On Sunday afternoon the Chyulu Hills recieved the first rain we’ve had in months. It was only 4.5mm but this afternoon’s rain was more than had fallen in the previous 12 months! Unfortunately it was not nearly enough to undo the damage done by what has been described as the worst drought in living memory but at least it is a start.
We had a beautiful and surreal view of this from the plains whilst we were out filming for a documentary being made on our Bloodhounds. It started as a big Cumulo Nimbus cloud built over the southern end of the Chyulu Range. The cloud started to flow off the hills and down to Oltiasika where we saw rain fall and thunder and lightning. This heavy storm created a massive dust storm as the strong wind blew off it. Below is a picture of the dust rising over 25 kilometers away.
The filming carried on as this dramatic scene escalated and before we knew it a dust cloud rolled across the plains off the hills and towards Amboseli NP moving at over 40 miles an hour.Below is a picture of it as it was about to obscure Kilimanjaro from view.
This was a spectacular sight and everyone was so awestruck watching it that before we knew it the cloud was upon us. Dust storms are a regular occurrence during the rains but this one was much larger than the norm.
Richard Bonham, Chairman and founder of MPT was up in his plane at the time and reported it reaching a high of 10,000 feet! Once the dust storm passed and we were safely back home we were treated to the most spectacular sky and shortly after this the rain started to fall. Let us hope that more rain come soon.
The MPT Team
Mar 15th Christopher M USD 17.25