Kenya Safari Packages To The Tana Delta North Of Malindi,Kenya

North out of Malindi ,the road to lamu sets off as a tarmac highway, crosses the Sabaki (Galana) River and passes one or two resort developments and the anachronistic little seaside town of MAMBRUI,with its pretty mosque, semi-ruined pillar tomb and the unusual spectacle of cows on the beach. The idyllic Kite Surfing base of the Che Shale is further up the coast on the south side of the Ras Ngomeni Peninsula. About 60km north of Malindi,you leave the shambas and scattered homesteads behind the enter the bush of the Tana Delta, with the road arrowing straight across the flat, gentle landscape ,brown and arid ,or grey-green and swampy, depending on the season.

The former ferry-crossing town of Garsen has been sidelined by the tarmac New Garsen Causeway, which sweeps over the TANA River 7km to the south of the flyblown town before petering out into a dirt track for the rest of route to Lamu.If you want to break your journey, Garsen has a KCB bank with an ATM and, in season, some of the best and cheapest mangoes in Kenya.

Between the river and the end of the trip, the scenery can pall, but if you’re on the bus, the journey is always enlivened by the other passengers and by stops at various small Tana Delta towns and villages. Occasional flashes of colour-the sky-blue cloaks of Orma herders or the red, black and white of shawled Somali women-break up the journey, along with wonderful birdlife and some big game, too: especially giraffe and antelope (notably waterbuck) , and even the odd elephant if you look hard enough. The road passes right through the recently created Kipini Sanctuary.

Tana River National Primate Reserve

Some 40km north of Garsen, straddling the Tana River, lies the Tana River National Primate Reserve, the 170-square kilometer refuge for two of Kenya’s rarest and most beautiful monkeys, the Tana River red colobus and the Tana Rever Mangabey.This is a remote area, with little in the way of supplies, so you’ll need to bring provisions with you.

If you’re driving here, the Baomo or Mchelelo tracks to the river are the ones to use, though the latter doesn’t seem to be signposted from the road. If you want to try to visit the reserve using public transport, you simply need to allow time for unforeseen delays and a fair amount of walking or canoe-poling. Buses heading for Garisssa occasionally stop in Mnazini village, just outside the southern end of the reserve.Otherwise; buses will drop you on the Garissa road, 6km to the west. If the district is flooded, a canoe ride from the road, following the mnazini track to the village itself, will take about an hour-local Pokomo boatmen will happily pole you for a small fee.

Mnazini is a fine, coastal-style village beneath mango trees. There no lodgings, but hotels will take you in for the night once you’ve cleared your stay with the sub-chief and the headman. The shops have basic provisions, but north of Mnazini there’s nothing in the way of food apart from a little fruit and garden vegetables.

Nobody in the area knows the Tana River Primate National Reserve by that name. Locals all refer to Mchelelo, the site of the primate research headquarters .The 12km walk to get there from Mnazini involves two river crossings, and a guide is essential to lead you through the bush and gallery forest. You enter the forest just after Kitere and reach the site of the former Baomo Lodge after 7km.At Mchelelo,there are two very basic self-service tents available to rent from KWS but essentially no other facilities.

Wildlife Tana Delta

Although little is laid on for the few visitors who come, you may well be given a detail of armed rangers on the anti-poaching force to accompany you as you walk the trails looking for red colobus and crested mangabey monkeys. Continued human encroachment on the forest, which is increasingly split into small intact zones, threatens both species, and the colobus very rarely leave trees, limiting them to whichever patch they find themselves in.

Your chances of seeing both kinds on monkey are good, and the other highlights of the reserve are mostly vian: the superb birdlife includes goliath heron,pels fishing owl, southern banded snake eagle and the exceedingly rare Tana river cisticola,not to mention vast numbers of palaearctic migrants in season .Mammals in the reserve ,apart from the rare primates, include blue monkeys,baboons,baboons,Grevys and Burchells zebra,oryx,lesser kudu, and even lions, giraffe  and buffalo. On the east side of the park you can see elephants, and theres also a small seasonal population of the endangered Hunters hartebeest, or hirola.If you’re interested in making a boat trip on the sluggish river, dodging the large numbers of hippos and crocodiles ,you’re likely to find local boatmen willing to take you.

Kipini & Around

If you have 4WD vehicle and a fair amount of patience, the trip to Lamu can be stretched over several days, with time to explore the fascinating region around the Tana Delta. This area includes the dune-shrouded coast and the small town of Kipini, with the Swahili ruins of Ungwana, Shaka and Mwana along the shore to the east, within a few kilometers. If you’re interested in exploring down here, try to see the warden of the museum at Fort Jesus for further information .These sites were partially excavated in 1970s and 1980s ,but have since largely returned to bush and jungle.Ungwana is the most impressive ,with an unusual mosque with two milrabs and strange tombs with cruciform markings.

As yet almost wholly untouched by tourism, a visit to the district around the fishing village of Kipini at the mouth of the Tana and the larger market centre of Witu,21km inland, repays the slight effort of getting here and finding somewhere to stay.Kipini was once the headquarters of Tana River District, before that title was shifted to Hola at the time of Independence.Nowadays,its former importance is evident only in a mixed population of Orma,Pokomo,Bajun ,Somali and Swahili ,who get by on fishing, small-scale farming and some herding.

To get to Kipini by public transport, leave the Lamu bus at Witu, where theres a connecting matatu to the village (most buses heading for Lamu or malindi pass through Witu during the morning) .Kipini  has no formal lodgings, but you should be able to stay with a local family for few hundred shillings. Village hotelis serve delicious dalasini cinnamon tea. Alternatively, you could stay in Witu itself (again, no formal lodgings) and rent a bicycle locally for getting around.

Kipini Wildlife & Botanical Conservancy

The Kipini Wildlife and Botanical Conservancy ; no fees, contact the conservancy in advance, northeast of Kipini is a former ranch-the Nairobi Cattle Ranch –that failed ,largely because of tsetse fly, and has now been reborn as a wildlife sanctuary. The people of the area, traditional hunter-gatherers, the Boni, are now mostly subsistence farmers. The conservancy is still in its infancy, but the intention is to create a viable natural resource, modeled on the former ranches of Likipia.As you’ll see if you stop off here, the area is full of wildlife, including elephants, giraffe, buffalo, lesser kudu, hirola, loins, and the odd dugong in the creeks and, they claim, hunting dogs.

Delta Dunes & the Lower Tana Delta Trust

Its possible to stay near the delta mouth at the highly appealing ,castaway-style Delta Dunes: closed  1 June –July 15,there are  tour packages  ,up on the bush-covered sand dunes near the ocean, with six bandas made from driftwood, mangrove poles and makuti.Stays include all meals and drinks ,boat trips, fishing ,game and bird walks and village visits.

Delta Dunes works with thirteen thousand local people-Orma herder’s andPokomo farmers-through the community’s Lower Tana Delta Trust, and a proportion of income from guests goes direct to community bank accounts. But despite progress at the micro level, the threats to the delta region seem to be accumulating: after the failure of a highly damaging irrigation and rice-growing project in 1990s, the latest disastrous idea is a gigantic bioufuel project, carpeting more than 200 square kilometers of bush and flood land with sugar-cane plantations for cheap ethanol. While the project would create employment ,its social and environmental costs have been deliberately underestimated by vested interests, and if it goes ahead it may have devastating consequences for the entire region(for more information, see www.tanariverdelta.org).The community is hopeful that delta can be put under international protection as a Ramsar Site –a wetlands area of global importance.

About the Author

Anthony Mmeri is the Editor and Tours Director at Wings Over Africa Safaris. 
This is a Tour & Travel  Company that specializes on Kenya Air & Road Safaris| Wildlife Safaris The Tana Delta, North of Malindi,Kenya. The website has guided thousands of travelers to achieve their dream holiday. For more information and guidance, visit the site at http:// / www.wingsoverafrica-aviation.com/index.php/flight-news.html

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