Safari Notes

Kenya Renewable Energy Of developing regions, Africa has had the highest percentage rise in investments in renewable energy; in sub-Saharan Africa, Kenya is leading the way. With electric power being unreliable and power bills rising, many Kenyans - of whom 25% use electricity - are turning to solar panels; both in urban and rural areas. Solar power is clean, very convenient and in the long run, cheaper to use. Many hotels, furnished apartments for rental and households around Nairobi, are opting for solar panels to heat up water; in rural areas, where most use the uneconomical and the very unhealthy kerosene lanterns, many are now turning to solar power; one Kenyan company - Solantern - is very much assisting in that. Kenya is already a leader of renewable energy with three quarters of the country's energy coming from hydro-power and a further 11percent coming from geothermal sources . When the Lake Turkana Wind Power plant is completed, it will be the largest of its kind i

On a scale not seen on the continent in nearly 60 years, famine is once again stalking Africa. Caused mainly by the severest droughts in years; and also by the effects of climate change , floods, mismanagement of land and food supplies, political instability, and regional conflicts. Nearly 11 million people are now affected and starving, mainly in Somalia; and also in: Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and even in Uganda - the land of plenty . BLOATED bellies with stick arms and legs; huge eyes staring out of skeletal heads; gaunt mothers trying to suckle babies on withered breasts. The world thought it might never see such scenes again. Famine in Africa, absent for many years, appeared to have gone the way of diseases for which we now have cures or vaccines. Yet, after the worst drought in 60 years, more than 10m people in the Horn of Africa need emergency food aid. Livestock have been annihilated. Hundreds of thousands of people are streaming into refugee camps in search of help. Malnutri

Snow Leopard Great, wonderful news this week: first - a good number of the very elusive, endangered snow leopard has been discovered, thriving, in, of all places: Afghanistan. The Wildlife Conservation Society has discovered a surprisingly healthy population of rare snow leopards living in the mountainous reaches of northeastern Afghanistan’s Wakhan Corridor, according to a new study. The discovery gives hope to the world’s most elusive big cat, which calls home to some of the world’s tallest mountains. Between 4,500 and 7,500 snow leopards remain in the wild scattered across a dozen countries in Central Asia . Read more here . The discovery was made using camera traps high up in the remote Afghan north-east mountains. As with most wild animals, the leopard's greatest danger is from man: mainly poachers. Long-legged Borneo Rainbow Toad Then, another more elating, wonderful news : a toad that was thought to be extinct and was last seen 87 years ago - and never photographe

Juba - click on map to enlarge The capital might be changed, but, today, Juba, is the capital city of the world's newest nation: South Sudan. The city, like the country, has to start from scratch: its infrastructure (systems for sanitation, utilities, land usage, housing and transportation), institutions and all the basics a city should have, are almost non-existent. With so many people - Sudanese and non-Sudanese - migrating to or entering the city from within South Sudan, from the North and from other countries, it is very hard to know the present real population of Juba. It could be half-a-million or one million or more; most of who are poor. Those planning, administering and managing Juba, on the White Nile, have a most daunting task. At the same time, with South Sudan awash in oil and the city being built from almost nothing , they can build the city into whatever they want it to be. Properly planned and managed, Juba can be a clean, organized and sustainable metropolis.