After Rupi Mangat had missed all three sightings of the elusive cheetah she had to console herself with pictures from the feisty chairperson of the Friends of Nairobi National Park – FoNNAP – Dr. Paula Kahumbu. This was during a camping safari in Nairobi national park which still has a good number of wildlife.

Later they moved on to the 6,000-acre wildlife haven; Lisa Ranch and Sanctuary which has wildebeest, giraffes, Grant’s and Tommies, elands plus a lot of other plains game. The ranch definitely rivers the Masai Mara and it also has lots of Kori bustards and other bird species.

One would be forgiven for thinking that they were doing a Masai Mara tour during a wildebeest migration. Or even in the Samburu national park renowned for its large number of svelte gerenuk which has been dabbed by many as the long-necked giraffe antelope. A herd of these beautiful creatures watch as they drive past on the rim of the hills of Waami which Mbithi Michael of the ranch describes as the “sleeping lady” because it looks like silhouette of a woman lying on her side with its spectacular views of the forest glades on either side. Michael in his early 30s, whose passion for the wildlife runs deep says they have been managing wildlife on the ranch since 1991. He practically knows every hill and brow in the ranch and he was only 10 years old when he first arrived on the land with his dogs and it was when he first spotted a cheetah.

He has since then never stopped looking out for the cheetahs in the ranch which has a very high concentration of the wild cats. It is not hard to see why these now rare cats are in high numbers – the plains are vast and there are plenty of Thompson’s gazelles and other wildlife for them to easily feast on.

Michael says that first gerenuks which were all females came to the ranch of their own accord. However, they were all females and so they had to ask for permission from the wildlife authorities to let them bring in 6 males from the Selankay conservancy near Amboseli in 1999 and are now numbering 40 in all.

He also says the lesser Kudu a type of antelope with spiral horns located 15kilometers away are about to get extinct if nothing is done to save them. They were enticed into the ranch in about the year 2000 when they were living in unprotected areas where they faced a lot of poaching for bush meat.

Wildlife have and are still faced with a number of threats. According to Michael the plains in the 1890s were teeming with wildlife most of which have now been decimated. There’s potential however to bring back most the wildlife like buffalo and topi which were once wiped out from the plains by rinderpest.

For your East Africa wildlife tours:

• Kenya wildlife safari
• Tanzania wildlife safari
• Uganda wildlife safaris

After fulfilling her 30 year old dream of climbing the Rwenzori Mountains in western Uganda, Beryl Park from Canada is not sure of accomplishing a similar feat in future. She needs not anyway. She is already a world record breaker.

The 78-year-old successfully reached Margherita Peak, 5,109 metres above sea level, on November 13, making her the first recorded — by the Guiness Book of World Records — advanced age female climber to successfully reach the highest peak of the Rwenzori.

Kenyan wildlife rangers shot dead two poachers suspected of killing two elephants in one of the country’s top national parks, a park official said Friday.

The pair, a Kenyan and Tanzanian, were gunned down Thursday near the Amboseli National Park in the south of the country as they prepared to shoot a herd of elephants.

“It is a group of poachers that we have been following up for the last three to four weeks. They were responsible for the death of two elephants about a month ago,” said George Osuri, the Amboseli park senior warden.

Kenya lost more than 200 elephants last year due to illegal trade in ivory driven by Asian and Middle Eastern demand for the tusks used in traditional medicines and for aphrodisiac potions.

Kenya camping safari | Uganda travel guide

Elisha Mayallah writes about his experience during a balloon safari in Tarangire national park.

On the eve of our balloon safari, we sat with the pilot at their base in the Tarangire National Park. The main topic of the conversation was, of course, ballooning – the new supreme safari experience with Adventures Aloft Tanzania Ltd.

We sat for the pre-flight briefing, which was done by the balloon pilot, Andrew Peart. “Ballooning is the safest form of flight and the fuel system is duplicated to prevent the burner failing,” he told us.

During his decade-long years of operation in Serengeti National Park and Maasai Mara in Kenya, Pilot Andrew proudly said he had safely flown more than 20,000 passengers.

The balloon flight lasts for one full hour and able to hold 16 people. After landing, there is a full breakfast menu with the pilot, at a table, which will have to be set up by the balloon cooks under a tree or on the open wilderness.

An early morning drive to the balloon launch site ‘airport’, the following day, signalled the start of yet another incredibly beautiful African day to explore its authenticity. African safari

On arrival we found the pilot supervising and his crew inflating the huge balloon. Slowly, the balloon stretched and swelled to full size, eventually heaving off the ground like an awakening giant.

Once upright, it pulled up the basket and the pilot invited us to take our seats. In the basket, we were told to hold the ropes attached to one side, before the pilot could release the balloon into freedom!

Rising with the early sun between acacias, the balloon huffed and puffed skyward as the ferocious flames from the gas burners blasted a gust of hot air into its hollow belly. The pilot allowed us to stand and dig the binoculars out of the cubbyhole – and enjoy the flight!

Passing grazing zebras
We floated into the vast Tarangire National Park passing grazing zebras, herds of elephants, and two warthogs lolloping awkwardly along. Grants gazelle fled the phantom image of the balloon. And, from air, the graceful gait of a giraffe family, stretching its neck even longer, resembled a patch of long-stemmed speckled flowers swaying in the breeze.

Our balloon had to go where the wind took it. And the winds at different heights blew varying directions, enabling the experienced pilot to choose our height and, hence direction.

We skimmed over hundreds of giant baobab trees (Adansonia digitata) and umbrella thorn acacias (Acacia tortilis) on our way to Tarangire River, a river flowing in the park acting as a dry season magnet for wildlife and lifeline. Tanzania tours

For over one hour, pilot Andrew poured forth an unending flow of information, anecdotes and witticisms. The dream was steadily ending as the pilot announced that we were preparing for landing. “Well unfortunately time flies when you are flying in the balloon,” he said.  Serengeti balloon safari

One by one, we reluctantly lowered ourselves down inside the basket. Soon the warm air was allowed to escape through a valve at the top, the balloon cooled and descended slowly while the breeze whispered past our ears. The flatness bulged into distinct plain grass as we clambered from the basket to find our breakfast, which included tea, coffee, boiled eggs with an assortment of pastries. African travel directory

It has been great balloon safari and we were later driven to continue with the rest of the day’s activities

Visit Africa for safari packages like gorilla tour where you will be offered the opportunity to do a Uganda gorilla trekking or gorilla trekking in Rwanda

World Environment Day (WED) falls each year on 5 June. It is a day when people focus on the environment and it is celebrated in over 100 countries. World Environment Day was established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1972 to mark the opening of the Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment.

The World Environment Day is created to promote environmental issues to become active agents of sustainable and equitable development. It promotes an understanding that communities are pivotal to changing attitudes towards environmental issues and advocates partnership that will ensure all nations and peoples enjoy a safer and more prosperous future. World Environment Day embodies this approach, raising awareness, encouraging people to voice their thoughts and do their utmost to improve the environment.

However, the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) selected the Rwandan capital of Kigali as the epicenter for this year’s festivities because of its environmental richness, including rare and economically important species such as the mountain gorillas (for more about mountain gorillas), as well as its pioneering transition to a ‘green’ economy. The theme of this year’s Day will be “Many Species. One Planet. One Future.”

“Rwanda is an African nation that, despite big challenges, is seizing the multiple opportunities possible from green economic policies,” said UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner.

Additionally, on February 18, 2010 Rwanda was chosen to play global host to celebrations for the 2010 World Environment Day which is observed annually on 5 June, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) announced. The announcement was made based on Rwanda’s combination of environmental richness, including rare and economically important species such as the mountain gorillas, allied to newly evolving and pioneering green policies is among the reasons why UNEP welcomed its offer to be the global 2010 host. For your Rwanda safari

Following the East African country, known as the “land of a thousand hills,” is turning to some innovative environmental strategies, such as a ban on plastic bags, ecological clean up campaigns, a conservation corridor for chimpanzees, and the development of renewable energies such as solar power and biogas generation, noted UNEP.

More so, “the pairing of Rwanda with World Environment Day in 2010 is thus a compelling and inspiring alliance, underlining that all economies, rich and poor and North and South, have real and tangible opportunities to shape a more sustainable development path,” stressed Mr. Steiner.

The director of  United Nation Environment programme added on and said this year’s celebrations are slated to be bigger than ever before, building on the unprecedented success of 2009 when people in more than 80 countries registered activities on the World Environment Day website and more than 10,000 people joined the “twitter for trees” campaign.

Since the World Environment Day can be celebrated in many ways, including street rallies, bicycles parades, green concerts, essay and poster competitions in schools, tree planting, recycling efforts, clean-up campaigns and much more. In many countries, this annual event is used to enhance political, social economic and environmental attention and action of the people.

In a related development, UNEP announced a series of green measures for October’s Commonwealth Games in Delhi, India, from boosting energy efficiency and air quality to expanding the city’s forests. ‘The Commonwealth Games, like the Olympic Games and the FIFA World Cup, represent an inordinate opportunity to pilot innovative ideas and transformational policies able to deliver a low-carbon, resource efficient green economy,” said Mr. Steiner.

“The potential positive impact for Delhi’s 14 million inhabitants is matched by the environmental awareness generated across the world,” he added. “UNEP is delighted to be working with the Commonwealth Games for the first time ever and look forward to a positive environmental legacy for the residents of this historic capital city.”

Therefore, this celebration will be too advantageous to the Tourism sector of the East African Region, and due to such celebrations one shouldn’t miss in life to visit Rwanda and be close to the natural beauty of the Land of Thousand Hills.

For more information on Rwanda gorilla trekking, such as 3 days gorilla safari or Rwanda cultural safaris visit the Rwanda mountain gorillas website.