Safari Notes

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 -

BP's chief executive, Tony Hayward , has said the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster should not mean the end of deep-water exploration. He told the BBC : " I don't believe it should [result in a ban], in the same way as Apollo 13 did not stop the space programme nor have serious airline accidents from time to time stopped people flying. " His thinking is just like that of the many oil executives and dealers: they only think in terms of figures and profits.  Above photo from: Rocky Mountains Review For Mr. Hayward to compare the Apollo 13 and past air disasters to the current massive and very damaging  oil spill off the Gulf of Mexico, is an insult and a complete lack of responsibility. The Apollo 13 disaster and past air plane crushes were in no way as destructive, perilous, costly and with such damaging long term effect, as the present oil spill is. BP's oil spill is destroying lives and livelihood; does Mr. Hayward know how many dolphins, turtles and other forms of

Dinder - Sudan Situated in the East of the country, very close to the Ethiopian border, about 400 km. (205 mi.) south-east of Khartoum - Sudan's capital city, is Dinder National Park (DNP) - some times called Dinda ( In Arabic: محميه الدندر ) . Covering about 6,475 sq. km. (2,500 sq. mi.) - some estimates say the park covers a much larger area; which would make it one of the largest in Africa. Established in 1935, it is the most important wildlife reserve in Northern Sudan. It is one of the two parks in the country  designated as Biosphere Reserves . The other is Radom National Park (RNP) in southern Darfur. The park, in Dinder District, Sennar State, like all game parks and reserves in Sudan, is confronted with several threatening problems such as trespassing livestock, poaching, increased human settlements and encroachment in the surrounding areas. Like all game parks and reserves in Sudan, you can hardly find any detailed information on the park. Photos of it, too, are v

What a disheartening news: it has just been reported that due to global warming, the ice cap on the Ruwenzori has split. THE remaining ice cap on Mountain Rwenzori covering Margherita, the second highest peak in Africa, has split, creating a crevasse of 6 metres, according to the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA). Rwenzori has about six peaks but Margherita is its highest and most popular the world over. It provides a unique experience to mountain climbers. The peak was declared a world heritage site by UNESCO and it was recently gazetted as a Ramsar site requiring protection . More on the disaster: The ice cap on Uganda's highest peak has split because of global warming, Uganda's Wildlife Authority (UWA) says. The glacier is located at an altitude of 5,109m (16,763ft) in the Rwenzori mountain range, near the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo. The BBC Ugandan wildlife authorities say the ice cap on the country's western Rwenzori mountain range has split after

With the recent voting down on proposals to protect sharks at the UN conference on endangered species, the future for the endangered sharks is very bleak. Millions of hammerhead and whitetip are extracted from seas each year, mainly to satisfy a burgeoning appetite for sharkfin soup, a prestige food in Chinese communities around the world. The nations gathered in Doha, Qatar, for the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, rejected proposals that would have required countries to strictly regulate — but not ban — trade in several species of scalloped hammerhead, oceanic whitetip and spiny dogfish sharks. NYT What is very sad and shameful about all this destruction, is that - some of the wealthiest countries in the world are the most exploiters of wildlife: China is the largest consumer of shark fins; imagine - sharks are caught, their fins are removed and the rest of the fish is thrown; many times, all this - the cutting of the fins and the thr

Uganda, at last, surrenders Migingo Islands : Uganda on Wednesday gave up its claim on Migingo Island and apologised for what it said was an inaccurate decision based on wrong interpretation of a 1962 map. In compensation, it announced that it would allow Kenyan fishermen access to 400 nautical miles of its territorial waters in Lake Victoria. “Our surveyors were wrong in their interpretation of the 1962 map. “It is an old map and not as accurate as modern maps,” said presidential spokesman Loofapril Kabalagala. Mr Kabalagala said President Yoweri Museveni had spoken to President Kibaki on the matter. What a relief? At one time, many thought that Kenya and Uganda might go to war to settle the dispute over the Island. But, thankfully, the territorial dispute has been peacefully resolved. See also map of the Island .

No other African leader, and very few contemporary leaders in the rest of the world, brought so much radical change, so quickly and were so revolutionary as Burkina Faso's The Lion King Thomas Sankara . He was most visionary and creative. And he was a most incorruptible of men. Africans will never forget one of its most caring sons: As Africa looks desperately for leaders of integrity and vision, the life and ideals of the late Thomas Sankara seem more and more relevant and exemplary with the passage of time. Sankara is still venerated as much as Patrice Lumumba, Amilcar Cabral and Steve Biko are - in Africa and as much as Che Guevara is, around the world. Sankara, a charismatic army captain, came to power in Burkina Faso, in 1983, in a popularly supported coup. He immediately launched the most ambitious program for social and economic change ever attempted on the African continent. To symbolize this rebirth, he even renamed his country from the French colonial Upper Volta to B