Safari Notes

This is excellent news: Plans to create the world's largest game park are being finalised at a meeting in Botswana in southern Africa. The planned conservation area will straddle the borders of Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe. It is hoped the park will bring in tourists to such attractions as the Victoria Falls, Okavango swamps, Chobe National Park and Caprivi Strip. The BBC The biggest attractions in the park will be: the Victoria Falls, Okavango swamps, Chobe National Park and Caprivi Strip . This wonder game park could not have been possible decades back, when 'a high security fence was erected in 1975 by the then apartheid regime in South Africa - that blocked an ancient elephant migration route between South Africa and Mozambique .' Now, the elephants and all the other animals within, will have not only their freedom of movement, but: will be ' citizens ' of the largest game park in the World.

Watch some interesting video clips of Idi Amin here: on YouTube . You might find some them interesting too.

Would you like to have a search box on your site? The most preferred is the Google search box, like this ; but the best and the one I prefer most is the: Google custom search box, which you can get here and customise to your liking and preference. After Google, I prefer the Clusty search ; Clusty is a favorite of mine. Or you can try Alltheweb , an excellent search engine too; or Ask.com , another superb search Engine. As for the Microsoft buffs, there is their new: Live Search Box . All of these search boxes are fast and most are customizable. And last, there is the easy to include in your website or blog: Blogbar . What I like about the Blogbar widget is that, it has search options for searching with all the major search engines and all the major blog search engines. Or: try the rather cool Technorati search box; it will allow visitors to search both your blog and other blogs. And how about adding a Translation box or button to your site? This helps those who don't understand

Kenya is fast losing its forests. Environmental organizations have warned that 'continued deforestation in Kenya will lead to severe consequences for the environment, affecting key production sectors if it proceeds at the current rate.' But is anybody listening? Without doubt, Kenya's rapid population growth rate, and most of all - poverty, are to blame for Kenya's widespread deforestation. Most people, being as poor as they are, cut trees as an alternative - to earn; the trees are turned in to charcoal or sold as timber. Pure greed is to blame, too; large tracts of land are being used for selfish economic gains. I wish more Kenyans, especially leaders, would heed Prof. Wangari Mathai's advice: Well most people know us as planters of trees. We started with planting of a tree in order to respond to the wood fuel crisis of the ‘80s, and the tree became both the symbol of what we were trying to do in healing the earth but also a symbol of what we can achieve because f

A few days ago, my wife returned from a two months family visit to Uganda. With malaria. She had a wonderful time with the family there, until the last week of her stay when malaria attacked. She was taking anti malaria tablets through out her stay, but still - she was not spared. She spent two days in hospital and could have lost her life; thanks to the family back there, who took very good care of her. She is still taking treatment for malaria but is almost fully recovered. I knew, in Uganda, malaria was dangerous, but I didn't know it was this dangerous. She says that, during her stay there - she knew of people dying or being very ill with malaria. The way she described and narrated about the ravages of malaria in Uganda, I now know that the greatest danger for any one visiting or traveling to Uganda is: malaria . Otherwise, Uganda is a country that is unparalleled in beauty and has the friendliest of people. Be it the flat green Northern regions, with rivers and streams at ev

Traditionally, Africans have always been most kind and caring to children. But as with most things in Africa, traditions have been corrupted and replaced with selfish greed and consumerism. It is now very common, all across Africa - to see or find children being used as labor; from construction to mines - more and more children are being used and exploited. Often in hazardous and unhealthy conditions; and often underpaid and many times - abused. Worse, many are being used as sex slaves . Can child labor be eliminated? Only by eliminating its main cause: poverty. And poverty can only be eliminated by leaders; caring and concerned leaders. Billions are wasted in wars. Billions too, are stolen from public coffers by unscrupulous 'leaders'. If only World leaders can spend as much time on issues related to children as they do spend on those related to wars and the destruction of others - our world would be a much better place to live in. As for the last G8 summit - I have to concur

For the last few days I have been, as many around the world, transfixed by the plight of the mother-calf duo whales who had become lost in the Sacramento river. I wanted to post some thing before about their ordeal, but I was so pained and worried about them, I couldn't write any thing. But, now, at last - they are free. Bruised and exhausted but FREE!!! All the world is a theater, and the two whales stuck on an international stage for the past several weeks had a happy ending. The mother-calf duo captured international attention as they became lost dozens of miles up the Sacramento River. Scientists, whale enthusiasts — and soon, anyone watching the evening news — were captivated by the whales’ inability to right themselves, and concerned by their inability to heal their wounds in the freshwater. Tuesday night, without fanfare or direct observation, the whales are believed to have slipped back into the Pacific. The episode shows that the natural world can provide lasting entertain