Aruna: Avidly Adventurous!

10th May 2018 Unceasing, furious rain lashes the Kenyan countryside, there is no relief, no respite, villagers wait in vain for the downpour to stop so that life can resume, but what happens next is a tragedy of epic proportions. The river was in spate, water pushed hard against the dam, and finally it gave way, bringing down millions of liters of water upon the houses of hapless villagers, burying homes, people, life stock under up to ten feet of water. Kenyans and other residents all over Kenya remained mute, stunned spectators of Nature's fury. A Brazillian friend of mine, Larissa, called me up and asked me if I was interested in helping to collect material over a period of two weeks to distribute to the affected people. Posters were hurriedly made, social media messages were posted and shared across various forums and magically we were flooded with offers of help and dry goods, clothes, books, baby items and cash (which was directed to the Mpesa account especially made for th

The Tsavo Tale: Aruna's Story Of A Walk With Rangers And An Encounter With Poachers.                                                   Only Elephants Should Wear Ivory We see a different Africa, a luxurious one, ensconced in tents in five star resorts, devouring international cuisine and going on safaris in top of the line safari vans. And then, one day, I met Aruna Varsani, who had taken on the challenge of venturing into a different part of Africa, the one we had only heard about, felt sad about and seen pictures of…I was shaken  to the core when I heard Aruna’s Tsavo story and looked at her detailed pictures. I began by asking Aruna the motivation behind undertaking such a unique adventure. She candidly revealed that she wanted to come out of her comfort zone (very similar to the one I am currently wallowing in) and that she wanted to volunteer to do her bit towards elephants who are poached for ivory. She wanted to interact with the people on ground, th

My love for hiking started in 2015. People take baby steps up gentle hills, before they attempt  mountains, I took giant strides up Kilimanjaro, the highest peak in Africa and the highest free standing mountain in the world! This time, friends who hike regularly, put me in touch with a group of people who were interested in trekking too, and we began discussing climbing Rwenzori, which is the third highest peak in Africa. I had mixed feelings about this adventure because I had not trekked in a while and this particular trek would be the longest one that I would be undertaking till date and also involved travel to Kampala, in Uganda, from Kenya and from there by a small plane to Kasese. 19th February 2018: We flew from Nairobi, Kenya and an hour and a half later, we found ourselves in Kampala, Uganda, ready to board the tiny ten seater plane to Kasese, from where we would begin our hike up Rwenzori. Despite being aware of the weight restrictions, with all eight of us being of Indian o