Tag: Africa
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A Night on the Sacred Mountain
‘Maape!’. ‘Let’s go!’. Our Samburu guide, Lemaiyan, urged us to continue our climb after a long water break. The mid-morning heat had been turned up a notch, and our progress was slow. We zigzagged up the eastern slope of Mount Ololokwe, along a path well trodden by elephants and cattle. Stumbling under the weight of…
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Life and Death on the Mara River
Of the 1.5 million wildebeest that trek into the Masai Mara from the Serengeti each year, an average of 300,000 die, most while crossing the Mara River. While death at such a scale may seem senseless, it plays a vital role in the nourishment of the river ecosystem for years after the dust settles.
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A Night Under Canvas in the Mara Triangle
All around us the plains are black and smouldering. The absence of long grass reveals a scattering of bones, and the bottoms of shrubs have been charred by flames. Controlled fires stimulate growth before the dry season, when hundreds of thousands of wildebeest make their frenetic journey into the Mara from the Serengeti. We are…
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Camping Wild in the Aberdares
We followed a dusty two-track in the forested salient of the Aberdares. Thick patches of striking purple Vernonia shrubs bulged into the road, and twisted white tree trunks punctuated a sea of deep green on the hillsides. We rounded a bend, and a mud-coated buffalo lay in our path, unperturbed. A large male leopard suddenly…
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On Foot With Elephants in El Karama
The shrill cry of a buff-crested bustard jolts me out of a deep sleep. It rises to a crescendo, preventing me from drifting off again. My tent glows in the soft pre-dawn light, and beside me the Ewaso Nyiro River is swollen and fast-flowing. Barking baboons warn of a passing predator in the distance. It’s…
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The Telling of a Very Sad Story
I am going to take you to a different sort of place this week – to a book. But it is a book that will take you on a massive journey: up, down and right across the African continent. Not a safari-type book, however, with pretty pictures and travellers’ tales. No, it is Martin Meredith’s…
Going Places Africa 