Save Nairobi National Park #SaveNNP

 In my 30 plus years of living in Kenya, I have never been this disappointed or devastated by our situation as a country.

We all have our passions, ​and​ our love for specific things​; the variety of these passions make a country dynamic and vibrant. A country's leadership, therefore,  is largely responsible to ensure that the​y nurture an environment that hears and seeks to address the voices of all of its citizenry. It is also the responsibility of leadership to protect everything within its borders!

In 1946 a community took a decision. They gave away their most valued asset - land - to the people of Kenya. This land was gazetted as the Nairobi National Park (NNP). It was to be a safe haven for wildlife, and endeavoured to provide a much needed wildlife corridor for migrating animals.

Over the years, the park grew in splendour. It became home to 100's of species of birds, flora and housed the ailing rhino populations of the country, amongst numerous other animals. The park had adjoined to it, the animal orphanage which catered to rescued/unwell animals. The first president of Kenya, Mzee Jomo Kenyatta declared the National Park a national treasure, a heritage that must be protected by law.

Over the years, visitors flocked and marveled at the bounty of nature within the park. Nairobi National Park was the ish! This was the place you could boast about to the world. Where else could you find a wildlife park (NOT A ZOO, mind you!) in the middle of  a city?! Till date the views and wildlife sightings in the park are unique and provide a thrill that cannot be found anywhere else.

Nairobi National Park was famous, rightly so, and for all the right reasons.

It was a privilege to visit the park. And, the funnest thing to do. I remember writing the best compositions in school when it was about the park. Friends and I would perpetually exchange stories of park visits. How we would envy anyone who got an extra chance to be at the park! It was a place full of adventure, strange insects, mischievous monkeys, playful cubs, and gorgeous scenery.

As an older visitor, the park was an eye opener. Science, art, and natural wonder all joined forces here. It was heaven on earth, and a place to go to for inner calm and a sense of peace. It was the best place on earth, not only for me, but for tourists, and fellow Kenyan family and friends.

Come the late 90's and early 2000's the park periphery started to change. The change was subtle, and everyone accepted the development on Mombasa road. The frequency with which you could see giraffe and zebra on the roads to the airport reduced, but there was still a charm and beauty to the landscape that was still visible from outside the park.

And then came the advent of the southern by-pass. A road that was a "necessity" in easing city congestion. The by-pass ran close to the existing boundaries of the park. For lovers of the park, this was the first blow. With the road came buildings, people, garbage dumps, traffic noise, and pollution. But, the road was in essence outside the park - encroaching, and often an eye-sore - but still, outside. The park survived.

There was of course more incidents of lion sightings outside the park, not because they hadn't ventured out before, but because everything was more open now. Sometimes, this was a good thing

​, ​people who hadn't seen wildlife had the opportunity to preen from their cars and be amazed by the frolicking animals. The flip side was that there was a growing number of incidents of human-wildlife conflict that led to the inhumane and completely unnecessary killing of Mohawk - a famous lion from the park - as he ventured on one of his day to day walks. Other lions too were killed for being their natural selves and wa​ndering about the plains outside the park. The park survived.

2016 - rumours arose of a railway route for the new, "modern" (a kind request to pay heed to the italics, and the sarcasm behind the italics), and blood sucking SGR project that would go through the National Park. The absurdity of it is hard to grasp even as I write this. Why would anyone in their right minds construct a railway through a National Park? The park was in danger.

2016- 2017 - rumours turned to real life nightmare. It turns out that there were actually people foolish enough to cut through the park to build a railway line that was already costing the country too much. In fact the railway is going to cost Kenyans for generations to come. Logic, sense, and responsibility took a nose dive. The banana republic theory surfaced. Put aside the other absurd things that were happening in the country (This write up is not about those other issues, although they do follow the pattern of a lack of logic, sense and responsibility), the way in which the SGR Phase 2 vs the Nairobi National Park was playing out was a succinct reflection of the state of the nation.

Kenya Railways, supported blatantly by the political elite, decided that they essentially had ownership of the park. They also decided that majority of Kenyans are foolish, and that they could get away with anything by hoodwinking the public. The sad reality as I type this out, was that it worked. We had Kenyans shouting out that the park had no value, that the SGR would serve the country, that perhaps real estate had more place in the city than a park.  I have never met more stupid reasoning in my entire existence. Not one of these theories were backed up by facts (especially since trying to fix a monetary value to quality of life is difficult). The leadership of the country - who swear to serve all Kenyans - went out publicly, declaring conservationists and people who loved the park stupid for opposing development within NNP. How mature! In fact - unlike me, who thinks the entire SGR is a waste of time, sense and all good things - the majority of people were simply saying that the SGR should be re-routed; that the other  route ​options  should be​ looked at, that the EISA should have facts and details on the impact and viability of all possible routes. What Kenyans got was a farce of an EISA: a hastily drafted document that was laughable. Thankfully, the official campaign team was able to tear down the fallacies of the document. They fought on our behalf and eventually obtained stay orders against the construction. Kenya Railways and its powerful government buddies slyly changed bills in parliament to override the stay order. The drama continued, and again, the campaign was able to have the courts reinstate a valid stay order.

For the time, the battle should have been won. But think again, this is, after all, a new Kenya (or is it an unchanged Kenya?) where impunity knows no bounds. In 2018, Kenya Railways, despite the valid court order, went ahead full force and started constructing the railway through the park!!!! Let that sink in. A corporate that is meant to serve Kenyans, disregarded the highest judicial office in the country, and went on to plunder a national, protected treasure.

The Kenya Railways had previously gone public stating categorically that they were completely capable of carrying out the works in the park with minimal destruction. They declared that they would paint the pillars in colours that would blend into the environment. You read that right - this was their grand solution to minimising damage to the natural beauty of the park. In the papers and on television, we heard that they would take care to complete the works early, and cause as little damage as possible. We should all be surprised then, that last week there were blasts in the park - blasts strong enough to shake the houses of the Emakoko lodge. If this is their way of minimising damage to the park - they need to grow new brains. Should I even mention the number of insects and smaller animals being affected, let alone the fact that they have cordoned off their illegal route, leaving little or no space for the animals to move across one region to another along the offensive fence they have put up? A few weeks ago, a buffalo was shot because it had chased a construction man - a man who shouldn't even have been in the park! KWS who have the mandate of protecting the park, have stationed people near the construction area to protect the construction workers. One wonders - who ordered them to protect the construction workers when in fact the workers shouldn't even be there? Why wasn't KWS arresting the workers for being in the park illegally? Below is a picture of the eye-sore that is now cutting right across the park - essentially splitting it into two! I did not have the heart to take more pictures, but there are many pictures on social media that show the intense damage to the park!

The equation has now changed from The Park Survived to Will the Park survive? And this is a severely dangerous change in dynamics.

Kenyans should be concerned at numerous levels. First - we are saying that protected land, gazetted land - whether it is a wildlife sanctuary or not, is not really protected - if a big corporate with ties to powerful people want some land, they will get it. Second, that the leaders of our country have no respect for the judiciary. This is an enormous fail - the judiciary offers the common man a chance to ensure that his rights, and the laws of the country are safeguarded. If our leaders cannot respect the judiciary, then we are far, far away from true independence. Third, if you are a minority, your concerns and your problems are not of any significance. Your issues will be converted to petty matters of race, popularity, and little nothings, and the minority voice will not be heard! Fourth, and perhaps the saddest of all, that our ideas of development are sadly misguided. The number of people who have displayed ignorance on development matters is shocking. There is a profound sense of hopelessness as I see people get excited about infrastructure projects but fail to see that the way in which these projects are carried out meet no standards and fall short of benchmarks world wide. Fifth - that we have devalued nature - Kenya today has a bagful of stories related to deforestation, land grab, cons in conservation, coal, logging... the list is endless. While I cannot say that there are no positive things happening in the world of nature, the stories of destruction are far more and currently outweigh the wins.

My Kenya was paradise on earth, filled with beautiful landscapes, animals and people. It was a country that had learnt to achieve balance with development and nature - in hindsight, the balance was probably unstable, tethering - but it was still there And now, it is just Kenya, a country that is fighting to breathe; a country that is choking from its greed. It has moved from a country that valued its heritage, its wildlife, and its people to one that is on the edge of suffocating in smoke, stupidity and politics.

How did we move from a wildlife haven to a country debating legalising game hunting? How did we move from nurturing our parks to plundering their resources because we are simply too lazy to find better ways?

While there are numerous things to debate, my primary concern for now, and in this article is the National Park. How do we stop this horror story from playing out? Already Kenya Railways is making demands to build a road inside the park - again an example of their incompetent planning and lack of foresight. Kenyans from all walks of life are waking up to the reality that the park is being targeted, perhaps eyed for its prime land - but when will we shout out loud to stop impunity? Even Kenyans who see little value from the park cannot justify the gross miscarriage of justice that is on going!

I say ENOUGH! NO MORE! I might not have the powers to fight the government, but I will not stop fighting for the park. I will visit the park! I will say no to development in the park! I will fight for the animals in that park, and I will fight for future generations of Kenyans, and tourists alike that they may see the wonder and beauty of a wildlife park in the city! I will fight for a part of Kenya that I have and will always love!

What will you do?

Australian Open 2018

Hello!

We are back!! Grand Slam time returns and I am one helluva an excited fan. 15th January cannot come fast enough.

The draws have been made and we are poised for some exciting games.

Best of all (and maybe most nerve wracking) is that Nole is back in play. Whoooooa!!!! As a fan I am ecstatic, yet partially anxious about how his first return-to-play grand-slam will go. But here is wishing him luck. I am hoping that he is as exciting on court as he was during yesterday's match against Thiem.

I am currently skimming through the AO website (https://ausopen.com) and the news briefs are stirring up my appetite for the games - Is Ostapenko going to have a magical tournament, how will Venus fair, how will the women's draw pan out?

I only have one question at the moment... how many hours left to Monday?

Seasons

The earth awakens - a splendour of rain

Laughing over a flowering plain,

Birds and bees cha-cha with flair,

As sweet perfumes waft the air,

Endless skies, azure and sublime,

Ephemeral nights and glittering stars,

Sun and moon habanera to rhyme

Of vibrant poetry in summer time

Hues of red, orange, and gold,

Carpet the earth in a mellow song,

Winds and leaf waltz along,

Content with memories new and old

Earth is draped in a blanket of white

The rivers and lakes a silver ice,

As winds of snow pirouette in delight,

A handsome quiet fills the night

On its path the cycle will roll,

Seasons come and seasons go

Some are dark and full of woe,

Some are happy and fill your soul

Be it bubbly spring or sprightly summer,

Autumn colour or winter wonder

Let the seasons warm your heart,

And paint your life - a magical art.

Pip and the Fern Festival - Part 1

Pip was bobbing up and down. He had waited for this day since the moment he had learnt to count till ten. And here it was - his big day. He was being allowed to join the others as they journeyed to the Fern Festival. Pip had dreamt of this day for so long he could hardly believe that he was not dreaming right now. 

"Pip! Pip! hurry up! or we'll miss the fireworks!" Pip snapped out of his thoughts, skipping after his best friend into the depths of the forest. Firework nights were extra special before the Fern Festival. It was most likely because the Ferntress was involved in making them. The lights were better, brighter, more real and more magical than the common place fireworks of other nights. As they approached the Fountain tree, more fairies joined them bubbling with excitement and speculating endlessly on the possibilities of what the festival would bring.

"Pip! Hurry up or well miss getting a good view," Pip had to hurry, taking off after Bennie and creating a hullabaloo as he bumped into the crowds, apologising quietly when he remembered to. Pip came to a majestic stop where a huge sand dune strategically sprouted providing a fantastic view of the Fountain Tree.

What a gorgeous tree it was. It was Ferntress's Castle too. The tree trunk was so wide that it took over 100 fairies to encircle it, and it was said that the roots went underground for miles and miles. There was even the story of naughty Silas who decided to dig into the ground and follow a root and never made his way back. The bark was brown - as brown as mud that has been soaked in fresh rain - and along its height were beautiful paintings of fairies, wands, birds, animals, and all things natural. Each painting was etched out in silver, gold and bronze. If you didn't pay close attention you could miss out on them as the lines glimmered in and out of the trunk as if they were alive, weaving in and around the bark telling a tale. Sometimes it would take days and days to see all the paintings and the younger ones had to wait till they could fly high before they could reach the top parts of the trunk.

The Fountain tree was said to be taller than Fensha the king of giants. But Pip and Bennie could now see its tip if they flew up into the sky. The most beautiful thing about the Fountain tree was its branches. Bunched in hundreds they formed a dense centre and flew out in magnificent angles, curves, and spheres. And then they dropped down like glistening rain, stopping in mid air with leaves that glimmered like emeralds but looked soft and light. Each branch had twigs of silver or bronze. Flowers big and small graced the branches - some white as the shining star, others yellow like the sun , and some pink like the Ferntress's cheeks. Pip thought red flowers were the prettiest. They were the ones hardest to reach. They were roses only more rose like than any other rose Pip had ever seen.

Bennie was more interested in the fruits. All the fruits on the fountain tree were golden. All golden and in any shape size and taste you wanted. You only had to say the name of the fruit you wanted and ask the tree for it. The fruit would gently fly into your hand and drop the most delicious fruit in your palms. Bennie had many a time asked the Ferntress how the tree never ran out of fruits, but Ferntress had merely smiled at him.

The first star had appeared in the darkening sky and the crowd hushed as they saw a little fairy dressed in a glimmering green gown, surrounded by splendour even grander than the tree, emerge from the trunk above the highest branch of the fountain tree. Ferntress seemed larger than the tree and yet how tiny she was! 

"Arise dear nymphs, your fairy brethren call to you. Dance the dance of ferns. that they may awaken and be filled with our magic. " Her lilting voice sounded into the night enthralling people far, far away with the call of the night. And all the fairy kindred took up the melody and sang the chorus like they did every year.

"The love of fairies, the love of nymphs

to bring ferns alive: Ferns awake, ferns protect"

And as they sung, the firework displays started. Pip and Bennie pointed in delight as a train of firefly designed lights enveloped the fountain tree in myriad of colours and spiralled into the night sky before reaching a crescendo and bursting down into the crowd as coloured candy for everyone. Then, there was the carriage firework that looked like a King's carriage, round and round it went and burst into a flames shaped as the Princess Riana with her Faithful Prince Saul next to her. The crowd cheered as they were entertained by more lights.

Pip and Bennie glided to the base of the fountain tree where a number of young fairy- gentlemen had gathered. Old man Brown was at the centre of the crowd dishing out instructions in his low quiet voice. "On the journey we expect complete obedience, no showing off with fancy tricks and no mischief." He looked pointedly at Bennie and said " No running off to steal fruits from orchards". He continued, "you will all listen to me and obey my instructions. Now go off and say your goodbyes. We will meet here in one hours time." 

Old man Brown frowned as he turned to Ferntress. This journey would be unlike any other he had been to. Old man Brown had been on so many journeys he couldn't remember the count. This was the first time the wind smelled dangerous though, and Old man Brown had considered cancelling the journey. He had consulted Ferntress over the possibility, and they had pondered over the matter for days before deciding that the journey must be made. Old man Brown sighed, he had hoped that he had fought his last battle but if what Ferntress said was true there was more work to be done.

A recap, Or redress of the US open

One of my few (and far between) regular readers reckoned my post on the finals of the US open finals was a bit boring. I spent about 10 seconds being offended before I realised it was true. 

The reasons for this boring post were many: The matches were a bit one sided and boring, the post was delayed and I had lost a lot of the zeal for writing about it already, and let's face it, since I couldn't catch all the action there wasn't as much I could say about the matches. 

Well, those are my lame excuses. But rare reader and I had a brief discussion on Nadal's clothing choice for the US open. Avid (Hopefully) reader's opinion: too pink, too girlie. Mine: totally Nadal and awesome! So, I decided to take his advice and write about it, and entertain at least two or three readers.

Speaking of clothing choices for the US open, I found many of the outfits prettttty drab. In fact, I doubt that even Chrissy could have come up with something about the grandness of choice here. 

I suspect that the fact that Stan wasn't around with his tasteless outfits decided it for the designers - they would accept the challenge on Stan the man's behalf.  😏😏😏

Here is the one design/colour I didn't like at all:

But there were some decent ones: Venus's outfit, Sharapova's outfit, Karolina Pliskova's (doesn't she look great in anything?), Wozniakis (very little seen outfit - could that be because she had an early exit?) and yes, Nadal's PINK one! 

I hope that the brands come up with something more stylish for the Australian open, don't you? 

US Open Champions

Okay, so I am a little late with this write up (like super late)... but such is life!

Now who didn't think Nadal would be the champion after watching his match on Friday? After loosing that first set, Rafa upped it a few (read many) notches and was almost unplayable. I don't think Kevin Anderson had a chance (Sorry Anderson fans). 

And his straight set, straight-froward victory on Sunday was a reflection of just how strong his game is this year - an appearance at 3 Grand slam finals, and winning two of them. Nadal has been on top form, and it really has been fantastic to watch. 

Anderson also made history. First grand slam semi final and one of the only handful of South African tennis players to make such an appearance (pre open era included). So, Kudos to him and congratulations. 

As predicted the women's game went Sloane Stephens way. But the match was, also as predicted, a bit of a let down, and rather one-sided. Nonetheless, we have one more player to make the ranks of potential grand slam winners - congratulations Sloane Stephens. What a mixed year it has been for women's champions: Serena, Ostapenko, Muguruza, and Stephens. And believe it or not Venus has been the runner up at 2 of these. I can't imagine how exciting 2018 will be!

Looking forward to Djo's return, and so much more... 

A new women's US Open Champ

Sloane Stephens beat Venus Williams 6-1, 0-6, 7-5 to make her debut at a grand slam final. She will be joined by Madison Keys who convincingly beat Coco Vandeweghe 6-1, 6-2. 

We are guaranteed, then, of a new women's US Open champion. This is a bit exciting, but could also mean that the final's will be a dull game filled with nerves. I will wait and watch. 

This morning, at 3:30 am I found myself wide awake. It was far too cold, but thanks to the commentary from the Guardian I was able to follow the entire game. I find that the guardian has some of the best blog coverage for live tennis action. I discovered them only a few years back and have never looked back. Moving onto the match. How topsy turvy were those two first sets? It really makes you wonder if it was nerves, or if the ladies were just sleepy! But the final set was fantastic. One twitter message said that this was Sloane's biggest win. I would agree - considering that she won to make it to a final, but I cannot forget the match she played against Serena where she won - I think any win over Serena can be considered the biggest win of a tennis career 😉

And then there was Coco Vandeweghe vs Madison Keys. I prefer calling it the Madison Keys vs Lady who didn't show up match. Madison was on top of this one from start to finish - as you can read from here. The match was surprisingly one sided, with Coco really struggling to do well with her service games. Is it just me, or do others also feel frustrated when a player beats the big names and then just fizzle out in the next game?

In other news, I am happy to find that there was a few other people who agreed with me that the commentating for the women's games has been a bit too biased, and frankly tedious.. for the games I watched, I tended to turn down the volume especially when they went on and an and on and on and on and on about the new American guard. Teehee.. I think we get it, the ladies are playing great....

That aside, can't wait for the men's semi finals!

All set for the semis

It is here - that long awaited/dreaded all American women's semis. It was an easy victory for both Keys and Coco. Damn it, Pliskova, I really wanted you to win! But moving on, so much has happened in such few hours: Pliskova has lost her no.1 ranking. Muguruza is now world no.1 for a second run. History is repeating itself, 15 years later, with the all-American semi finals.

Nadal was ruthless in his dismissal of Rublev. It was actually painful to see, and I hope Rublev finds motivation rather than despair as a consequence of the thrashing. There is no taking away the fact that the young Russian has great potential, though. There is, however, plenty of room for improvement - isn't there always?

And then we come to the Fed vs Del Potro game. Boy is the latter on fire. His win opens up a plethora of questions and possibilities on where the men's draw is heading. As it stands now there will be one player who will be a debutante finalist at a grand slam.

It will be interesting if Nadal and Venus win the open - two veterans back at their best!

Sadly, the timings of these matches means I might not catch a lot of the live action..

I still can't wait for all the matches.