Safari Notes

Google ! The name itself sounds like from outer space or from another universe! Within a very short time indeed, the search Giant has not only taken the Internet world by storm, but the trading world too! To most people who know Google, it has not only become synonymous with the Internet - it is a way of life too! First, it was a simple Google search; then Google started rolling one after another of very subtle, very useful and superbly thought of services: Gmail, Google Earth, Google Homepage, Google Books , Blogger, News, Talk, Google Sitemaps, Orkut and now Google Base - to name just a few. Each so user friendly, and at the same time totally free - for any one any where on this planet with an Internet connection, to use. No discrimination or prejudice what so ever. Here in Yemen, most Internet users know Google as a search engine only, as most use it for searching, and do not know or have never heard of the other services; they become very surprised when told or shown, the other...

The hippopotamus, is a herbivorous mammal found in tropical Africa. It is said to be a relative of: camels, pigs and deer; I do not know how true that is. Recent studies say, they are related to whales. The hippo, lives a double life - staying in water during the day and rarely venturing out; and after sunset, the hippos file out to graze. Hippos, prefer to stay wet; wether it is mating, playing, fighting or giving birth - the hippo is wet. Much of their time is spent standing or swimming underwater, where they feed on aquatic plants; they must rise to breathe every five minutes or so. Hippos make a variety of sounds: grunts, growls, screams and other sounds, even under water - to communicate with each other. Sometimes hundreds of hippos will share the same territory of water during the day; but, they usually live in herds of about fifteen animals. The enormous hippopotamus, has short legs and a broad body with a tough gray or brown hide. The male stands about five feet high at t...

1968. I was about eleven years old then. I had, this very deadly, close call, with hippos. I was, then, living in central, Northern Uganda - fifty miles south of Lira. About seven miles from our home, there was a very large swamp, almost a lake - which was about two miles wide and stretched for miles and miles to lake Kyoga; the swamp, was full of papyrus reeds and water lilies; and hippos. A few kilometers further, on dry land - elephants and buffaloes could be found too. That was then, 1968; I understand most of the animals have gone deeper into the forests, now. I knew there were hippos in the swamp, but I had never seen a live hippo before, then; I had only seen the ones killed by the locals who liked hippo meat. The rains had just fallen heavily and for a longer period - causing the swamp to flood a large part of its banks. Everyone was talking at how easy it was to catch fish in the shallow banks, especially at nights. One of my maternal uncles joined in the fishing, at nig...

"Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body" G.M. Trevelyan "Education..has produced a vast population able to read but unable to distinguish what is worth reading" Sir Richard Steele I like reading; really love reading. I know, what I like reading is not what some one else might like. And with time, my reading menu - keeps changing too. Some of what I used to love reading years back, I now find disgusting! For instance: during my teens - my favorite novels were those by James Hadley Chase (ever heard of him!) and Harold Robins; Nick Carter, Sidney Sheldon and Jacqueline Sussan, came close by! Now, I find it impossible to even think that I used to read such books! And considering, while I was reading these 'books' I was reading Shakespeare and Penguin classics at times! But, well, I did read these books; one after the other! As I was doing extremely well in Literature in school, my teachers tried in vain to get me to stop reading these books ; but...

"Oh people! A great month has come over you; a blessed month... month in which God has made it compulsory upon you to fast by day, and voluntary to pray by night. Whoever draws nearer (to God) by performing any of the (optional) good deeds in (this month) shall receive the same reward as performing an obligatory deed at any other time... It is the month of patience, and the reward of patience is Heaven. It is the month of charity, and a month in which a believer's sustenance is increased..." (Ibn Khuzaymah) Ramadhan is gone! And the Eid festivities are almost over. Now the difficult part: to adjust to sleeping longer at nights and eating during the day; the body and mind, take time accepting that. Another eleven lunar months to the next Ramadhan; so far away and yet so near!