A Volcano Erupts – Nyiragongo fury

Above: Nyiragongo erupting. Image by Ranjeet Mangat Published in The East African Nation media – 31 May 2021 “I was driving with my friend when we saw fire coming from Nyiragongo.” It’s Ranjeet Singha Mangat my 24-year-old relative on the phone from Goma recounting the ordeal since Nyiragongo erupted on Saturday night, 22 May, in […]

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A Great Time in Gisenyi

Above: Roundabout in Gisenyi. Copyrght Rupi Mangat Published: 21 September 2019 Gisenyi in western Rwanda is the other half of an urban landscape that includes Goma in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. So like Goma, Gisenyi is perched on the edge of the gas-filled Lake Kivu that is one of the African great lakes.

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Gone to Goma in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Above: CBD Goma. Copyright Rupi Mangat Published: 20 July 2019 Congo’s been my dream destination even before Nyiragongo erupted in 2002 and nearly wiped out the little town of Goma in eastern DRC that’s on the shores of Lake Kivu and neighbouring Rwanda. The country is gigantic and the second largest in Africa, the Congo […]

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At Kahuzi Biega in Search of the Endemic Grauer’s Gorilla in DR Congo

Above: Life-size statue of Grauer’s gorilla at Kahuzi-Biega National Park, DRC. Copyright Rupi Mangat Published: 13 July 2019 Part 2 of 2 While waiting for the great gorilla safari planned for the following day from Bukavu on the shores of Lake Kivu in the Albertine Rift, the taxi driver arrives for the chimpanzee sanctuary in […]

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Goma and Gisenyi: A Tale Of Two Cities

Above: Boy practising acrobatics by Lake Kivu in Gisenyi, Rwanda. Copyright Rupi Mangat Published: The East African Nation Media 26 June 2019 Goma and Gisenyi echo Charles Dickens’s novel, A Tale of Two Cities, based on a peaceful London and a Paris dogged by unrest before and after the French Revolution. Goma and Gisenyi share a […]

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Rendezvous with the Chimpanzees of Gombe

Above: A meeting of the elders – the chimps of Gombe National Park – from the Kasakela group  Copyright Rupi Mangat Click to watch the chimps of Gombe National Park Published in Saturday magazine Nation newspaper 2 December 2017 The night air is fading as we make our way to the secluded bay on Lake Tanganyika […]

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