Safari Notes

#Muguka and #Miraa are known to be detrimental and destructive to families, health and wellbeing. In #Kenya most of those who consume the two are #Muslims; and look at what it has done to them - it has kept them low economically and educationally. Children from families who chew the two drugs, very rarely go far in education. It's Muslims who are mainly to be found in poor places like: Kalolenis, Majengos, Bondenis etc. If it wasn't for many Muslims working in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries (where many were being paid well) and if it wasn't for millions of #Somalis migrating and living in Western countries (sending remittances), Muslims would have been even much poorer.  Then look too, at countries that have many people chewing muguka/miraa - they are some of the poorest and most fragmented - #Somalia, #Yemen and #Djibouti. The millions of Muslims in #Ethiopia are poor and uneducated mainly due to their families being dominated by #qat.  How can the laws or constitu...

In a normal, just world - any one who commits a crime has to face justice; who ever that person is and whatever that person's position is - who ever commits a crime has to be punished. But, we don't live in a normal, just world. The words 'crime', 'justice' and 'punishment' are used selectively. Especially by the one court that's supposed to serve all the world's people: the International Criminal Court . The ICC decides, hunts, convicts and punishes selectively. The court, so far, has meted out its so called justice - only on Africa . Whatever one might think; however hard one tries to look at it, there is no doubt that the ICC is selectively, unfairly and biasedly focused only on Africa and Africans. Cases in point: leaders in Sudan and Kenya are indicted by the ICC and yet those in Sri Lanka, where similar or worst crimes happened, are not; Joseph Kony is wanted and hunted by the ICC and yet the Burmese Buddhist monk, Ashin Wirathu - wh...

Two events happened in the ’70s that turned scores of politically-connected Kenyans into instant millionaires and sharply increased the country’s foreign exchange reserves. They both involved coffee.

Not In My Country   Of all places, no where else is corruption as abhorrent as when it happens in institutions of learning and education. Any one who knows the workings of East African secondary and high schools, colleges and universities - would most likely know, too, how corrupt those working in them can be. Headmasters, principals and heads of colleges and universities are known to take bribes or ask for other forms of favours which can be: financial, material or even sexual. Many know how some one was admitted in a certain educational institution because he/she gave bribes or provided some form of favour  Many, too, know of favors being given to teachers or instructors or lecturers for the benefit of a student. I recall, years ago, while in a boys' boarding school of hundreds of students - there was this fat matron who used certain of us sexually for her to give us some favour or extra stuff. She would either aggres...

Kenya is now abuzz with election talk. I love and very much appreciate what Google Africa Blog is doing for the Continent. Recently they up came with this : Next it’s Kenya’s turn, and March 4th 2013 will be a pivotal moment as Kenyan voters go to the polls to decide the country’s future. This will be Kenya’s first general election under the new constitution and following the post-election violence of 2007/8. Expectations are high both for a peaceful transition and a deepening of democracy under the new constitution. Voters are already turning to the internet for information: according to Google Zeitgeist, the IEBC (Independent Boundaries and Electoral Commission) was the top trending search in Kenya in 2012, and all the major candidates have a strong presence across the various social media outlets. We want to help empower Kenyans with accessible and useful information during the upcoming elections so we’re launching a number of initiatives to make it easy for voters to find...

In Africa, Kenya has one of the highest number of people having access to the Internet. It ranks third in the Continent on Internet usage. And the number is rising fast. Almost one-quarter of the population have access to the Internet now. According to the Communications Commission of Kenya : As at 30th June 2012, there were 7.7million Internet subscriptions up from 6.4 million subscriptions recorded in the previous quarter. This represents an increase of 19.2 percent during the quarter under review. Annual subscription rose by 81.7 percent in the FY 2011/12 recorded at 7.7million from 4.2 million subscriptions posted in the FY 2010/11. The mobile data/Internet subscriptions category contributed 98.9 percent of the total subscriptions .

Virtual Kenya In particular - for students and educators, Virtual Kenya is a gift and a must. All you need is a good Internet connection and off you start. For those who need to know more on Kenya, few tools are as good and as easily accessible as this. The faster the Internet connection the more you will find the site useful and the more you will get from it. Virtual Kenya is an online interactive platform, with related materials (in DVD) for those with no access to the Internet. It is designed to provide improved access to high quality spatial data and cutting-edge mapping technology to allow more Kenyans to use and interact with spatial data in their educational and professional pursuits . With the help of the best and the most efficient mapping engine and resource on earth, Google Earth , Virtual Kenya has a vast amount of information and learning resources: virtual tours, maps, images; download or upload data and much more. Better still, join Virtual Kenya's online ...

Ramah Nyang On Africa, few business news presenters are as persuasive and as absorbing to watch as CCTV Africa Live's Ramah Nyang. In fact, of all Africa Live's presenters and correspondents, he is the most articulate, with the best speech delivery and with the clearest presentation. And is the real unsung star of Africa Live. Business news can be very boring, but Nyang makes it interesting and informative. He does a great job in delivering commercial news and makes one watch. As young as he is, if he continues for long in the field of business news, Ramah Nyang - with his distinct style, with time and experience - will go far and undoubtedly rise and could be as dynamic and as internationally known and commanding as CNN's Richard Quest (the present real shining star of CNN) and the BBC's Aaron Heslehurst.

Obama son of Ja Kogelo Four years ago, when most thought that an African-American could never be allowed to be president of America, he did it. And, now, after the longest, most expensive and most bitter election in US history, Barack Hussein Obama has again, overwhelmingly, been allowed to continue residing in the White House. Against all odds: being raised by a single mother in different countries, loosing his mother and being raised by a grandmother and most of his life being surrounded by women; and having a Muslim background and a name such as he has, he has done it! The lesson learnt here is that nothing is impossible. If one is determined, if one is focused, if one is positive and if one works hard, one can achieve any thing. Especially in America. But not in Africa . Africa which is shackled in tribalism, nepotism, cronyism and favoritism. Africa which is being kept down and undeveloped by corruption, conflicts, wars and diseases. The only way one can...

Ecotact Ever heard of Ecotact ? Few companies or projects have captured my imagination as this Kenyan company. A company that is so ingenuous and creative that it has won world wide recognition and several international awards. Incredibly, very few Kenyans know or have ever heard of it. As they state on their site:

It is not how long we live that matters. It is what we do while living that does. For me, she has been the greatest Kenyan who ever lived. A philanthropist. A humanitarian. A politician. An activist. And one of the bravest and greatest campaigners the world has ever known. But, it is as one of the greatest environmentalist that the world has ever known that Wangari Maathai will always be known for and remembered for. That made her, worldwide, be so revered and so highly regarded like no other Kenyan. She was the first woman from the East and central African countries to have a doctorate. And the first African woman to have won the Nobel Peace Price.  Against poverty. Against injustice. For human rights. For women's rights. For peace. And above all, for the environment. She lived. She practiced. She did. And dedicated her life to. Bravely and courageously dedicated her life to. We will always fondly remember her and miss her as not only the greatest activist Kenya has ever know...

Lifestraw LifeStraw is a portable water filter, manufactured by a Swiss company: Vestergaard Frandsen - that removes all bacteria and parasites responsible for causing diseases, especially diarrhea. Many people in Africa have to boil water to kill harmful parasites and bacteria in the water. Which means burning charcoal or firewood; which means the cutting down of trees. A few months ago, Vestergaard Frandsen launched a project called Carbon for Water - to provide hundreds of thousands of their water filter to Western Kenya. Nearly 900,000 LifeStraw® Family water filters will be installed in almost all households in the Western Province of Kenya beginning on 26 April. The province-wide, door-to-door, free distribution program will last almost six weeks and reach about 90 percent of all homes without access to safe municipal water sources. It will provide point-of-use water filtration for Kenyan residents for at least 10 years and do so without any cost to local residents, gov...

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...

Endangered . There are only a few hundred of them left in the wild. Maybe six-hundred-and-seventy of them. In Kenya and Uganda; and probably - in Southern Sudan. Sixty percent of them are said to be in Kenya. About 70 of these, are at the non-profit, breathtaking  Soysambu Conservancy on the shores of Lake Elmenteita in the Great Rift Valley. The Rothschild’s giraffe fared the worst after Kenya’s Independence in 1963. Huge ranches in western Kenya around Soi were subdivided and sold, leaving the Rothschild’s giraffe with no habitat. The giraffe was endemic there. The Maasai giraffe covers a larger range south of the Equator, while the Reticulated giraffe is found in the drylands of the north. Both the Reticulated giraffe of northern Kenya and the Masaai giraffe of southern Kenya are facing challenges, too. Loss of habitat is widespread, hence the decline in their populations. Although giraffes have no competition for food resources with other browsers, (they can reach 20 f...

What a surprise! What a shock! The most talked and most researched slum in the world: Kibera , does not have a population of 1 million as always suggested and believed. In fact, Kibera does not have half of that many people; and not even a quarter of that. The 2009 Kenyan census puts Kibera’s population at only 170,070. A few quotes on what has been said about Kibera's incredible population census results: It is now official: Kibera is not the biggest slum in Africa. The 2009 Kenya Population and Housing Census shows that one of the world's most famous slums houses just 170,070 residents, not one million, as previously believed.......While many may dispute these figures, I find it highly unlikely that the margin of error in the census was so huge that the population of a settlement dropped dramatically to one-fifth of its previous estimate in just a few years - unless the drop can be explained by a natural disaster or epidemic.......The more likely scenario is that, in the...

Two adventuoruous wildlife phographers, Will and Matt Burrard-Lucas - during a visit to Kenya's rennowned and very popular Masai Mara, spotted a very unsusual sight: a pink hippo. Pink hippos are very rare and have reportedly been seen on only a handful of occasions, in Uganda. From Will and Matt's blog: We have just returned from a trip to the Masai Mara in Kenya where we were photographing the annual wildebeest migration. After a rather uneventful morning, we stopped on the banks of the Mara River for a picnic breakfast. It was then that we came across a truly exceptional individual… just as we started to tuck into our breakfast, we looked up and gawked, open-mouthed, as a pink hippopotamus emerged from the river! Hippos are usually dark brown in colour, so this individual was very conspicuous! We dropped our breakfast and reached for our cameras. The hippo was clearly a young one since it was much smaller than the others in the group. It was also very shy and tended to...

For most Kenyans living outside the country with foreign citizenship, the just signed New Constitution is a great gift and relief; apart from being entitled to proper housing, free medication, and the right to food - Kenyans who have acquired citizenship in foreign countries would now qualify for dual citizenship! " The Bill of Rights in Chapter Four of the new Constitution and Chapter Three on Citizenship, became effective instantly after President Kibaki promulgated the new Constitution ." The New Constitution means: A person who is a citizen does not lose citizenship by reason only of acquiring the citizenship of another country. A person who as a result of acquiring the citizenship of another country ceased to be a Kenyan citizen is entitled, on application, to regain Kenyan citizenship. " Dual citizenship is good because it will enable Kenyans in the diaspora to enjoy the benefits of their country of residence while at the same time make their contribution in t...

Very few people know of or have ever heard of Kenya's pristine Matthews Mountain Range, also known as the Lenkiyio Hills. It is over 2,700m above sea level; is densely covered with forest; is one of the wildest parts of Kenya and has many, never known before species of plants and animals. But now, it is getting attention; an expedition - organized by the Northern Rangelands Trust and Namunyak Conservancy , is underway. It is funded by The Nature Conservancy and taking part too, in the expedition - are scientists from the National Museums of Kenya and the TNC: View Larger Map The Matthews Range of mountains rises from the arid brown plains of northern Kenya like a green tropical island; its peaks looming above the dusty haze blanketing the otherwise featureless landscape. The flat lands that surround it stretch for almost 100km in any direction, leaving the Matthews blissfully isolated. It has been this way for at least 10 millennia, the dry sea lapping against its shores -...

At a news conference after the G8 summit, Mr. Barack Obama said that when his father came to the United States in the the late 1950s, his home country of Kenya had an economy as large as that of South Korea - per capita. But today Kenya remains impoverished - with a GDP of about 21 billion dollars, and is politically unstable, while South Korea has become an economic powerhouse , with a GDP of about 900 billion dollars. “There had been some talk about the legacies of colonialism and other policies by wealthier nations, and without in any way diminishing that history, the point I made was that the South Korean government, working with the private sector and civil society, was able to create a set of institutions that provided transparency and accountability and efficiency that allowed for extraordinary economic progress, and that there was no reason why African countries could not do the same.” Having deep Kenyan roots and being much closer to Kenya than any to other African country, ...

"It is the people who must save the environment. It is the people who must make their leaders change. And we cannot be intimidated. So we must stand up for what we believe in." Wangari Maathai For any one who loves and cares for wildlife and the environment, the documentary: Taking Root - The Vision of Wangari Maathai is a must watch. TAKING ROOT: The Vision of Wangari Maathai tells the story of Kenya’s Green Belt Movement, a grassroots organization encouraging rural women and families to plant trees in community groups, and follows Maathai, the movement’s founder and the first environmentalist and African woman to win the Nobel Prize. Maathai discovered her life's work by reconnecting with the rural women with whom she had grown up. They told her they were walking long distances for firewood, and that clean water was scarce. The soil was disappearing from their fields and their children were suffering from malnutrition. “Well, why not plant trees?” she suggested. Maat...