Tag Archives: November 2002

Snows of Kilimanjaro May Melt By 2020

by Charles Arthur / Independent/UK (via Common Dreams News Center)

The snows of Mount Kilimanjaro, immortalized by an Ernest Hemingway short story, are melting so quickly they are expected to disappear within two decades.

Researchers have found that the ice fields capping Africa's highest mountain shrank by 80 per cent in the last century, from 4.6 square miles in 1912 to just one square mile two years ago, which has brought down the height of the mountain by several feet.

The ice covering the 19,330ft peak “will be gone by about 2020”, said Lonnie Thompson, a glaciologist at Ohio State University. The process has cut water volume in some Tanzanian rivers that supply villages and hospitals. Global warming is one reason, but scientists say it alone cannot have caused such a dramatic change. The other factors behind the transformation remain a mystery.

Galicia’s Shores Under Threat

If you were thinking of visiting Spain’s beautiful north western coast, your walks along the beach may be spoilt and it may be an idea not to order locally caught fish. A 35m gash in the side of a Greek owned oil tanker, the Prestige, has caused a major oil spill, about 1,500 tonnes of oil so far.

The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) warns that if all 77,000 tones of the Prestige's cargo were to leak, the spill would be twice the size of the catastrophic Exxon Valdez spill off Alaska.

Floating barriers and pumping systems have been in place to try to contain the spill, but nonetheless, thick patches of oil have been washing up along a 40-kilometre stretch of coastline.

First Impressions of Mikindani by Richard Densham

Richard was a volunteer working in Mikindani, Tanzania for a charity, Trade aid.

My first impressions of Mikindani were what an improvement it was on my initial reaction to Dar-es-Salaam, [probably influenced by jet lag and the uncomfortable heat]. After the long journey it was a relief to get into Mikindani, and all I really wanted to do was sleep, however we had to prepare for the long awaited home stay. It was initially a shock, and various words were running through my head, which I shall not repeat. I found my home stay family to be extremely helpful and tolerant towards my bad Swahili, and repeatedly getting the wrong end of the stick.

Home stay was initially difficult, but once you have settled in you learn to ignore the screaming kids “watoto”, and you get on with things. However there is one thing I never got used to, Ugali (Cornmeal Porridge). It’s foul, and each meal was a bit of a trial, with Mama Asha encouraging me to eat more, and me desperately and as politely as possible trying to convey the message that “as much as a like Ugali I’m really actually very ill”.

So it was with some relief that I left my home stay and settled into the base house. I do still go back to my home stay family, just never at meal times.

It was now time to start on the project [bee keeping], and things seemed to get rolling pretty quickly with the help of Mr Thomas and Fabian, the ex-government beekeeper from Mtwara. It took some time to actually get the hive built and it is only now complete, all we need now are the bees. The bees will either come from a feral colony behind the Boma [a natural colony], or they will come from Mtwara. If we get them from behind the Boma we will wait for the bees to naturally colonise the hive, which is baited with bees wax [very much the lazy mans option]. If we use the bait hive then we are going to use some strange and mysterious Tanzanian method of catching bees, which Fabian has yet to reveal to me, should be interesting.

Teaching is something else that I have started since home stay. Teaching the staff has been particularly successful and enjoyable. Computer lessons, swimming lessons and English lessons seem to be the order of the day, and several of the staff seem to be making good ground in some of these areas. However, different things can be said about teaching at the schools. I have come to the conclusion that to get yourself, a head teacher, children, a classroom together at the same time requires an act of divine intervention, to be fair there are usually good excuses, however it is still infuriating.

I have found that a laid back attitude is required when working out here, and that flexitime is essential i.e. “so what time tomorrow morning?” “In the morning” “yes but when?” “Sometime”.

I know that when I get back to the England it is going to be difficult not being famous anymore, it’s quite strange when you walk around Mikindani and several thousand people all know your name. It really would be too easy to get delusions of grandeur.

It has been quite entertaining to watch some of the guests who have never been to Africa before, let alone Mikindani. In a place that feels, not exactly like home, but somewhere that I have got used to, the sight of a large group of Europeans clustered together and meekly discussing how different everything is, seems quite odd. But then I think back to my first reaction to Tanzania and Mikindani, and I realise I was the same.

It has been strange in the way that Africa seems to bend time, the pace of life is extremely slow, and for some reason it doesn’t seem like I’ve been here six weeks.

For more information about Trade Aid, volunteers and their work, please visit their website www.mikindani.com or e-mail Sherie on tradeaid@netcomuk.co.uk

Cruise Ships touted for Homeless

New York City may convert de-commissioned cruise ships into shelters for its rising numbers of homeless people. Last month, a record 37,000 homeless people were sleeping in city shelters every night according to the Coalition for the Homeless, which compiles statistics for the city. City officials, including Mayor Michael Bloomberg's commissioner of homeless services, have flown to the Bahamas to inspect disused ships. They say the idea of using them was just one option being considered – but critics say the plan is unnecessary, and have called on the city to provide affordable housing for those in need. City officials stressed that it is too early to speculate on how the cruise-ship idea might be applied in New York.

Laos by Mike Dodd

Mike is the winner of the Globetrotter Club £1,000 legacy available to members under 30 years of age for the best independent travel plan. Our £1000 travel prize is available to anyone in the world, as long as they are a member, have a great plan for independent travel and are under the age of 30. So, visit our legacy page and get those plans in!!

Mike is using his travel award to visit Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. Here’s Part 2 of his travels:

I am now in Luang Prabang in Laos and have been for the last few days. I believe Tha-ton was the last place I e-mailed so I’ll try and update you on the progress. I took the boat down to Chiang Rai where I visited the Hill Tribe museum and pottered about. Chiang Rai is a very prosperous city with large shops and a very large number of four by fours.

I left the next morning to make it up to Chiang Sean further north on the Mekong which allowed me hire a motor bike to head up to the Golden Triangle and to the boarder crossing with Burma. The motorbike allowed a great deal of freedom and the chance to take back roads and see farms and local industries.

From Chiang Sean I set off early for the slow boat into Laos leaving from Chaing Kong. The trip took two days. We spent the night in a little village called Pakbeng roughly half way along the route. The scenery was amazing, mile after mile of hills covered in vegetation the whole way down. A snake came aboard for a while and water was being bailed for the whole of the second day but we made it into Luang Prabang without sinking!

I've found an incredible difference between Thailand and what I have so far seen in Laos. There are many obvious changes like they drive on the opposite side to Thailand (though in both countries no one seems to stick to anyone side for very long!). The money also is almost comical. The exchange rate is about 10,800 kip to one US dollar so when I changed a 100 dollar travellers cheque I was an instant kip millionaire! This alone is not the crazy thing – the largest current kip note is 5,000 or around 50 cents so my 100 dollars brought me literally a rucksack full of cash I guess it must be easier to weigh it then to count it out. The kip also goes down in denominations down to a 1 kip note! The greatest difference that I have found is the people. In Laos they are so friendly – in my experience I have never come across such genuine friendliness – everyone smiles and wants to chat, everyone always waves as you go past and the children especially want to see you and play.

There has been none of the hassle which you can get – especially in Bangkok – everyone just seems happier and contented and it is definitely noticeable. Luang Prabang is exactly as I hoped it would be. The town is beautiful and very small and you can easily walk across it. The atmosphere is very relaxed and slow moving you can sense the French influence all around and I’m going to be sad to leave. Around the city there is lots to do including many incredible waterfalls where you can walk right onto them and swim at the bottom. I went to the Royal Theatre last night in the grounds of the old Royal Palace – for a traditional Lao night – so culture is being thrown at me from all angles.

7 UK Airports may Close Due to Strike

A British union that has firemen and airport workers as its members has announced a set of dates it on which it proposes to strike.

These will affect seven airports: Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Edinburgh, Southampton, Glasgow and Aberdeen.

Proposed strike dates are: 28 Nov, 2, 10, 15 & 23 Dec and 2nd Jan, and if the fire service does strike, the airports will be left without fire cover and will almost certainly be forced to ground all flights.