Innehållsförteckning för Issue 177 - Feb-March 2023 från Msafiri

DEAR READER Welcome to the latest issue of msafiri - Africa's leading inflight magazine. We've bounced into 2023 with a positive spring in our step, celebrating 46 years since we took to the skies, enhancing several routes on our global network and introducing two new ones. We're delighted to report that Kenya Airways is now operating a direct flight between Mombasa and Dubai, flying four times a week from Moi International Airport. With our existing Nairobi—Dubai service, the new route increases our total number of weekly flights to the UAE to 14. According to Kenya's Deputy President H.E. Rigathi Gachogua, “The launch of this flight marks yet another dynamic that will go a long way to sustain millions of jobs from the tourism sector in the coast region.” Also new…

01 HUMANS You could argue that we are the most important things Africa has given the world-the earliest known hominid fossils [of Australopithecus anamensis] are dated to 3.8 million years ago, and were discovered in Ethiopia. Scientists believe that it was the forerunner to A. afarensis [shown here], which is widely viewed as the ancestor of our genus, Homo. 02 Afrobeat Nigerian musician Fela Kuti is widely credited with establishing Afrobeat-a genre of music that originated in the 1960s from West African traditional musical styles including Fuji and Highlife, as well as American funk and jazz music. Kuti died in 1993, but his legacy beats on through the rhythms of new generations of Afro beat bands, like Kokoroko, shown here. 03 SAFARI The Swahili word safari means ‘journey’ or ‘to travel’. Usually associated…

Mapenzi ni kikohozi hayawezi kufichika (SWAHILI PROVERB) LOVE IS LIKE A COUGH THAT CANNOT BE HIDDEN 01 LONG-LASTING ROMANCE IS POSSIBLE When you love someone, the love flows for 365 days of the year [at least for the time you are committed to each other], not only during special events. You may not feel the warm, fuzzy ‘paragasha’ feeling towards your loved one every single day, but you both know when the love is there and when it is real. Sometimes, you can almost touch it or hear it. You therefore do not select a date or event to love them unconditionally and ignore them the next. In the same way, you need not wait for Valentine's Day or any other special occasion to express your love to your partner, if…

Q Tell us about your fascination with space When I was younger, I was interested in science, learning about how the world worked and objects in outer space. The only answer was to pursue aerospace engineering. I read space books, learnt the history of space exploration during the Cold War, and watched space documentaries. I even had a telescope to observe the stars and planets in the night sky. Q What was your big break in aerospace engineering? I've had the opportunity to work in the engineering department of one of the top airlines in the United States and the flight operations department for a commercial drone company. Both opportunities provided great experiences, as well as inspiratbn for when I founded my own company. I had the opportunity to go through the…

CUISINE What do you imagine the life of a chef to be? In a blog, Australian ‘steak maestro’ Chris Wade said one should be forgiven for picturing chefs as “sweaty, angry, tired, untrustworthy, uncivilised, not socially trained” types tucked into ornate kitchens in top hospitality outlets. Wade may have described the chef of a bygone era. Today's chef is more outgoing and will practise his or her craft in front of diners, thanks to the open-kitchen setup in many urban eateries. True, pressure exists in the kitchen to ensure every plate going out is perfect. According to Wade, “It's a passive-aggressive paradise… There is a constant stream of runners too scared to say anything except “Yes chef!” In Africa, that pressure to excel has produced another crop of chefs who…

ABOUT THE COMPETITION The Greatest Maasai Mara Photographer of the Year is an annual photographic competition designed to celebrate the Maasai Mara's year-round wildlife, supporting boots-on-theground conservation initiatives, while harnessing the passion and talent of the Mara's wildlife photographic community. The 2022 competition received well over 1000 entries, with 300 photographers from 30 countries participating by submitting images captured during their stays at 88 different lodges and camps across the Greater Maasai Mara. Every entry fee, in full, goes to one of the competition's conservation partners active in the Maasai Mara, This year over $15,000 was raised with proceeds shared between the Anne K Taylor Fund, the Maa Trust, the Mara Elephant Project, the Mara Conservancy, the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust and the Angama Foundation, which hosts the competition. KENYA AIRWAY'S…

Kenya Airways has introduced direct flights between Accra in Ghana and Dakar in Senegal KQ is the only carrier to provide this connection. The airline will fig a 145-seat Boeing 737-800 twice weekly from Nairobi to Accra and on to Dakar, with the return journey from Senegal to Kenya also stopping in Ghana's capital. This new leg offers customers more flight options and choices within West Africa and in and out of East Africa, as well as providing seamless connections through Nairobi to the Middle East, India, China, Europe and the US, The move means KQ now flies to Accra nine times a week and Dakar four times. Julius Thairu, chief commercial and customer officer at KQ, said: “Strategically, the bigger picture is to support the Single African Air Transport Market…

Kenya Airways and Royal Air Maroc (RAM) have reactivated their codeshare partnership, previously initiated in 2016 and discontinued in 2019. Under the new agreement KQ passengers will benefit from RoyaL Maroc's connections to Casablanca and Marrakech from Accra in Ghana — RAM flies three times a week between Casablanca and Accra — as well as from the possibilities offered by the Moroccan national carrier in terms of onward international travel RAM passengers wiLl be able to travel to Nairobi, Zanzibar and Johannesburg with Kenya Airways. Julius Thairu, KQ's chief commercial and customer officer, said: “We are very happy to see this partnership reactivated [because] it will provide our travellers with improved connectivity options between our two hubs, Nairobi and Casablanca. Our customers will be able to enjoy the financial centre…

FEB FANTASTIC BEASTS: THE SECRETS OF DUMBLEDORE FEB FANTASY Written by JK Rowling and directed by David Yates, Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore is the third outing in the Fantastic Beasts franchise, which serves as a prequel to the Harry Potter series. Starring Eddie Redmayne, Jude Law and Ezra Miller, the plot unfolds when Professor Albus Dumbledore discovers dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald is planning to take control of the wizarding world. Dumbledore tasks magizoologist Newt Scamander to guide a fearless team of wizards, witches and a muggle baker on a risky mission, where they meet old and new beasts and fight against the evil Grindelwald's voluminous followers. DID YOU KNOW? Minerva McGonagall couldn't have been a professor at Hogwarts during the events of this movie because it is set…

Our direct flights between Nairobi and Mahé take you straight to the heart of the Seychelles, with five flights a week every Monday, Tuesday Wednesday Friday and Saturday. Scattered over 1.3 million sq km of the Indian Ocean, the archipelago's 115 islands [including Praslin shown here] are renowned for their idyllic beach resorts, reef diving and tasty Creole cuisine-not to mention giant tortoises and the ‘prehistoric’ palm forests at the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Vallee de Mai. Around a third of the island nation's vast oceanic territory now has special protected status. Visit kenya-airways.com for the latest deals on flights to the Seychelles and our other Indian Ocean destinations, such as Mombasa, Mauritius and Madagascar.…

WELL SPOTTED STRETCH BY KUNAL D SHAH [KENYA] “Watching Nalangu kill an impala that afternoon was incredible. However, due to the size of the kill, it was impossible for her to carry it back for the little one. She walked to the usual hideaways and brought him out after about an hour of waiting. As she guided the cub to the kill, I realised we could get an amazing shot of her on her return, from the bottom of a river crossing. We quickly rushed to the bottom of the riverbed and waited. She not only walked by it, but she stretched and looked towards us.” CANON EOS R3 | 80OMM F5.6 1/1250S ISO 3200…

football is not only the beautiful game, but it also brings the world together. And nothing says it more than the FIFA World Cup. Booze was prohibited at the 2022 footie fiesta in Qatar. However, football is a drug that gives its addicts one helluva high and always leaves them asking for more, or nursing the mother of all hangovers. This means a return to normality can take a while, with withdrawal symptoms to boot. If your family lives were turned upside down during the World Cup, here are some ideas on how to get back to the real world. Your family witnessed sides of you they never knew existed. They saw you lose your religion and curse at the TV when a player missed a tap-in open-goal chance. They…

Maureen Nyagah • THRIVE BEAUTY AND SPA Maureen is an aesthetician and skin care specialist in Nairobi. After several years working for other firms, she decided to go it alone and opened her own practice in July 2021. Why go solo? If an organisation is not giving you the growth you need, spread your wings,” she explains. And she's convinced she made the right decision -especially when her clients’ faces beam with joy. However, clients need patience as there are no overnight miracles in beauty and skin care. “This journey requires we both walk together.” Maureen also has advice for anyone considering a career in the beauty industry: “Books tell you a business need s six months to one year fo r good results. But the streets will tell you…

Guess where… These colourful stone houses, overgrown with flowers, are, perhaps, a fitting tribute to the tragic past of this car-free tiny island, which sits off the coast of one of Africa's most important ports. Now a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a memorial to the dark days of the slave trade, the island is one of the earliest European settlements in West Africa. But in which of Kenya Airways’ destinations is it found? Hint: turning the page might give you a clue.…

Kenya Airways recently joined fellow SkyTeam member airlines Air France, KLM and Saudia for a tree planting and team building exercise. The sustainability-themed event - which took place in Nairobi National Park, in partnership with the Kenya Wildlife Service - was geared towards the airline alliance's commitment to working together to reduce air travel carbon emissions. Did you know KQ Cargo can carry live plants and animals? Trees: In a first for the airline, KQ Cargo recently transported some 11 tons of macadamia seedlings from Nairobi to support a farming project in Brazzauille, Congo. Horses: The airline also recently carried seueral horses from Johannesburg, South Africa, to Dakar, Senegal (see photo). KQ has tiuo regional Boeing 737-300 freighters, which seruice East, Central and West Africa, as well as two Dreamliners…

You have to take your loved one to Lamu. Sure, she can take herself, but it's different when you take her… assuming, of course, that she likes you. Because it's very possible that she can love you but not like you. Why Lamu? Because everybody I have met plans to visit Lamu, or is very curious about it. They append romance to it and their pupils dilate a little [if you move close to their face, which you shouldn't] when they tak about the dhows and the old narrow streets. Plus, who wouldn't want to visit a place with a name that goes with archipelago? Watch a woman walk through the doors of a great hotel room, how they wander around appraisingly, like then are in an orchid, softly running…

The African honeybee may be tiny, but it is an increasingly giant force in the drive towards self-reliance and sustainable conservation. It also forms part of a shift towards community self-help and away from dependence on charity interventions. In Africa, much of the success of wildlife conservation has long been tied to travel and tourism industry income. One of the lessons that the Covid-19 pandemic downturn highlighted was that this model was particularly vulnerable. The growth in apiculture is one potential solution to this over-reliance. Recent initiatives have engaged local beekeepers in sustainable farming which creates an ecofriendly alternative source of income, encourages community engagement and promotes environmental protection. This modest little insect is also contributing to a range of other hugely important developments in the country - as a…

1 THE MEMORY OF LOVE AMINATTA FORM Set in Sierra Leone in the early 2000s in the aftermath of a war that had long plagued the country, The Memory of Love flits between three men who are reconstructing their lives: Adrian Lock heart, a British psychologist who flees Freetown to escape a failing marriage; Elias Cole, a Sierra Leonean academic, whose recollections of the war frame much of the book; and Kai Mansaray, a surgeon who is mourning a lover who is lost to him. In time, the three men discover that they are linked to each other through a single woman. 2 COMING TO BIRTH MARJORIE OLUDHE MACGOYE An instant classic when it was first published, Coming to Birth is one of East Africa's most important novels. Both a…

On 16 December, Kenya Airways made its maiden non-stop flight to Dubai from Mombasa, on Kenya's coast. The flight from Moi International Airport marked the second hub ‘ Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta International Airport being the other from which KQ connects passengers directly to the UAE. The airline will fly four times a week overnight to Dubai from Mombasa, on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays; the return legs depart the UAE on the following respective mornings. The new route increases KQ's frequencies to Dubai to 14 times a week. The inaugural flight, operated by a Boeing 737-800, was flagged off by Kenya's Deputy President H.E. Rigathi Gachagua, in the presence of a number of other dignitaries. “Kenya's air transport has what it takes to drive the economy,” said Deputy President Gachagua.…

In response to growing demand KQ has upped the frequencies on eight of its routes. Flights to Paris and New York have gone daily [both up from five times per week}; the Johannesburg frequency has increased to 24 times a week [up from 21, with four flights a day on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays]; while the London route now operates double dailies [up from 12 flights per week]. Additionally, there are nine weekly flights to Madagascar [up from seven]; five flights a week to Comoros and Amsterdam [both up from four]; and four frequencies a week to Mayotte [up from three], KQ has also introduced the Dreamliner aircraft on its twiceweekly direct flight to Cape Town.…

Being a member of the Flying Blue frequent flyer programme allows you to earn reward Miles every time you fly with KO and our partner airlines. And what's more, it's free to join. You can redeem your Miles for flights, upgrade your seat, or pay for your accommodation or car rental Your Miles are valid for life as long as you take an eligible flight at least once every two years. The more you travel, the more Experience Points you receive - earning you greater numbers of Miles and benefits. FOR MORE INFORMATION, GO TO FLYINGBLUE.COM…