Safari Notes

It is now being reported that Halliburton might be to blame for the Gulf oil spill that’s currently threatening the coasts, livelihoods, health, and seafood restaurants of many states along the Gulf of Mexico . As for Halliburton, this is what they claim on their site : Halliburton originated oilfield cementing and leads the world in effective, efficient delivery of zonal isolation and engineering for the life of the well. Operators consistently rank Halliburton Cementing No. 1 in total value provided to customers . 'Effective', 'efficient' and 'No. 1' Halliburton has been indeed! They have been so effective and efficient and made billions in profit from their own - Americans, and from many other countries; including from Iraq. Profits made, at any cost. Even if it meant 'selling' un-purified water to their own as they did in Iraq; even if it meant ineffectively and inefficiently cementing the deepwater drilling hole in the Gulf of Mexico. Even if ...

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...

Come January next year, no one can blame the Southern Sudanese if they opt for independence. After being marginalized for so long; after, for years, fleeing from place to place in search of safety; and after so much blood and suffering, they can not be blamed for choosing secession. But, doesn't and won't that set a wrong and dangerous precedent for Africa? Won't that encourage others in other African countries, who 'feel' or 'consider' themselves marginalized or oppressed to want or demand and struggle for secession? What is to stop southern Ethiopians or northern Ugandans or north-eastern Kenyans to think of taking the same path as the Southern Sudanese? And should southern Sudan go for independence, what is to stop another or other parts or other tribes of the same Southern Sudan, like the Shuluk or the Nuer demanding for separation, should they feel marginalized or oppressed? There are hundreds of thousands of Southern Sudanese now living in the Nort...

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...

Nectophrynoides asperginis the Kihansi spray toad was originally discovered and described in 1998 . The Kihansi spray toad is now extinct in the wild. The Kihansi spray toad lived in the spray wetland of the Kihansi Falls in the Kihansi Gorge in the Udzungwa Mountains of eastern Tanzania The serious decline and extinction of this species appears related to the construction of a hydroelectric dam in 2000 upstream on the Kihansi River, which cut off 90% of the original water flow to the gorge, thereby hugely reducing the volume of spray, particularly in the dry season. Read more >>>> More on the Kihansi Toad: IUCN , AmphibiaWeb , Wikipedia , Mongobay , Science Daily , WCS , Guardian ,

Ever heard of São Tomé or Príncipe? It is Africa's smallest nation, after Seychelles; and it's probably Africa's  least known country. Both are islands. Both are pristine and very rarely do foreigners visit it; and very rarely do its people travel out. More on Sao Tome and Principe: Nation Master ,  Country Profile , Nations On Lin e, MBendi ,  WWF ,  BBC , IPS , Lonely Planet , InfoPlease , National Geographic , African Studies Center , World66 , Culture ,  WikiTravel , World Atlas , Google Maps , Africa.com , World Travel Guide ,  HRW , Atlas , Maps , Books , Videos , News , UN , Wikipedia , Timeline