Safari Notes

Very few adventurers, if any, are comparable to this great scholar, traveler and explorer. Abu Abdullah Muhammad Ibn Battuta , the Moroccan of Berber descent, traveled and explored: North Africa, West Africa, Southern Europe and Eastern Europe in the West, to the Middle East, Indian subcontinent, Central Asia, Southeast Asia and on to China in the East. He was only twenty-one when he left Morocco to begin his incredible odyssey on 14th June 1325 ( 2nd Rajab 725 A.H ); and for nearly thirty years, he traveled about 75,000 miles ( 120,700 km. ), explored and wrote: he dictated his account of his adventurous journeys to Abu Inana Faris - the Ameer Al Mu'umineen who became Sultan of Morocco. The book: A Gift to Those Who Contemplate the Wonders of Cities and the Marvels of Travelling or simply known as Al Rihla , is one of the greatest, and most absorbing and fascinating travel books of all time. More On Battuta: ummah.net , saudiaramcoworld.com , fordham.edu , ucalgary.ca , the153c...

People of the forest : that's what indigenous Malaysians and Indonesians call Orangutans; in the past, the natives couldn't kill them because they believed that the apes were indeed humans. Indeed, these apes are very much like us humans:  they not only have the ability to reason and think , but this large, gentle red ape is one of our closest relatives, sharing 97% of the same DNA as humans . All the other great apes: gorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos, come from Africa, except the Orangutan. Mankind, as cruel and careless as we are, we keep them as pets; and through poaching and the destruction of these apes habitats, we are driving them to extinction in the wild. More On Orangutans: Orangutan com , IUCN , Orangutan.org , Orangutan Facts , enchantedlearning.com , orangutan.flevoland.to ,  Image: orang-utans.com

This is as sad and as bad as it can get. Not only lions, but hyenas and leopards have been killed by poisoning in Queen Elizabeth National Park, Uganda; by Basongora herdsmen. The Basongora were evicted from Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo in March last year. They were allowed to settle temporarily at the edge of the park until a more permanent solution was found. However, the Basongora started penetrating deeper into the park. They are now covering an estimated 300 square kilometre area. At the same time, herdsmen from other parts of the country and even from Tanzania took advantage of the situation, making the number of cattle swell from 10,000 to an estimated 40,000. “Over 80% of the hyenas have been killed and all leopards along the Nyamusagani river have been poisoned,” said Dr. Ludwig Siefert, a veterinarian and lecturer at Makerere University. “We have also lost at least 11 lions in the last 15 months.” Experts reckon that the lion population decreased ...

Nairobi, my most favorite city , has just become an even much better place to live in. It 'implements a successful public ban on smoking': Nairobi has become the third city in Kenya to implement a ban on smoking that has tobacco companies running for cover. The proscription went into effect last week in all public venues of the capital, and from all indications, restaurants, taverns, and tourist sites are observing the statute with minimum rancor. Earlier bans were imposed on the Indian Ocean port city of Mombasa and the rift valley town of Nakuru. Nairobi fines are high by Kenyan standards, about 300 dollars, 20-thousand Kenyan shillings, or six months in prison, as mandated by Nairobi’s local governing City Council. VOA News Any more Kenyan urban centers to follow? And: why can't more, if not all, African cities and urban centers - ban smoking in public? Banning smoking in public is the simplest, positive, constructive thing Africa can easily do. Requiring very minimal re...

It was 1913 and great stretches of Africa were still unknown to the white man when Stewart Edward White, an American hunter, set out from Nairobi. Pushing south, he recorded: "We walked for miles over burnt out country... Then I saw the green trees of the river, walked two miles more and found myself in paradise." He had found Serengeti. In the years since White's excursion under "the high noble arc of the cloudless African sky," Serengeti has come to symbolize paradise to many of us. The Maasai, who had grazed their cattle on the vast grassy plains for millennia had always thought so. To them it was Siringitu - "the place where the land moves on forever." serengeti.org More reading: Tanzania Parks , glcom Image: Google

Born on December 6, 1981 in the West African Nation of Liberia, Kimmie Weeks spent most of his early childhood faced with war, poverty, and suffering. A civil war had started in Liberia in 1989 when Kimmie was barely 9 years old. The war brought him face to face with death and the suffering of children. He recalls observing the plight of other children who seemed to suffer more then he did. He recounts, "all through the war, I saw children suffer worse then I. I watched children die, cut down by bullets or disease that in other parts of the world would be considered no longer a threat. I saw children in my country spend long days on the streets of the capital under the blazing African sun trying to sell goods for their families to survive, while thousands of others carried guns, fighting and killing one another. I saw the growing number of young children barely in their teens who were becoming prostitutes. School for these any many others was a fantasy." In 1991, someone st...

Ever thought of traveling in style? How about this way, in a hybrid 'Toyota', when going home from work; or when just having a good time site seeing? And this way, silently, slowly and without any noise or toxic fumes from the exhaust pipe, when going to hospital - that is: if you are not in need of immediate medical attention!? Whichever way you choose, both are excellent additions to ' The Green Revolution' and both can easily join the 'Top Green Cars' competition. Certainly they will win the 'environmental friendliness' and 'fuel-efficiency' category in the Greenercars ratings!