Safari Notes

America's financial turmoil and economic mess is now spreading wide and fast across the Globe. The good side in all this is: as the US is the biggest consumer and wastes more, per capita, than any other country - less money in American hands and less spending by Americans, will affect not only America's production, but Western Europe's, Japan's, Korea's, India's and more importantly - China's. That would in turn mean - less trees and forests disappearing; less gas and oil used and hence less autos on the roads and less engines running - meaning less environmental damage; and it would mean that the World's resources will be a little less consumed. It also means that: while all along the US has been lecturing other countries on fiscal policies and disicipline, especially African countries, America, in the last few years, has had the least disicpline and very little financial ethics, in turn leading to its worse economic mess since the Great Depression. It ...

Uganda's oil wealth might later help in solving the country's serious energy shortage; the country is one of the least powered African Nations - with 95% of Ugandans having no access to electricity from the national grid. For now, if Uganda is to continue growing and attracting investors, it needs to very much increase its power supply to satisfy its electricity demands which is estimated to be growing at the rate of 7–8% per annum; and with affordable and regular power supply, that growth will jump up even more : Our population is about 30 million so if you divide one figure by the other, you will discover that as a Ugandan you are entitled to 10 Watts of installed capacity in terms of electric power. Is it little or a lot? Gentlemen, it is far too little! An Egyptian has got 250 Watts, a South African 1,100 Watts and a Swede 15,000 Watts. The Monitor The problem is: how does Uganda increase that power? Solar power , which is excellent, is too expensive for most Ugandans. ...

Very few people in sub-saharan Africa know of or have ever tasted the pomegranate. But, for ages it has  been used by Arabs, Persians and Indians. Around the Mediterranean region, it is one of the most common fruit and plant. Its juice is excellent and refreshing. Facts about the amazing pomegranate: it is one of the oldest fruits in existence, it can live for more than one hundred years, it is a rich source of a strong anti-oxidant known as punicalagins, which are thought to be responsible for the major health benefits of its juice which can keep platelets from clumping together to form dangerous blood clots; not to mention its cancer preventative effects. More on the pomegranate: crfg.org ,   National Geographic , Health Central , hort.purdue.edu , Health Castle , pomegranates.org , pomegranate-juice , CBS News , pomegranatehealth , Wikipedia , Knol Image: Treehugger

Virunga National Park contains within 790,000 hectares the greatest diversity of habitats of any park in Africa: from steppes, savannas and lava plains, swamps, lowland and montane forests to volcanoes and the unique giant herbs and snowfields of Rwenzori over 5,000m high. It is. Thousands of hippopotamuses lived in its rivers, its mountains are a critical area for the survival of mountain and lowland gorillas, and birds from Siberia overwinter there. UNEP More on Virunga: UNESCO , EoEarth , Wikipedia , WWF , NationalGeographic , AWF , 7Wonders , Books , YouTube Photo: NationalGeographic

Poor in natural resources, prone to drought and with little arable land, the Cape Verde islands are heavily dependent on food imports, sometimes in the form of aid. The former Portuguese colony comprises 10 islands and five islets, all but three of which are mountainous. Read more from the BBC's Country Profile More on Cape Verde: Wikipedia , FCO , unmassd.edu , stanford.edu , Frontier , Lonelyplanet , Infoplease , Worldtravelguide , Worldatlas , Books

As Uganda continues to make huge gains in its march to be one of the few countries in Africa to be 'blessed' with Oil, the focus now is on how Uganda can both benefit from oil and at the same time take care of its magical, natural wonders. The problem: most of the oil so far discovered in Uganda are in the very environmentally sensitive, Lake Albert region. View Larger Map Norway, one of the World's leading oil producers, is already warning Uganda on the dangers of not taking care of the environment. Uganda, can learn from Norway and take advice from it - not only on how Norway's oil has greatly benefited that country's people and made Norway one of the richest and best country to live in, on this Planet - but Uganda too, can learn from the Scandinavian country on how to produce oil, and yet be caring and gentle to the environment. How wonderful and beneficial it would be, if Uganda can emulate Norway and lead the way in Africa, and be exemplary, on how to both pro...

Retired American sprinter - Carl Lewis, one of the greatest athletes ever, is questioning Usain Bolt's incredible Beijing Olympics achievement: "..... for someone to run 10.03 one year and 9.69 the next, if you don't question that in a sport that has the reputation it has right now, you're a fool. Period." It has been a Jamaican love-in since Usain Bolt bestrode the Olympic Games and won a hat-trick of gold medals, but a voice from the past urged caution as the new sprint sensation was heralded as the king of Kingston. With Bolt in the throes of a national party after his homecoming this week, Carl Lewis said that his achievements are questionable. Times on Line Carl Lewis could be wrong; I very much hope so. But then, it's the same Carl Lewis who questioned Ben Johnson's wins way back in the late 1980s; but, as then - 1980s - Carl Lewis was losing to Ben Johnson, very few people could believe him. Carl Lewis was right. Then. Could he be right this time to...

Jacob Zuma was born on 12 April 1942 in Inkandla, KwaZulu-Natal Province. His father died at the end of World War II, after which his mother took up employment as a domestic worker in Durban. He spent his childhood moving between Zululand and the suburbs of Durban, and by age 15 took on odd jobs to supplement his mother?s income. Owing to his deprived childhood, Jacob Zuma did not receive any formal schooling. Heavily influenced by a trade unionist family member, he became involved in politics at an early age and joined the African National Congress in 1959. He became an active member of Umkhonto We Sizwe in 1962, following the banning of the ANC in 1960. While on his way out of the country in 1963, he was arrested with a group of 45 recruits near Zeerust in what was then the western Transvaal (now the Northern West Province). Convicted of conspiring to overthrow the government, he was sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment, which he served on Robben Island. After his release, Jac...

After a judge throwing out corruption charges against the ANC leader, Jacob Zuma, the way has been cleared and he will most likely be South Africa's next president . Judge Chris Nicholson's ruling included biting criticism of prosecutors and of political leaders all the way up to President Thabo Mbeki, saying there was reason to believe the decision to charge Zuma was politically motivated . Read more here .

It is the first American presidential election that has a black, biracial American - Barack Obama - contending for the top seat; and if elected - John McCain, at 72, would be the oldest American ever to ascend to the presidency. It's the first time ever too, that candidates for both parties were born outside the Continental United States. And right now, of all American presidential elections - this one, has aroused much more interest across the World than never before, and is keenly followed and watched by millions around the World. Watched and followed by millions of people around the World, because what happens in the US - has repercussions in most parts of the Globe; and: around the World - people are very interested in Obama and are waiting to see if Americans can actually go the distance and elect some one with his kind of back ground, to lead them. Both candidates claim they are fighting for 'change'. More so - Barack Obama, who most and best symbolizes it. If Obama ...

Okapis are found only in the tropical forests of northeastern Zaire. They prefer altitudes between 500 and 1,000 m, although they may venture above 1,000 m in the eastern montane rainforests. One sighting occurred at 1,450 m on Mt. Hoyo, in the upper Ituri. The range of the okapi is limited by high montane forests to the east, swamp forests below 500 m to the west, savannas of the Sahel/Soudan to the north, and open woodlands to the south. Okapis are most common in the Wamba and Epulu areas (Bodmer 1992). Read more>>>>> Animal Diversity More on the Okapi: National Geographic , Ultimate Ungulate , Danger Island , The Book , San Diego Zoo , African Conservation , Enchanted Learning , Wonderclub , BBC , Wikipedia

Great news: the elusive Okapi, discovered in the early 1900s - the last large animal to be discovered - has been photographed for the first time in the wild , by zoologists in Virunga National park, the Democratic Republic of Congo. The Virunga National Park - is on UNESCO's World Heritage List; it's near the Rwanda, Uganda borders. Below is a video of the Okapi from the National Geographic : A few facts about the Okapi: the Okapi is the only animal which can clean its ears with its tongue; the only place you can see the Okapi in the wild, is in the Democratic Republic of Congo. You can read more about this very rare animal from here , here and here.

Many have said how harmful genetically modified food is ; and much has been written on the dangers of modified food . And despite the poverty and there not being enough food in many African countries, Africa rejects genetically modified food mainly due to modified seeds, if allowed in, would contaminate domestic crops; which would in turn make Africa dependent on the companies that modified the seeds and which would make African farmers 'be caught in a vicious circle, increasingly dependent on a small number of giant multinationals'. As beneficial as the proponents of genetically modified food say the modified food is, many have pointed out that the harm and the dangers to health and the environment of genetically modified food, are too serious for Africa; as desperate and hungry as many Africans are, to allow and accept modified food - they say - would only endanger Africa more. From AFP : Genetically-modified crops face stiff opposition from green lobbyists and media in devel...

Kibera, the 2.5 square kilometers of densely populated Nairobi slum has some good things going: a group there has figured out a fast, efficient way to convert piles of trash into compost — and to convert areas that were once trash heaps into instant organic farms using just recycled PVC piping and other easily-accessible materials . Read more here about how the face of Kibera is beginning to change as fresh vegetables spring up where trash once lay rotting.