Safari Notes

The wildebeests are back. " A dust storm of migrating wildebeests pounds through Zambia's Liuwa Plain National Park. Photographer Chris Johns calls the little-visited park a 'rival of the Serengeti.. .' is how the National Geographic magazine describes the sight in Zambia, back in 1997. Many may have heard of the Liuwa Plains , but very few tourists indeed, have been to the almost 3,700 square kilometers remote, vast national park - in Western Zambia. Though the plains has a variety of many birds and other animals, and a spectacular display of golden grassland - the biggest and most fascinating attraction is the awesome migration of wildebeests; blue wildebeests. Every year, running through November and December - the second largest wildebeest migration on earth of tens of thousands of wildebeests, cross over from Angola to Zambia. Only the wildebeest migration of the Masai Mara-Serengeti, offers a much more spectacular sight. Due to the long civil war in Angola, ma...

"We have set on a quest for true humanity, and somewhere on the distant horison we can see the glittering prize. Let us march forth with courage and determination, drawing strength from our common plight and brotherhood. In time we shall be in a position to bestow upon South Africa the greatest gift possible - a more human face" "The most potent weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed" "Being black is not a matter of pigmentation - being black is a reflection of a mental attitude" "Merely by describing yourself as black you have started on a road towards emancipation, you have committed yourself to fight against all forces that seek to use your blackness as a stamp that marks you out as a subservient being" "In time, we shall be in a position to bestow on South Africa the greatest possible gift - a more human face" "White South Africans must reckon with history for what it is and not for what they wis...

Red colobus monkeys (genus Procolobus or Piliocolobus) live along the equator in Africa. They come in many different colors in addition to the reddish black that gives them their name. They often have whitish or grayish faces and chests, with the deep red color appearing only on their back, crown of the head, paws, and tip of the tail. This color variety has made these monkeys difficult to classify, and there is considerable disagreement in their grouping. Red colobus monkeys have a head and body length of 17.7-26.4 in (45-67 cm), a tail length of 20.5-31.5 in (52-80 cm), and weigh 11.2-24.9 lb (5.1-11.3 kg). These monkeys have no thumb at all, lacking even the small vestigial thumb seen in black and white colobus monkeys. Red colobus monkeys are also arboreal. Most populations are found in rain forests , but they also inhabit savanna woodland, mangrove swamps, and floodplains. Red colobus monkeys also form stable groups, but the groups are much larger than those formed by black and...

Anyone who has watched Robert Mugabe this year, as the 84-year-old dictator of almost three decades railed against colonial phantoms while stealing an election, ruining the economy and starving his people, might be tempted to take Zimbabwe as the story of Africa. But if Mugabe is the most famous living example of an African tyrant, evidence of a very different Africa has never been far away. Botswana, which shares a border with Zimbabwe, has for decades been mainland Africa's brightest star, a country that has gone from dustbowl poverty to middle income status in a generation, where elections are peaceful, politicians retire voluntarily, civil society is vibrant and where natural resources (in Bostwana's case, diamonds) are not a curse or a spur to corruption and violent theft, but a blessing shared by all. On Monday, that achievement was recognized when the Mo Ibrahim Foundation awarded its annual good governance prize to Festus Mogae, who retired this year after two five-year...

Northern Mozambique. Quirimbas Archipelago. Deltas. Atolls. And about thirty-two islands. Thirty unspoiled islands that are a part of, and hug the coast of, Mozambique. Thirty islands with pristine coral reefs, abundant marine life and a fascinating cultural heritage . Thirty-two remote islands that, due to Mozambique's years of war for independence and thirty more years of civil war, have been kept isolated and very few tourists visit. Thirty-two pristine, unexplored, untouched, entirely beautiful tourist paradise; about half of which are uninhabited. Thirty-two islands with no roads or shops. As Bob Dylan said: I like to spend some time in Mozambique The sunny sky is aqua blue And from UNESCO : The Quirimbas Archipelago, a cultural and natural heritage in northern Mozambique, consists of 31 islands stretching south from Cape Delgado for approximately 200 miles. These islands, running along the coast, are partly linked to the coast by sand bars, coral reefs, mangroves and ...

Moshi. Means smoke in Kiswahili. Situated on the lower slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania, it must have been named so - due to the clouds and fog that surround the majestic mountain. Serene and with a stunning beautiful scenery surrounding the town of almost 200,000 people and a cool climate, Moshi is a great place to be in. Most visitors and tourists to the Kilimanjaro region in Tanzania, prefer staying in nearby Arusha and not the smaller Moshi; few even visit Moshi. They don't know what they are missing. Moshi's star attraction is the spectacular view of Mount Kilimanjaro, and many who trek to the top of the mountain, start their trip from the town. It's sad and unfortunate, that the ice on top of the highest mountain in Africa - is melting fast . The view of the mountain from Moshi, is not what it was twenty years ago; and certainly - furthest from what it was hundreds of years ago when the place was named Moshi . Those naming it never realized that, due to what wou...

Biofuels are produced from plants and plant-derived materials. They reduce carbon dioxide and other greenhouse-gas emissions when used to power engines, cars and other road vehicles. Can biofuels be the answer to a greener and more sustainable future for our Planet? Biofuels, if extracted from certain plants and in certain ways, can serve us very well; but for it to be produced from food plants such as: wheat, corn, oil palm, sugar cane, sugar beet and soy - would only bring more misery than good. Already, with the recent high rise in the price of oil and the use of food plants to produce biofuels, food prices, World wide, rose so high that many people across the Globe have been driven to hunger. And then there is the problem of more land and more water being required for the production of biofuels; which could lead to deforestation and be destructive to our water resources. To clean up our environment, is very important and to find alternative means to serve our energy needs, is neces...

Very rarely do mountain gorillas give birth to twins; that's why, we celebrate, the birth , a few days ago, of the twins at Uganda's Bwindi Forest. Bwindi is home to an estimated 340 mountain gorillas, around half the global population . What a great way to look forward to, to next year! To save one of humankind’s closest but critically endangered relatives , UNEP, so concerned about the dangers that Gorillas face - has deemed 2009 the Year of the Gorilla. Many experts are warning that without urgent action gorillas will become extinct in the wild within the next few decades and the Year, launched at the opening of a UN wildlife conference in Rome by Prince Albert II of Monaco, aims to boost protection of the great ape and its habitat by increasing the livelihoods and incomes of local people from managing their conservation . " It is time for us to pool all of our resources toward saving these magnificent creatures (and toward) ensuring a future for this close cousin of h...