East Africa - Drought Conditions

It looks like east Africa is finally receiving a decent amount of rain
which is long overdue. The immediate effect of the rain may cuase some
problems as flooding will impact and already desperate situation.
Here's an update on the rains for April 2006:

http://wwww.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF...Q?OpenDocument

Monthly updates from USAID:
http://www.fews.net/centers/?f=ke

News on the crisis in Kenya:
http://www.fao.org/newsroom/en/news/...284/index.html
http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org...03-13-2006.cfm

****

There are extreme problems all over Africa which will need time and
money to improve. I hope that anyone who is willing to spend thousands
of dollars to visit these places will also be willing to donate a small
amount to aid organizations which are trying to help these people. I
understand that tourism itself helps in these countries but tourism
does not always reach the worst hit areas.

I personally donate to Doctors Without Borders as they are one of the
most efficient aid organizations in terms of maximing the impact of
every dollar contributed (84% of each dollar is used for support.)
http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/

Whichever charity you prefer, please make a donation to help these
people...

-Alan

writes ...

It looks like east Africa is finally receiving a decent amount of
rain which is long overdue.

We were in Tanzania in late January and they were suffering from a
three year drought, with little rain during the "short wet" season ...
we went back in early April for 10 days (just returned a week ago) and
it was a different place entirely as they had a great deal of rain
starting in March ... we had some rain every day and had a couple of
real tropical downpours while staying in the Serengeti. So at least
for now the weather patterns are back to 'normal'. Very beautiful to
see all the greenery.

Here are some pics from the April trip, mostly birds (nothing like 37
billion tsetse flies, mosquitos, flying termites and other flies to
invigorate the bird life) ... the lions trying to kill each other and
the cheetah jumping on the roof were pretty cool too ...

http://members.aol.com/bhilton665/ta...06/cheetah.htm

Bill

In message .com
"Bill" wrote:

[big snip]
Great pics, Bill.
Glad you enjoyed your trip.
I could see the flies in your pics, at first I was surprised you
hadn't 'spotted' your images, then I realised!
The tsetses are a real nuisance. Were you totally free of them in Jan?

Slainte

Liz

--

Liz writes ...

The tsetses are a real nuisance. Were you totally free of them in Jan?

We had them at Manyara but not at Tarangire, the crater or Serengeti in
Jan ... but it was a very dry year to that point so perhaps they were
fewer than usual. In April Manyara actually seemed to have fewer
insects than in January but Serengeti had several orders of magnitude
more flies, tsetses and, after torrential rains two nights, hatching
flying termites. We didn't go to Tarangire or Crater in April.

We didn't see any mosquitos in April but I assume they will hatch in
force later since there were thousands of puddles.

Bill

In message .com
"Bill" wrote:

Liz writes ...

The tsetses are a real nuisance. Were you totally free of them in Jan?

We had them at Manyara but not at Tarangire, the crater or Serengeti in
Jan ... but it was a very dry year to that point so perhaps they were
fewer than usual.
Ah, right.
I had forgotten that although I was there in July, usually the dry
season, things were much wetter than usual that year because of El
Nino.

In April Manyara actually seemed to have fewer
insects than in January but Serengeti had several orders of magnitude
more flies, tsetses and, after torrential rains two nights, hatching
flying termites. We didn't go to Tarangire or Crater in April.

We didn't see any mosquitos in April but I assume they will hatch in
force later since there were thousands of puddles.
There's always something.
:-(((

Tx for the info.

Slainte

Liz

--

Bill wrote:
http://members.aol.com/bhilton665/ta...06/cheetah.htm

Good writeup and photos again, Bill. That cheetah on the roof must
have been a very enjoyable experience!

A question - what is that support which you are using for your Arca
Swiss and Sidekick? I am still trying to find a good, flexible mount
for vehicles which doesnt involve clamping to a window.

Vandit