Game Ranger in your Backpack

Its finally here after two years of blood and sweat! "Game Ranger" is an all-in-one interpretative guide to the wildlife of the Lowveld. Check out the link to learn more and to order your copy! Its a must have for every naturalist and nature lover!

http://briza.co.za/bookstore/product_info.php?products_id=283&osCsid=415eb4044e28f3544baa043ed5ad4b87

Babe at the Beach

I have enjoyed an unexpected little holiday at the sea recently. Having finished the training course in Tsavo, things were not finalised as to ‘where to next’ so I found myself hanging out on the most gorgeous beach south of Mombasa called Tiwi Beach at a rustic little resort called Maweni Cottages. Its like a mini Caribbean. Being on the equator, the water is so warm in the ocean that sometimes it doesn't really refresh you until you get out and allow the breeze to blow on you. It’s quite hot and humid on the coast but having a private beach is what it’s all about and everytime one feels soggy, off you trot for a dip in the turquoise ocean. Its heaven!

There is a shallow reef all the way along this stretch of coast so at high tide the waves aren't very big against the sand (they break further out where the reef starts) and it’s like swimming in a peaceful rock pool. When the tide is low one can pick through the reef on foot (I say pick coz there are tonnes of urchins) and explore the pools full of little rock-pool fishies (not an area of speciality!) and bristle stars and sea cucumbers and and and.... If you head north up the beach, there is a place the locals call 'starfish village' because there are hundreds of multi-coloured starfish that become beached at low tide. I went when the tide was coming in with a mask and swam out with a fisherman to see them. It was incredible. We also saw living corals with their polyps and clams and an anemone complete with clownfish 'Nemo'! I was completely exhausted after the swim because we had to go far out and you can hardly stand for the urchins! Good exercise after not doing much for a few weeks....plus the hike down the sand back to my cottage!

If you go south down the beach, one heads towards Diani Beach...a more renowned coastal destination but more built up. I went at low tide again, along the reef and the local ‘askari’ (guard) took me to a place they call the map of Africa (its prudent to take an 'askari' for safety when exploring further a field). It’s a deep pool in the reef that holds water when the tide is out shaped like the continent and complete with Madagascar pool! Next pool up is Australia which is bigger and has two caves over it but looks nothing like Australia! Go figure. Inside the caves (which are open in places to the sky and you can see the vegetation above you and the light plays on the walls...lovely) there is a colony of bats that roost on the highest parts of the walls coz when the tide comes in that’s the only place they can hide from it. The water over the years has shaped small pot holes in the ceiling and each little bat roosts in its own 'egg-cup'! They chatter while you explore and it’s like a scene from a story book!

The gardens at Maweni are beautiful. Everything is quite tropical and so there is greenery and flowers galore and the smell of frangipani wherever you walk. There was a team of gardeners at work in the gardens when I arrived (poor guys working in the heat!) and they only just had seemed to have made headway a week down the line due to the extent of the beds! Palm trees line the banks (the camp is raised above rocky cliffs) and there are a good few Baobabs too. There's a restaurant and a pool but I prefer the self catering option and the sea!

One can get fresh fish caught that morning from the fishermen. There is a small thatched 'banda' - shelter - near the edge of the living area and the locals are allowed to come up and sell their wares. It’s really cool that this is a private beach so you don't get harassed by locals to buy things all the time like in central Mombasa. I did however get offered seashells for purchase by a fisherman while I was swimming in the sea! Anyway, the locals sell everything you could wish for at the sea....fresh fish (filleted for you on request thank goodness), lobster, crab, prawns, calamari, oysters etc. And you see them collecting it so you know it’s fresh (and they don’t harvest in excess it appears, just what is needed which it super). Then there are some veggie sellers with tomatos, ginger, garlic, fruits and potatoes so the basics are covered and one doesn't ever need to go to town really (I picked up milk and the like on the way in as well as an emergency bikini! Who'd have thought!). The coconut milk mandasi's (like a sugarless doughnut) freshly baked are my best.

The first 3 nights I was at the beach were the best. Caroline, a Dutch girl who did the Ecotraining course I just instructed (www.ecotraining.co.za), had a few days to waste before she headed home. The 2 of us teamed up to find a place to stay and then enjoyed such a lovely holiday together - fresh food (she's a great cook!), pedicures and massages from Smugglers Rest, the on-beach local salon!, long swims and walks and lots of laughs. We were like two kids at Christmas. She swears she'll be back from Amsterdam ASAP again with everyone she knows...she's fallen in love with Africa!

I adopted 2 stray cats. The first showed up while Caroline was still with me and we couldn't resist her. She's pregnant and obviously hungry so each meal we'd dish her some fish or calamari or tuna...the life of a beach cat. She makes the most bizarre squeaking mews and is too sweet. She's little, black and white with a pink nose and green eyes. This morning 'Grizabella the Glamour Cat' (I saw cats when I was home last!) had brought a tabby friend along for milk! It’s nice to have the company. Grizabella has got to curling up on the chair beside me in the evenings. It took a few days for her to get so familiar. The other climbed onto my lap immediately begging for attention...a bit more forward!

My Kenyan experience has been a brilliant adventure all round but I am looking forward to heading home to family for Christmas after some more training in the Mara (back to Koiyaki Guiding School www.koiyaki.com soon). I have a new little dress I want to wear and a great tan to show off when I get back!