Safari Notes

As it is, very few Africans blog and make their voices heard. For Africans who take up blogging, very, very few, if any, write about wildlife and the environment. Africa, with the largest, most diverse, most wonderful and most spectacular population of wildlife, has a people who are least interested in it. Be it in: its oceans, its islands, its plains, its jungles - Africa is abundant with wildlife. Plants and animals. Of many species, of many shapes and of many sizes. One can not talk of wildlife, without thinking of the environment. The environment that all wildlife lives in and depends on. And so do we mankind. All living creatures, all life forms are very dependent on the environment they live in. So why don't African bloggers write about these most important of issues: wildlife and the environment?

Africa Internet Penetration - 2012 With about half of its people living below the poverty line; with wars, conflicts, poor infrastructure and poor institutions; and unreliable electricity supply in most urban areas or none at all for most of its people - most people in Africa have no time for thinking of the Internet let alone use it. Still, it is in Africa that the Internet is growing fastest.

Despite its many problems, Rwanda's visionary leaders have set forth an ambitious plan to establish Rwanda as a globally competitive, knowledge-based society and economy; this has resulted in the rapid expansion of phone and Internet subscribers and users. For a country that went through one of the worst horrors Africa and the world has ever known , this has not been easy. Rwanda, one of the first countries in Africa to gain full Internet connectivity, has ten licensed Internet Service Providers and 754,156 Internet subscribers as of June 2012 (according to the Rwanda Utlities Regulatory Agency ) - which is about 6.5% of its population of about twelve million people. The number of people using Internet, as in other East African countries - is growing rapidly in the country. And so is social-networking. Some of its leaders are regularly and comfortably using Google+, Facebook and Twitter.

Of its almost forty eight million citizens, about five million or about 11% of Tanzanians use the Internet and it ranks 7th in Internet usage in Africa - according to Internet World Atlas . Of these few who have Internet access, many use social media; of these, are those out of the country. A few, are blogging. With Tanzanian's superb and refined commandment of Kiswahili, most of these active blogs are in this country's national and official language. Tanzanian blogs are vibrant, too colorful and most are focused on the entertainment industry - music in particular; very few are serious and well styled.

According to Internet World Atlas , as of 2012 second-quarter, of the top ten African countries, as of population percentage, Uganda is ranked ninth in Internet usage. And as in Kenya , that number is rising fast. Considering its recent history, the many conflicts it has had and how unstable the country has been - this is an encouraging achievement. Ugandans too, as are Kenyans - are very much active in social networks. Of blogging, there are very few blogs that discuss Uganda. The problem with most Ugandan bloggers, they start one, and after a short while give up. Of the very few active ones, very few are serious or deserving of praise. Of these, most are managed by non-Ugandans living in Uganda or interested in the country; or managed by Ugandans living abroad.

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