Africa Archives - Beyond

Cape Town

schweboo — Fri, 12 May 2023 07:31:59 +0000

We flew here before driving north up into Namibia. The southern hemisphere winter was surprisingly cold. There was snow in Springbok.

The inclement weather also meant that we were too early for the incredible wildflowers that can be seen in the West Coast National Park. The landscape bursts into colour, as it is blanketed with wild flowers. The official flower season is from 1 August until 30 September, when the protected area of Postberg within the Park is open to the public.

Photo by Tobias Reich on Unsplash

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Port Said in 1926

schweboo — Sat, 29 Apr 2023 05:37:00 +0000

In 1926, my paternal grandfather was based in Egypt. During the summer school holidays, my father was taken to the Port of London where he boarded a steamship bound for Yokohama.

He disembarked in Port Said, where he was met by his parents.

Here is my father in his school cap with his mother and one of her friends in a cafe in Port Said. There are two images, the original and one that has been colourised by me.

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N’djili International Airport, Boulevard Lumumba, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo

schweboo — Fri, 28 Apr 2023 09:43:47 +0000

Crashed planes by the runway – N’djili International Airport, Boulevard Lumumba, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The airport was inaugurated in 1959, mainly used as a secondary hub for SABENA until 1960 when the Democratic Republic of the Congo became independent, then became a major hub for Air Congo.

In 1998, one year after Zaire was renamed to its current name, the Democratic Republic of Congo, N’Djili airport was the site of one of the decisive battles of the Second Congo War. Rebel forces advancing on Kinshasa infiltrated the airport perimeter but were repelled by Zimbabwean troops and aircraft arriving to support the government of Laurent Kabila.

In June 2015, a new international terminal was opened which can service one million passengers per year. Some computerized upgrades to the arrivals terminal have been implemented in recent years, although corruption remains a problem.

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Somaliland

schweboo — Sun, 22 Dec 2019 20:03:48 +0000

Somaliland is a self-declared, de facto independent state located in the Horn of Africa, on the eastern coast. It declared independence from Somalia in 1991, following the overthrow of the military regime of Siad Barre in Somalia. Somaliland has its own government, military, and currency, and it has enjoyed relative stability compared to other parts of Somalia.

Somaliland is not internationally recognised as an independent state. Despite this lack of recognition, it has functioned with a high degree of autonomy and has established institutions to govern itself. The region has been relatively peaceful and has held several democratic elections.

Efforts to gain international recognition for Somaliland’s independence continue, but the political situation is complex, and progress has been slow. It’s advisable to check more recent sources for updates on the current status and developments in Somaliland.

I was there for a six day fact-finding mission for the AMAR International Charitable Foundation. During that time, we visited the Hargeisa Hospital, the renal unit, the MAS Children’s Teaching Hospital, and the university medical school in Hargeisa. In Gibiley, we visited the mayor, the Gibiley Hospital and two Mother Child Hospitals. The latter do not have doctors, just midwives.

The mission also included a drive to the port city of Berbera. There we were shown around the port and met the director of the new port projects ($450m) and the Berbera hospital.

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Crossing the Mara river

schweboo — Wed, 22 Jul 2015 05:32:12 +0000

This was taken in 2011 and shows part of a crossing of the Mara River of around 100,000 wildebeest and zebra. We estimated a 2% fatality rate, mainly due to drowning. A single crocodile killed a couple of young wildebeest but seemed to be overwhelmed by the sheer number of animals that crossed. Some calves were crushed underfoot as they tried to climb the far bank.

The quality is not great, but at least it gives an impression of what it was like.

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Masai Mara in Kenya (2015)

schweboo — Fri, 17 Jul 2015 04:44:18 +0000

The Maasai Mara is one of the best places in the world to see game. The Governor’s Camp is the best place to stay and was our home for the duration of this visit, as it had been for three other visits.

We stayed in a Plains tent, overlooking the Masai Mara.

There are no fences between the camp and the game, so one night we were lucky enough to be woken up by the sound of a wild elephant that was so close to our tent that we could hear it breathing. We heard hippos fighting in front of our tent. In the distance, we could hear lions and hyenas. The sight of hippos walking through the camp at night was magical.

For the first time, we had an hour long stop by a mother leaopard and her almost fully grown cub. She was resting, and he was chewing on the carcass of a springbox, which she had carried up on a branch around three mettres off then ground. As he gnawed at the neck, the skull detached and fell to the ground, narrowly missing the sleeping mother leopard. With an angry snarl, she got up and clambered up the tree to ‘have words’ with her son.

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Zanzibar

schweboo — Mon, 03 Feb 2014 20:49:33 +0000

Spent just over a week spent in Zanzibar in a big resort with great food, but limited options in terms of things to do. The Diving is not great at this time of year partly due to the southern monsoon and party because the dive boats are overloaded and not well managed.

The Gemma Dell’Est resort had sailing boats, but despite being an all inclusive hotel, they were prohibitively expensive to hire and as a consequence, not used by anyone.

The concept of “all” inclusive is one that the resort management does not really seem to understand. They are keen to point out that sun beds and sunshades on the beach and around the pool are available to guests at no additional cost.

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Burundi

schweboo — Mon, 03 Feb 2014 20:47:44 +0000

Burundi, officially the Republic of Burundi, is a landlocked country in the Great Lakes region of Eastern Africa bordered by Rwanda to the north, Tanzania to the east and south, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west. Its size is just under 28,000 km² with an estimated population of almost 8,700,000. Its capital is Bujumbura. Although the country is landlocked, much of the southwestern border is adjacent to Lake Tanganyika. The Twa, Tutsi, and Hutu peoples have occupied Burundi since the country’s formation five centuries ago. Burundi was ruled as a kingdom by the Tutsi for over two hundred years. However, at the beginning of the twentieth century, Germany and Belgium occupied the region, and Burundi and Rwanda became a European colony known as Ruanda-Urundi.

Political unrest occurred throughout the region because of social differences between the Tutsi and Hutu, provoking civil war in Burundi throughout the middle twentieth century. Presently, Burundi is governed as a presidential representative democratic republic. Sixty-two per cent of Burundians are Roman Catholic, eight to ten per cent are Muslims, and the rest follow indigenous beliefs and other Christian denominations.

Burundi is one of the ten poorest countries in the world. It has the lowest per capita GDP of any nation in the world. Burundi has a low gross domestic product largely due to civil wars, corruption, poor access to education, and the effects of HIV/AIDS. Burundi is densely populated, with substantial emigration.

This visit was to talk to the funders of an aid program in Burundi.

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Ju ju man, Nigeria

schweboo — Sat, 01 Feb 2014 14:47:43 +0000

The village is on the shores of the lagoon – known as Badagry Creek – to the west of Lagos – an hour or so in a fast boat from Lagos port. The occasion was the Chief’s birthday after more than 30 years in Nigeria. We swam in the Atlantic breakers and then enjoyed a feast prepared by Fati and his friend.

This was a refuge from the noise and pressures of Lagos. The nearby village’s children were delightful and happy to pose for pictures.

The village chief also arranged for Ju Ju dancer to come. He came as a water spirit who floated into the village dock disguised as a bed of reeds. We then watched his wild dance around the village, his final vanishing act, and the look of astonishment on the faces of the children.

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Lagos, Nigeria

schweboo — Sat, 01 Feb 2014 14:44:07 +0000

This was a refuge from the noise and pressures of Lagos. The nearby village’s children were delightful and happy to pose for pictures.

The village also arranged for Ju Ju dancer to come. He was a water spirit who entranced the children with his arrival by water disguised as a bed of reeds, his wild dance around the village, and his final vanishing act before their astonished eyes.

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