What you can do about the current Kenyan Crisis:

Contribute to Relief Work:
www.mamamikes.com
You can buy vouchers through Mama Mike's which will be used to buy relief supplies for the Kenya Red Cross for those in displaced people's camps. Mama Mike's is trustworthy and they have waived their usual service fee. Click on “Buy a shopping voucher”. You can also go to links through Mama Mike's website to small local organizations appealing for assistance.

www.kenyaredcross.org
The Kenya Red Cross is providing the bulk of the assistance to people in internally displaced people's camps throughout the country.

Www.imcworldwide.org: International Medical Corps
IMC’s Emergency Response Team is on the ground, conducting rapid health assessments to determine how best to respond to the needs of people both in the Kibera slums and in the Rift Valley, who have had to flee their homes and have been left without income and food. IMC is operating mobile clinics in Kibera, seeing up to 300 patients a day, security permitting.


Call the White House at 202-456-1414 and ask to speak to the president. Urge him to support the demands by civil-society organizations in Kenya for an independent audit of the election results. Also, send an urgent e-mail message to the president through our online Legislative Action Center.

Message to give to the President:
Please use the power of your office to insist that all parties to the political crisis take the necessary steps to reach a peaceful settlement consistent with democratic processes.

Specifically, please express your strong support of the demands by Kenyan civil-society organizations for an audit of the presidential election vote to be conducted by an independent electoral oversight body.

International mediation is critical to resolving the crisis, as is an independent audit of the voting.

I also am concerned about the use of violence to legitimize the curtailing of fundamental human rights – including the freedoms of expression, assembly, and association.


Get Informed: Sources of Information on Current Happenings:
www.mamamikes.com: Mama Mike's, which is normally just a website where you can go to buy goods for people in kenya, pay school fees, etc., is maintaining a good compilation of photos, comments, videos, and articles. Click on “See more pictures of the kenyan situation”. Also has links to blogs and sites covering and supporting in current crisis.

Www.vumakenya.com: You can click on video clips to see latest news from Kenyan t.v.
Started by a Kenyan studying at Harvard Medical School, Vuma Kenya aims to give voice to displaced people and relief workers, create a network of concerned Kenyans and global citizens, fund disaster relief efforts, and build capacity of community groups to respond to the crisis. They will organize and highlight events such as benefit concerts, prayer vigils, fundraisers and other initiatives within the extended Kenyan community, that strive to spread a message of peace, reconciliation, raise awareness or seek solutions to our country’s crisis.


Www.jumptv.com: You can watch Kenya Broadcast Corporation on this site.

BBC and CNN online have been keeping up to date on the situation.

Www.nationmedia.com: Daily Nation newspaper on the web.

Www.eastandard.net: East Africa Standard newspaper on the web.

Photos from Sarah Cabot

Dear Fellow Africa Travelers,

Not all the photos are spectacular, but the trip certainly was.

Apologies to non-Cabots for the Cabot-centric family shots, but I thought I'd pass these along to all anyway. It was terrific to travel with you all, and I hope our paths cross again.

And for the Kims and Farrisseys - I hope Zanzibar was wonderful and that you made it home safely.

I hope to see some of your photos soon as well.

All best regards,
Sarah Cabot

PHOTO LINK, Click here

Serval from behind

The famous Servel Cat - Pounce

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Conservation status
Least Concern


The Serval (IPA: /ˈsɝvəl/, Leptailurus serval) is a medium-sized African wild cat. It is closely related to the African Golden Cat and the Caracal.[3] The length is 85 cm (34 in), plus 40 cm (16 in) of tail, and the shoulder height is about 53 cm (21 in). Weight can range from 9 to 20 kg (20-44 lbs). Life expectancy is about 12-20 years. It is a slender animal, with long legs and a fairly short tail. The tall, oval ears are set close together. The pattern of the fur is variable. Usually, the Serval is boldly spotted black on tawny. The "servaline" form has much smaller, freckled spots. In addition, melanism is known to exist in this species, giving a similar appearance to the black panther. White servals are white with silvery grey spots and have only occurred in captivity.

Its main habitat is the savanna, although melanistic individuals are more usually found in mountainous areas. The Serval needs watercourses within its territory, so it does not live in semi-deserts or dry steppes. It is able to climb and swim, but seldom does so. It has now dwindled in numbers due to human population taking over its habitat and also hunting its pelt. It is protected in most countries. The Serval is listed in CITES Appendix 2, indicating that it is "not necessarily now threatened with extinction but that may become so unless trade is closely controlled."

A favoirte

African Fish Eagle

African Fish-eagles are large birds, and the females are often larger than the males. Males usually have a wingspan of about 6 feet, while females have wingspans upwards of 8 feet. They are very distinctive in appearance with a mostly brown body and large, powerful, black wings. The head, breast, and tail of African Fish-eagles are snow white and the hook-shaped beak is mostly yellow with a black tip.

This species is still quite common near freshwater lakes, reservoirs, or rivers, although they can sometimes be found near the coast at the mouths of rivers or lagoons. As their name implies, African Fish-eagles are indigenous to Africa, ranging over most of continental Africa south of the southern-most edge of the Sahara Desert.
Breeding season for African Fish-eagles is during the dry season, when water levels are low. African Fish-eagles are believed to mate for life, and pairs will often maintain two or more nests, which they will frequently re-use. Because nests are re-used and built upon over the years the nests can grow to be quite large, some reaching six feet across and 4 feet deep. The nests are placed in a large tree and built mostly of sticks and other pieces of wood. The female lays 1 to 3 eggs, which are primarily white with a few reddish speckles. Incubation is mostly done by the female, but the male will incubate when the female leaves to hunt. Incubation lasts for 42 to 45 days before the chicks hatch. The eggs will often hatch a few days apart, and the eldest chick will usually kill any younger chicks. Fledging lasts for 70 to 75 days, and after about 8 weeks the chick is capable of feeding itself and will usually begin to venture outside of the nest 2 weeks later.
African Fish-eagles mainly feed on fish, which, upon spying it from a perch in a tree, it will swoop down upon and snatch from the water with its large clawed talons and fly back to its perch to eat. Should the African Fish-eagles catch a fish over 4 pounds it will be too heavy to allow it to get lift, so it will instead drag the fish across the surface of the water until it reaches the shore. Should the African Fish-eagles catch an especially heavy fish that is too heavy to even allow the eagle to sustain flight it will drop into the water and paddle to the nearest shore with its wings. African Fish-eagles will also feed on waterfowl, small turtles, baby crocodiles, and carrion.

from: Wikipedia

Taken @ Amboseli, Kenya.

Maasai

Tanzania Maasai

Ol Doinyo Lengai

Ol Doinyo Lengai is Mountain of God in Masai. When the volcano is errupting, legend has it that god is on the summit.

Kenya crisis talks end in failure

Kenya crisis talks end in failure

President Kufuor, left, said both sides wanted dialogue
Talks conducted by Ghanaian President John Kufuor to end Kenya's political crisis have broken down, opposition and government sources have said.
Mr Kufuor had been hoping to broker a deal between President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga after last month's disputed elections.

Instead, Mr Kufuor said both sides had agreed to work under a panel which may be headed by ex-UN chief Kofi Annan.

About 600 people have died in unrest which followed the poll.

In addition to those killed, some 250,000 are feared displaced by the violence following the 27 December election in Kenya - previously seen as a relative beacon of stability in East Africa.

'Not responsive'

The opposition Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) said that the talks failed after President Kibaki refused to sign a document agreed by both sides and approved by World Bank Country Director Colin Bruce.


Both sides agreed there should be an end to the violence and they also agreed there should be dialogue
John Kufuor

Tough task for diplomacy
The key points of the document are that they want:

a credible, independent and impartial investigation into the issues arising from the elections
to determine whether a re-run of the elections is necessary
if so, to provide a time-frame for recommendations on the structure of government up until the re-run
But the president's office was quick to disown the document.

"The government had offered dialogue which was to be facilitated by President John Kufuor but Orange Democratic Movement leaders have not been responsive," a statement said.

Mr Kibaki had invited his rival to hold face-to-face talks on Friday but Mr Odinga refused, unless the talks were led by international mediators.

But the Ghanaian president seemed more upbeat, although it is not clear when the new panel would start work.

"The parties agreed to work together with a panel of eminent African personalities headed by Mr Kofi Annan... towards resolving their differences and all other outstanding issues including constitutional and electoral reforms," he said.



Displaced Kenyans' fears about returning home

In pictures
"Both sides agreed there should be an end to the violence and they also agreed there should be dialogue."

But some analysts say the failure of the initiative puts the negotiations back at square one, and it remains to be seen whether an agreement can still be reached.

The top US official for Africa, Jendayi Frazer, and four former African presidents have also been in Nairobi, trying to seek a solution to the crisis.

Mr Kibaki maintains he won the election fairly, but Mr Odinga says it was stolen.

Swearing-in

Earlier, police fired tear gas to disperse a group of about 100 women who were protesting about the election.

Some of them lay down and stripped to their bras, shouting "Shame on you" at the riot police, reports the Reuters news agency.

The protests came as Mr Kibaki swore in members of a new cabinet, though some minor posts have been left vacant, leading to speculation that these could be offered to the opposition.

Mr Odinga has so far refused to recognise the cabinet or participate in a government of national unity, saying Mr Kibaki should step down.

Nairobi

Oltukai Lodge - Kenya

Links to HOW+L (henry,orren,will + libby) photos

Nogorongoro Crater
Amboseli
Serengeti

Click on above links

WELCOME ALL to the New Year's on Safari blog

Welcome to the blog!
Please feel free to post anything here.
This is a great place for us all to share photos and videos.

HOW+L
henry, orren, will and libby

Elephants under Kilamanjaro - Amboseli