Chikungunya
I say!
Been rather busy with blasted paperwork, recently. One doesn't anticipate high levels of bureaucracy in hush hush work, and of course one never sees James Bond filling out innumerable forms, but I can assure you, the need frequently arises.
Whilst other parts of the world are concerned about avian 'flu, we are bracing ourselves for the arrival of the chikungunya virus, which has now reached Mauritius. It is mosquito-borne, and naturally, during this extended wet season, there are many of those blighters around.
To lighten the mood, here are some more snaps. Thankyou for the comments received from my last posting. That snap was taken at Shella Beach, on Lamu island. Lamu town is two miles inland from the beach, and is a very appealing place, what with its mixture of African, Arab and Portuguese influences. The first snap shows one of the old buildings that abound in the town. Indeed, some of the architecture is suffering from neglect.
To get to Lamu from Malindi, one must cross the Tana River. The next snap shows how it is done - by rope! I say, when it came to our turn, Mrs M, as usual, pulled her weight.
The Tana's source is many miles inland and is fed by snow-melt from Mt Kenya. A few miles west of Mt Kenya is Nyeri, where the Hamilton Gordon brothers used to live in a magnificent house. This house has since become the Aberdare Country Club, and I must say - they put on an excellent luncheon, which one can enjoy whilst being entertained by the peacocks. The last time we were there, Mrs M and myself enjoyed a superb kudu steak.
The Country Club is where The Ark, a Treetops-style 'hotel' is run. Now - what an excellent place The Ark is! I fully recommend it, the next time you are in the area. We had a most enjoyable stay there. If one has not overdone the MGTs (which both Mrs M and myself avoided on this occasion) one can elect to be 'buzzed' by the resident hunter if anything of special interest visits the waterhole over which The Ark overlooks during the night. During our visit, the buzzer in our room went at 1am. We both put on our dressing gowns and walked to the viewing platform, half expecting the nocturnal visitor to be nothing more than a rhino (very nice in itself, but one has seen numerous rhinos). In the event, it turned out that a bongo had decided to visit the salt lick! The bongo is an extremely elusive animal, and everyone was frightfully excited. During the course of a year, perhaps four or five sightings are made, at the Ark. We were extremely fortunate, and celebrated in the required way.
MM III
Been rather busy with blasted paperwork, recently. One doesn't anticipate high levels of bureaucracy in hush hush work, and of course one never sees James Bond filling out innumerable forms, but I can assure you, the need frequently arises.
Whilst other parts of the world are concerned about avian 'flu, we are bracing ourselves for the arrival of the chikungunya virus, which has now reached Mauritius. It is mosquito-borne, and naturally, during this extended wet season, there are many of those blighters around.
To lighten the mood, here are some more snaps. Thankyou for the comments received from my last posting. That snap was taken at Shella Beach, on Lamu island. Lamu town is two miles inland from the beach, and is a very appealing place, what with its mixture of African, Arab and Portuguese influences. The first snap shows one of the old buildings that abound in the town. Indeed, some of the architecture is suffering from neglect.
To get to Lamu from Malindi, one must cross the Tana River. The next snap shows how it is done - by rope! I say, when it came to our turn, Mrs M, as usual, pulled her weight.
The Tana's source is many miles inland and is fed by snow-melt from Mt Kenya. A few miles west of Mt Kenya is Nyeri, where the Hamilton Gordon brothers used to live in a magnificent house. This house has since become the Aberdare Country Club, and I must say - they put on an excellent luncheon, which one can enjoy whilst being entertained by the peacocks. The last time we were there, Mrs M and myself enjoyed a superb kudu steak.
The Country Club is where The Ark, a Treetops-style 'hotel' is run. Now - what an excellent place The Ark is! I fully recommend it, the next time you are in the area. We had a most enjoyable stay there. If one has not overdone the MGTs (which both Mrs M and myself avoided on this occasion) one can elect to be 'buzzed' by the resident hunter if anything of special interest visits the waterhole over which The Ark overlooks during the night. During our visit, the buzzer in our room went at 1am. We both put on our dressing gowns and walked to the viewing platform, half expecting the nocturnal visitor to be nothing more than a rhino (very nice in itself, but one has seen numerous rhinos). In the event, it turned out that a bongo had decided to visit the salt lick! The bongo is an extremely elusive animal, and everyone was frightfully excited. During the course of a year, perhaps four or five sightings are made, at the Ark. We were extremely fortunate, and celebrated in the required way.
MM III
posted by zomba at 12:21 PM
9 Comments:
Mingin! You have outdone yourself again! The photies are brilliant as usual, especially the first one. It's straight out the movies! Interested to that there's an animal actually called the bongo. Is there one called the bongo bongo? And does it live in, yes, bongo bongo land? And is the bongo bongo even more elusive than the single bongo? Too many bongos in one sentence there! Hotboy
My dear chap. I had heard about people who work full-time. Now I can say I know one. Commiserations.
Superb sky in the ferry photo! How heavy is Mrs M?
Via google I found this site on the bongo:
http://www.awf.org/wildlives/63
What an fine and exotic-looking animal!
I know how bongos feel: "When in distress the bongo emits a bleat."
I say!
Yes, that's the bongo. No one was allowed to photograph the bongo at The Ark until everyone had had a chance to study it at length, as the hunter informed us it might take fright at the sound of a shutter clicking. By that time, I must say, I was rather pie-eyed. I did purchase a slide of the animal the following day from the hotel shop, but I do not own copyright on it and so should not post it.
There are only a few bongos left in the Mau highlands.
MM III
"I am afraid the war will end very soon now, but I suppose all good things come to an end sooner or later, so we musn't grumble."
Nelson?
Mingin! Is the war ending quote not from the boy in Apocalypse Now. That was the only movie I saw with Adolf. He felt sorry for the boy in the boat having to put up with young dudes. Ironic or what? Hotboy
I say!
Good tries, but neither Nelson, or the boy in Apocalypse Now is correct.
Have another go.
MM III
Those are incredible photos. I absolutely love the Country Club.
Thank you for bringing me into this part of the world.
I say my dear Howard, how kind of you to drop by and make such welcome comments. Are you by any chance related to the Muhlbergs of Mafeking?
MM III
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