The Maasai, who are great storytellers, have a legend to explain why this happens. And here it is...

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exposed

Only a mother...

M

any moons ago, when the earth was young and before Man had descended from the trees, Warthog decided to make himself a den. It was not just that he thought he would like a home, but also that he needed a place to run to when Lion was chasing him. Which was often.

After some days of looking around, Warthog came across an old termite mound. He was lucky: Aardvark had already burrowed deep into the earth beneath the mound in search of the fat juicy termites it contained. So now the majority of the work involved in making the den had been done. There was only one problem: the burrow had no door. And Warthog felt that he deserved one. So he created a broad, high, gracious doorway. And then he stood in it and watched the world go by.

Home sweet home

Pride comes before a fall, and one day, scrambling up out of his den, Warthog was amazed to find Lion waiting for him. Too late, Warthog realized the foolishness of building a den with an entrance wide enough for a lion to enter. He thought fast and, just as Lion bared his yellow teeth, he recalled an old trick that Jackal had bragged about having played on Lion. Pushing up his tusks until they appeared to be holding up the roof of his burrow, Warthog squared his broad back as if weighed down by the sheer weight of the earth above. ‘Help!’ he cried, ‘the roof of my den is caving in. Flee, oh mighty Lion before you are crushed alongside of me.’

Now Lion was no fool. And he knew all about the old Jackal trick. So… he ROARED so fiercely and for so long that Warthog, receiving the full blast of Lion’s hot breath, dropped to his knees and begged for mercy. Lion eyed him narrowly. ‘You’re a foolish creature,’ he said at length ‘but I will spare you.’ Considerably relieved, Warthog rose to his feet. ‘Not so fast,’ said Lion, ‘I have one condition.’

Warthog quivered. ‘Since I have decided not to feed on you,’ said Lion, ‘ you will show your humble gratitude by feeding on your knees for the rest of your born days.’ ‘Yes, mighty Lion,’ said Warthog. And he dropped hurriedly to his knees again. And there he has stayed, when eating, ever since.

Bad hair day

How true is the legend? Judge for yourself.

Warthogs feature high on the list of preferred lion prey. They kneel on their front knees to feed because they have short necks and relativity long legs. Thus they have adapted themselves so as to produce special kneepads. Warthogs can run up to 30 mph (48 km/h) and when pursued by lions they reverse into their dens and stand with their tusks sticking out of the entrance. Typically, warthogs choose abandoned aardvark mounds for their dens.

WHY I LOVE KENYA May-June 2018 33

tab title

On top of the world You’ve heard of boutique hotels? In Kenya we’ve cornered the market in boutique weddings. We excel in the unique, the unexplored, the unrivalled. Here, you can get married on top of a rock in the lee of Mount Kilimanjaro, or on the blue-green shores of Mount Marsabit’s Lake Paradise. You can make your vows amid the coral gardens of the Kenyan barrier reef, or sky-diving over spectacular Diani Beach. Proposals can be made whilst climbing Mount Kenya, and accepted while lying on a star bed in the magical conservancy of Loisaba.

You can invite hundreds of guests, or nobody at all.

Best of all, you can leave our wedding planners to be on top of the details. We can arrange everything from the celebrant to the cake… and from the license to the Maasai guard of honour.

Photo © Shaun Mousley

34 WHY I LOVE KENYA May-June 2018

portfolio

On the wings of love Honeymoons don’t get much more romantic than on Kenya’s sultry Swahili Coast. In Mombasa there are the winding streets of the old town to be explored, the treasures of the emporiums to be mined and the old dhow harbour to be explored. You can eat hot fried plantain crisps sprinkled with lime and chilli beneath the glowering pink walls of 17th century Fort Jesus. You can drink thick black Arabian coffee from tiny painted bowls, or eat charbroiled seafood fresh from the waves. There are coconut and lime cocktails to be drunk; and spicy street food to be indulged in. You can enjoy a fivecourse Swahili banquet aboard a statuesque sailing dhow. Or you can hire your own dhow and explore the mangrove swamps and hidden beaches of the liltingly lovely Indian Ocean coast. There’s only one problem: you’ll find it very difficult to leave.

Some people never do.

WHY I LOVE KENYA May-June 2018 35

focus on

Armchair

travelling Nairobi to Mombasa on the magical Madaraka Express

The Madaraka Express Š Kenya Railways

36 WHY I LOVE KENYA May-June 2018

spotlight on

It’s one of the epic train journeys in the world: Nairobi to Mombasa.

The original Lunatic Express leaving Nairobi Railway Station circa 1900 © Mills Publishing Ltd

When it was built in 1898, the so-called ‘Lunatic Express’ could take anything from 12 to 24 hours to reach Mombasa from Nairobi. It depended on the state of the track and the number of elephants on it. Such was the bone-shaking nature of the trip that passengers were advised to remove their false teeth. It was also customary to visit friends in other carriages by hauling yourself along the outside of the train wearing goggles, and to wear your oldest clothes. Thus enabling you to throw them out of the window as the train steamed into Nairobi.

The new Madaraka Express offers no such thrills. But it does promise superlative air-conditioned comfort and a journey time of four-and-a-half hours. What’s more, it turns your journey into the ultimate safari both in terms of game-viewing and historical context.

The new Nairobi Terminus © Kenya Railways

Today’s journey begins in Nairobi, East Africa’s most vibrant and cosmopolitan city. Yesterday’s journey began in a muddy campsite with a lion problem. Then, as you rattled out of Nairobi, you’d have been amazed at the sheer numbers of wildlife on the Athi Plains, which milled with giraffes, zebras and a mass of plains game. The rhinos, it is said, used to charge the train. Now, you’ll pull into the busy commercial hub of Athi River with not a rhino in sight.

Hurtling onwards at 120 kph, you’ll pass through thickly wooded hills, and past tiny villages where the children gather to wave at the fabulous new train. Stopping briefly at the tiny town of Emali, you’ll see dust devils dancing across the plains. And, if it’s clear, you’ll make out the great snow-topped Christmas pudding shape of Mount Kilimanjaro gleaming rose pink in the sun.

At Kibwezi there’ll be glimpses of green acacia groves and brightly clad women chattering as they wash their clothes in the river.

In the past, Kibwezi was a hunter’s outpost, famous for the vast hippo pods that jammed the brown waters of the river. It was also as the gateway to the Chyulu Hills the inspiration for Ernest Hemingway’s book ‘Green Hills of Africa.’

View from the Chyulu Hills © Campi ya Kanzi

WHY I LOVE KENYA May-June 2018 37

spotlight tab titleon

Tsavo East National Park

Mtito Andei © Kenya Railways

And now the scenery becomes majestic indeed because you’re riding through one of the world’s most famous national parks: Tsavo West, home to some of the largest elephant herds in the world. The earth is rust-red here. So are the elephants. Far away you’ll see the towering crags of a lilac-grey mountain range, closer to the railway the terracotta plains are dotted with huge baobab trees. Sweeping into Mtito Andei station, there’ll be a sudden urgent bustle of activity: this is where you disembark to explore the majesty of Tsavo. In times past, you might not have been so keen to leave the train: in 1896 this area was terrorized by the infamous Man-eaters of Tsavo, a pair of rogue lions, which devoured around 35 Indian railway workers before they were shot. At one point they even attacked the station causing the railway master to send a panic stricken message back up the line, ‘lions fighting with station!’ it read, ‘send immediate succour’.

38 WHY I LOVE KENYA May-June 2018

Pulling out of Mtito Andei, you’ll begin the long haul across the scorching Taru Desert, a wasteland of red dust and wait-a-bit thorns dotted with vast rocks upon which Tsavo’s famous mane-less lions still bask. And now, the train has acquired a new urgency: it’s going down hill: to the Indian Ocean. Rolling into Voi you’ll see the far off Taita Hills, a wonderland of cloud forests filled with epiphytic orchids and rare butterflies. Had you passed through here in 1914, you’d have found the train full of the soldiers of the Kings African Rifles flooding to the border to fight the First World War against the German colonial forces of Tanganyika. Voi was also the site of a famous plane crash – that of Denys Finch Hatton, the lover of Karen Blixen, author of ‘Out of Africa’. Today, Voi is the departure point for all safaris into the mighty Tsavo East National Park, whose elephant-patrolled savannah rolls all the way to the coast.

spotlight on

And now, as your safari nears its end, you’ll feel the kiss of the Indian Ocean on the breeze. The train rolls through vast coconut palm plantations, the character of the villages has changed, and that of the people too. This is Swahili land. Sweeping through the little stations of Miasenyi and Mariakani you’ll finally cross the railway bridge on to the island of Mombasa. Once known as the island of war on account of the many peoples that fought to control it – the Omani Arabs, the Portuguese, the British, the Zanzibari sultans – Mombasa offers a cultural extravaganza. There’s the 17th century Portuguese Fort Jesus, an enchanting old town, a wealth of Swahili heritage and a great crescent of silver beaches sweeping to north and south.

In just four-and-a-half hours you’ve moved from the champagne air of the highlands to the coral gardens of the coast. You’ve journeyed through wilderness, savannah and desert; you’ve witnessed a kaleidoscope of wildlife; and a pageant of gloriously coloured birds.

You’ve seen elephants on the march, smelt the acacia in bloom and you’ve waved to Maasai warriors.

Fort Jesus

But… you’ve never left your exceptionally comfortable seat in your air-conditioned carriage.

You’re the ultimate armchair traveller.

The award-winning Diani Beach © The Sands at Nomad

Book your trip today: Nairobi-Mombasa is only Ksh 1000 for Economy class or Kshs 3000 for First class.

Booking Options: MPESA: *639# Tel: 0709 388888 Email: contact@krc.co.ke

WHY I LOVE KENYA May-June 2018 39

wild action

Kenya, a hole in one for

golfers

Kenya’s golfing history is almost as colourful as its safari history.

Photo: Windsor Golf Hotel & Country Club

40 WHY I LOVE KENYA May-June 2018

In the 40 years that I’ve been playing golf, I have always thought Kenya’s unique appeal and wonderful courses should be attracting golfers from around the world.

It is a real pleasure in my life to see that vision finally being realised.

- David Jones, Kenya Open Champion and international golf architect

Muthaiga Golf Club

I

t was in the year 1906 that the idea for what is now Kenya’s most venerable course, the Royal Nairobi Golf Course, was conceived. It had a chaotic start in life: originally mistakenly located in a swamp, it was then relocated to an area so far from the centre of Nairobi that members complained that by the time they had cycled to it they were too tired to hit a ball.

The next site was infested by lions. Eventually the slopes of Nairobi hill were selected. However, because this land belonged to the Kenyan army, which was then known as the Kings African Rifles, it was decreed that play should be reserved for the recreational use of the officers. The ruling was ignored by everyone; including the great herds of zebras, eland, antelopes and giraffes that were partial to grazing on its lush green grass.

At this time Nairobi was little more than a shantytown: a desperate collection of ragged tents and rusty shacks grimly collected at the head of the newly arrived railway line. Known as the ‘Lunatic Express’ (because nobody was entirely sure why it had been built), this triumph of engineering had brought the railway up from Mombasa: and where it ended: Nairobi began. It was blessed with few buildings, no roads, no sewers and monstrous clouds of mosquitoes. And the game was so prolific that you could shoot your supper from your tent. Or meet your own end. The graveyard was full of simple wooden crosses reading ‘killed by lions’. No wonder, then, that construction of Nairobi’s first course was beset by buffalos, or that a leopard was shot on it in 1919 (whether in self defense or because it had got in the way of a shot is not recorded).

Leisure Lodge Beach & Golf Resort

Windsor Golf Hotel & Country Club

Thereafter, golf courses sprang into life all over Kenya. Most still exist and they’re as eclectic a selection as you’ll find anywhere on earth. Some rise from rolling hills green-quilted with tea, others float amid a sea of coffee plantations. Some lie on the shores of flamingo-fringed lakes, others cling to the flanks of dormant volcanoes. One, the now famous Sigona Golf Course, was built around an elephant watering hole. Another, built on the shores of the vast soda lake known as Magadi, is probably the hottest course on earth. The title of Africa’s only uphill course, however, goes to that built on the flanks of the massive extinct volcano known as Menengai. To the rest of the world, however, Kenya remained stubbornly un-golf-worthy - a place only of safaris, sun and sand. »

WHY I LOVE KENYA May-June 2018 41

wild action

Everything changed in 2009 when Kenya was voted the ‘Undiscovered Golf Destination of the Year’ by the International Golf Travel Writers Association. Fame spread as to the 42 charmingly diverse courses, and now everyone wanted to tee off from under the nose of a hippopotamus (Kenya’s golfing rules allow you to take a second shot if interrupted by a hippopotamus).

A year later, Kenya had been hailed as the ‘awakening giant’ of international golf tourism, and the concept of the golfing safari was born. A cavalcade of internationally acclaimed golf course designers arrived to install a number of truly revolutionary courses and, in their wake, came all the big names of golf. The Muthaiga Golf Club hosted the Masters Champions, Seve Ballesteros (1978), Ian Woosnam (1986) and Trevor Immelman (2000); while in 1969 Karen Country club served as the venue for a triangular match between Roberto de Vicenzo, Bert Yancey and Tony Jacklin. Kenya had scored a hole in one.

Sigona Golf Club

Great Rift Valley Lodge & Golf Resort

Since that time, a number of spectacular new championship courses have been built, ‘up country’ and on the coast and many of the original courses have been remodeled to bring them up to global standards. No courses in the world, however, can rival those of Kenya for their utterly spectacular scenery, their riots of flowering shrubs and their seemingly endless skies. Nor is it all about the visuals. Kenya enjoys a superb climate and, because she straddles the equator, there’s daylight from 6am to 6pm year-round.

Golf aside, Kenya promises off-the-green adventure in 56 national parks and a variety of scenery that veers from Indian Ocean coast to the ice-capped spires of Mount Kenya.

Vipingo Ridge - Baobab Course

Being able to play 18 holes on a world-class course and go and watch hippos on a beautiful lake or a pride of lions hunting in the late afternoon...Kenya is truly a magical destination for the discerning but adventurous golfer.

Chris Moody, 1988 European Masters Champion

42 WHY I LOVE KENYA May-June 2018

THE TOP TEN KENYAN COURSES The Kenyan clubs are also famous for the fact that they reciprocate with clubs all of the world, for their easy welcome, relaxed play, excellent clubhouses and the reasonable nature of their fees. There’s also the undeniable fact that golf widows are much more amenable to being abandoned in a land where there is such a wealth of activity, action and amazement.

Kenya scores the ultimate birdie, however, with the proficiency of her caddies, many of whom are professionals in their own right. Economic to hire, they’re generous with their advice and wry of humour. One golfer, amazed by the arrival of a bluerumped monkey to ruin his put asked of his caddy, ‘what’s that monkey called?’ ‘It’s a monkey,’ replied the caddy, ‘it doesn’t have a name.’

Fairmont Mount Kenya Safari Club

According to the golfing cognoscenti, (and specifically Jim McCann, Editor of Top 100 Golf Courses Magazine), the top ten 18-hole courses are - in no particular order - as follows: Vipingo Ridge Idyllically situated on the cliffs overlooking the Indian Ocean, this course was designed by David Jones and was the first in Africa to obtain PGA accreditation in 2016. Described as a marvel of engineering wherein the water gently cascades from its highest to its lowest point, this former sisal plantation has been transformed into a superlative resort with restaurants, bars, accommodation and more.

Muthaiga Golf Club Reputed to be the ‘prettiest course in East Africa’, this, established in 1913, is the Grande Dame of Kenya courses and hosts the Kenyan Open, a professional event held regularly since it became part of the European Challenge Tour in 1991.

Sigona Golf Club Picturesquely perched on the lip of the Great Rift Valley just outside Nairobi this course, once a wattle plantation, was designed by the accomplished English course designer, Tom Simpson and opened in 1938. Reputed to be ‘tough’ not least because it is six-and-a-half-thousand-feet above sea level.

Karen Country Club Established in 1937, this course occupies the former coffee plantation of Baroness Karen Blixen, whose memoir, ‘Out of Africa’ was made into the epic 1985 film of the same name. Renovated by David Jones, it offers a challenging and beautiful game.

Nyali Golf & Country Club Just north of Mombasa on the Indian Ocean coastline this course was established in 1940 and planted entirely with Polana grass from Mozambique. And it still is. Famous for its Madagascan flame trees, sea views and vervet monkeys.

Windsor Golf Hotel & Country Club Designed by the acclaimed Tom Macauley to championship standard and length, this course features forests and coffee plantations while the resort, just outside Nairobi, is a triumph in convincing you you’re NOT in Nairobi.

Limuru Country Club Close to Nairobi and beloved for its spectacular tree-lined fairways and rolling vistas of farmland and tea country, this course was established in 1940 and hosted the prestigious Africa Amateur Team Championship in 2015.

Great Rift Valley Lodge & Golf Resort Kenya’s most spectacular course, this magnificent course offers stunning views of the dormant volcano Mount Longonot and the storm-lashed waters of mesmeric Lake Naivasha. Designed by Tom Macauley, it caused its builder Thomas Fjastad great stress due to the fascination it exercised over the local buffalos.

Leisure Lodge Beach & Golf Resort A cliff top course with stunning views over the Indian Ocean this course allows you to get from the 18th hole to the beach in minutes. And what a beach it is. Situated on Kenya’s most famous beach, Diani, Leisure Lodge has it all.

Royal Nairobi Golf Club In the heart of East Africa’s most vibrant capital, easily reached from all the downtown hotels, this is Kenya’s most venerable and venerated course.

WHY I LOVE KENYA May-June 2018 43

kenya tourism board

The Magical Kenya

Eco Safari Kenya’s reputation as a safari destination is world-famous. The concept of the safari was born in Kenya at the start of the 1900s. At that time hunters flocked from America and Europe to bag the ‘big five’. A century later tourists flock from as far away as China and India to snap the ‘big five’.

But Kenya is much more than a tourist destination – it’s a trailblazer in eco tourism and wildlife conservation. So if your choice of holiday destination depends on its eco-credentials, Kenya’s going to tick all your eco-boxes.

Choosing a hotel or a lodge? Consult the Eco-tourism Society of Kenya and they’ll give you an immediate read-out on the chosen hotel’s eco performance. And, because Kenyans are renowned ‘early adopters’, you’ll find an enlightening range of recycling innovations such as the creation of cooking gas from food waste, the transformation of plastic bottles into building bricks, the creation of wetland purification plants, and the wholesale adoption of solar and wind power.

You’ll also be amazed to know that Kenya is about to become the eighth largest producer of geothermal power in the world – thanks to our ambitious harnessing of the vast and largely untapped reservoir of geothermal power that lies beneath the atmospheric Hells Gate National Park in the Great Rift Valley.

Visit our stunning Indian Ocean coastline and you find that all the plastic waste from the coastal hotels is collected by the local community, crushed and turned into building materials, jewellery, art, sculpture and much more. We’re so innovative that teams of eco-professionals give lectures all over the world.

Go into any shop in Kenya and you’ll immediately appreciate just how effective our recent ban on the use of plastic bags has been. There isn’t a plastic bag in sight. Instead, a whole new industry has grown up around producing recycled paper bags and traditionally woven baskets.

Visit one of the many craft markets that dot our capital city and you’ll find that our crafts people are extraordinarily ingenious. Our artisans make stylish handbags out of old bottle tops, contemporary sculptures out of melted down engines, life-sized elephants out of recycled car bodies, and a whole range of cheerfully coloured toys and accessories out of recycled discarded flip flops. We’re even constructing a sailing dhow out of recycled flip-flops.

44 WHY I LOVE KENYA May-June 2018

Elsewhere, used plastic is being given a new lease of life by being melted down and then used to make poles for construction and road signs. And women’s groups all over the country are working together to clean up the environment and generate income by composting organic waste, which they sell as an agricultural compound.

As for the plastic bottles that are currently causing such consternation globally, here in Kenya we already have a project in place that ensures that 70% of plastic bottles are recycled. We have also established a recycling plant that turns used plastic bags from dumpsites into fuels, which is then sold to hotels, factories and other large business.

As for our safari destinations, quite apart from our world famous national parks, we now offer a range of conservancies where eco-sustainability is paramount. Here, the local communities work in close cooperation with the conservationists and tourist-income is translated into schools, health centres, wells and youth training facilities. On such conservancies, visitor numbers are limited in the interests of conserving the environment and protecting the interests of the wildlife. Local communities have also been drawn into the tourism sector in numerous innovative ways – some make honey and sell it to the hotels, others create high-quality accessories, which are exported to some of the most high-profile shops in the world.

So, if you’d like to KEEP IT GREEN, then come to Kenya where you can buy green, sleep green, drink green and…. Enjoy some of the world’s most enchantingly beautiful green spaces.

© Campi ya Kanzi / Silverless

© Sean Dundas Safaris

Campi ya Kanzi is a luxury ecotourism lodge in the beautiful Chyulu Hills. It is Gold Rated by the Ecotourism Society of Kenya, the aim of which is to promote responsible tourism practices that will conserve Kenya’s natural environment and improve the livelihoods of associated communities.

Kenya’s conservancies are managed as partnerships between the land owning communities and the private sector. Guests at camps and lodges around the country have the opportunity to engage in conservation and community projects.

© Greg Armfield

The Watamu Marine Association’s ‘Blue Team’ – comprised of local youth and women’s groups – carry out weekly beach clean-ups. After sorting, items are recycled with many converted into works of art.

‘Liter of Light’, a project developed by the non-profit ‘MyShelter Foundation’, provides light to poor households around the world with limited or no access to electricity by collecting plastic bottles, filling them with water and bleach, and sticking them into roofs.

The bleach-filled bottles then refract the light from outdoors into the house, lighting up much like a light bulb.

A non-profit organisation in Kenya called COVIT (Connecting Voices of Inspiration for a Better Tomorrow) is rolling out the project in Kibera, Nairobi’s largest informal settlement.

© Greg Armfield

To draw attention to the plastic waste problem, in Lamu the local community are building a fully functional dhow out of discarded plastic. The plastic is recycled and converted into ‘planks’ and flip-flops are used to decorate the exterior. www.theflipflopi.com

Kenya Tourism Board, Kenya Re Towers, Ragati Road, Nairobi. Tel: +254 20 2749126. Take a tour: www.magicalkenya.com

in close up

Nairobi portal to Africa

Easily the most cosmopolitan city in East Africa and arguably the most vibrant city in Africa, Nairobi has it all: a range of glittering shopping malls to rival Dubai counterpoised by an unrivalled range of cultural and handicraft markets.

Add to this a mesmeric range of restaurants spanning every possible cuisine and catering for every depth of pocket; and a dazzling array of bars ranging from the ultra-popular roadside gathering places where its standing room only most nights to glittering roof-top confections with panoramic views, cool art installations and hot jazz – and you’re only beginning to plumb the depths of modern Nairobi.

Nairobi is hot news. In recent years all the major hotel chains have stampeded into town with the urgency of gold prospectors. Nor do they snap up one site, but typically have a presence on Upper Hill – the heart of business, Westlands, the ‘new city centre’, and out at the airport. Whatever your preferred ‘brand’, you’ll find it in Nairobi.

Brands apart, Nairobi also showcases some fabulously eclectic accommodation choices, such as the historic Norfolk and Stanley Hotels and the impossibly lovely Hemingways.

A potent draw to investors, business re-locators, importers and exporters Nairobi revels in many titles: Gateway to Africa, the African Hub and Green City in the Sun. Originally, however, it was a campsite at the head of the so-called Lunatic Line – that majestic engineering

© Hemingways Nairobi

46 WHY I LOVE KENYA May-June 2018

feat known as the Uganda Railway. It was also, in 1900, famous for the number of lions that roamed its streets.

A chameleon of a city, Nairobi is in a constant state of change – new railways, new roads, new buildings, entire new residential districts spring into life seemingly overnight. Culturally too, the city is quick to adapt – once a citadel of traditional art and sculpture, today it has established itself as the beating heart of contemporary African art.

It’s a hotbed of musical and theatrical talent while collectors from New York, London and Paris rush to buy up the creations of its artistic ‘Young Turks.’ Meanwhile, Kenya’s fashion designers are the darlings of the runways of the world.

Reigning supreme as the safari capital of the world, Nairobi is also the only capital in the world to feature a national park just 15 minutes drive from the city centre. It even has its own mini-migration of the wildebeest; while the easiest way to spot a rhino is as you come in to land at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. Finally, the magnificent Nairobi National Museum is home to some of mankind’s most precious treasures – the bones of our earliest ancestors. »

A chameleon of a city, Nairobi is in a constant state of change – new railways, new roads, new buildings, entire new residential districts spring into life seemingly overnight.”

© Mövenpick Nairobi

Mövenpick Hotel & Residences in Nairobi is the latest global brand to grace the city’s skyline.

The Pinnacle will be the tallest building in Africa

WHY I LOVE KENYA May-June 2018 47

in close up

Cinnamon chested bee eater

Nairobi

out & about

Watch the birdie You might not have considered Nairobi as a bird watching destination.

But you’d be wrong. Kenya’s capital hosts a vibrant diversity of birds that are best seen on the Nature Kenya birdwalk. Guided tours set off at 8.30am every Wednesday from the Nairobi Museum, returning at 12:30pm: destination unknown. Nature Kenya—the East Africa Natural History Society (EANHS)—is Africa’s oldest environmental Society.

For more details: www.naturekenya.org

Mad about the boy

© Senckenberg Research Institute

Hug a tree To fully embrace the magical diversity of Kenya’s trees, without setting foot outside the city, head for the Arboretum. Spanning 30 hectares of woodland it is home to more than 350 species of indigenous and exotic plants as well as an assortment of butterflies and in excess of 200 bird species.

Further information: fona@naturekenya.org

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Meet Turkana Boy, he died 1.6 million years ago. His appearance has been reconstructed using sophisticated forensic methods by a team of scientists from the Senckenberg Research Institute in Frankfurt, Germany. His actual skeleton, the most complete early human skeleton ever found, lies in the bomb-proof vaults of Nairobi’s National Museum.

Thought to have been between 7 and 15years old, the boy’s remains were discovered in 1984 by Kamoya Kimeu, a member of a team led

by Richard Leakey, at Nariokotome near Lake Turkana in northern Kenya. It seems he had fallen face down in a shallow river delta and his diseased tooth suggests that he would have been suffering from severe toothache. Tall and slender, he is similar to the Maasai of today and his pelvic structure suggests that, like them, he would have been a fine runner – comparable to the greatest track athletics of today. Facially however, his forehead is lower, his brow ridges more pronounced and his chin much weaker than that of his descendants. To find out more about the boy, and about Kenya’s many other paleontological finds, visit the National Museum. For further information: www.museums.or.ke

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© Mark Boulton 2017

Giraffe kissing Just a few hours scenic drive outside Nairobi amid the glory of the Great Rift Valley is a step back in time. This is Elsamere, the former home of conservationists George and Joy Adamson, who brought up Elsa the lioness of ‘Born Free’ fame. There’s a small museum, some charming grounds, excellent bird watching and one of the best afternoon teas in Africa. There’s also the possibility of a kiss from Eric, the tame giraffe. Reservations must be made in advance: www.elsamere.com

Nairobi vignette It was about to rain. She was sitting on an upturned milk crate, leaning against a hedge: fast asleep. In front of her was another milk crate. Neatly laid out were a few sweets, a bunch of bananas and two cobs of sweet corn. It was one of Nairobi’s arterial roads and the traffic was heavy: cars, motorbikes, trucks and busses roared past. A motorbike swerved to a halt in front of the girl. The rider bent over her. A robbery? No. With infinite care he lifted the child from her arms. Tears rolled down its cheeks. He hoisted it onto his shoulder and with practised ease walked it up and down. The tears gave way to a smile. A woman stopped, cooed at the child and solemnly shook its hand. With a start, the young mother awoke and stared in amazement at the trio. The baby was laughing, so was the motorbike rider and the passer-by. A smile of great beauty lit the young mother’s face. The child was handed back, the man got on his motorbike and rode away and the passer-by resumed her walk. Nairobi had looked after her own.

WHY I LOVE KENYA May-June 2018 49

snapped tab title

Take away

...and give back

There are so many treasures to take away from Kenya: traditionally visitors have carried away wildlife carvings, masks, beadwork, baskets and such perennially useful items as traditional kangas and kikois – the colourful cotton wraps worn by both men and women. Increasingly, however, Kenyan accessories, such as handbags, jewellery and statement fashion pieces are appearing in the most high profile stores in the world. The best news of all is that by taking away Kenyan items you’re almost certain to be also giving back because the majority of our ‘finds’ are either made by community groups, who use the proceeds to enhance the lives of their families, or they are produced by conservationally-conscious concerns that donate a percentage of all profits to the conservation of our wildlife. It’s the retail equivalent of a win-win.

Bush Princess Handmade in Kenya by local artisans, many of them disadvantaged, Bush Princess accessories meld Parisian chic with Milanese structure – and then throw in a generous handful of Kenyan panache, colour and exuberance.

The end result is a practical fashion statement that promotes the Kenyan local community and will take you anywhere in the world. For more information: bushprincess.com

Join the

RedTribe The Maasai are famous for their beadwork, but RedTribe have taken beading to a whole new level. Their pieces are supremely evocative yet sublimely wearable. What’s more, by making one of these art pieces your own, you’ll be supporting a group of 20 Maasai women in the Loita Hills of southwest Kenya. Before RedTribe, it was all they could do to survive, after RedTribe, they’ve created their own school and revolutionized their way of life. For further information: redtribe.org

50 WHY I LOVE KENYA May-June 2018

© Stuart Boulton / Alamy Stock Photo

Where the rubber meets the road It’s the epitome of Maasai style. No self-respecting moran will be seen without a pair of ‘thousand milers’ on his feet. On sale in markets all over the country, but especially in Maasai land, these sandals are rough, tough and come with a guarantee of a thousand miles of wear. Which is hardly surprising since they’re made out of old tyres. Invest in a pair on your travels and you can instantly tap into two of the coolest fashion trends on the planet: vintage and recycled.

Conservation through jewellery The spectacularly armoured scaly anteater or pangolin is the most trafficked creature on earth. It is also one of the most critically endangered. All the more reason, then, to wear a pangolin inspired piece of jewellery.

Particularly because a percentage of all profits go to the Tikki Hywood Foundation, which is dedicated towards conserving the lesserknown endangered animals globally. For more information visit patrickmavros.com

Remembering Rhinos A celebration of rhinos, this enchanting coffee table book is the creation of Wildlife Photographers United, a collective of some of the world’s finest wildlife photographers, who have committed to dedicating all the profits from the book to the conservation of rhinos. Remembering Rhinos has so far raised more than £170,000 since launch in November 2017.

To buy the book or learn more about the series, please visit: www.rememberingwildlife.com

WHY I LOVE KENYA May-June 2018 51

kenya brief

Need to know For full information on Kenya visit www.magicalkenya.com

Climate The coast is always hot with an average daytime temperature of 27-31 degrees centigrade whilst the average daytime temperature in Nairobi is 21-26 degrees centigrade. Temperatures elsewhere depend on altitude. July and August mark the Kenyan winter. Typically, January-February is dry, March-May is wet, June-September is dry, OctoberDecember is wet.

Time GMT +3 all year-round. Kenya maintains an almost constant 12 hours of daylight, sun-up and sun-down being at around 6.30 and 18.45 daily, and varying only by 30 minutes during the year.

National Parks and Reserves Kenya has 56 national parks and reserves covering 44,359 sq km.

English (official), Kiswahili (national), multiple ethnic languages (Bantu, Cushitic and Nilotic language groups).

Historical sites

Entry

Kenya has over 400 historical sites ranging from paleolithic remains, 14th century slave trading settlements, Islamic ruins and the 16th century Portuguese Fort Jesus.

To enter Kenya, a valid passport, not expiring for at least six months, is required as well as a valid entry visa (obtainable on arrival for a fee of US$50 or online via evisa.go.ke)

Fauna

Health

There are 80 major animal species and around 1,137 species of birds. Spotting over 100 bird species in a day is not uncommon.

A number of vaccinations are recommended (check with your doctor in advance). A yellow fever vaccination certificate is required ONLY if you are arriving from an infected country.

Malaria is endemic in tropical Africa and protection against it is necessary.

Currency Kenya shilling. ATMs are available countrywide with 24-hour access. All major international cards are accepted.

Telephone International telephone code +254.

Electricity 220-240 volts, with standard 13-amp square three-pin plugs.

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Language

Travelling to Kenya Numerous international carriers serve Kenya, and Nairobi is the hub of the East African region. Kenya has two international airports: Jomo Kenyatta International Airport is half an hour’s drive from Nairobi’s city centre, and Mombasa’s Moi International Airport is even closer to the town centre. Taxis are readily available at both airports (officially regulated tariffs should be displayed).

industry’s private sector. Its mission is to provide a single voice for the industry, to enhance standards, role in destination marketing and was the driving force behind the Why I Love Kenya campaign.

Kenya Association of Tour Operators (KATO); Kenya Association of Travel Agents (KATA); Kenya Association of Air Operators (KAAO); Ecotourism Kenya (EK); Kenya Coast Tourism Association (KCTA) and the Pubs, Entertainment and Restaurants Association of Kenya (PERAK).

For more information visit: www.ktf.co.ke