Vår nye favorittpark I Afrika heter Selous. Den ligger sør-øst i Tanzania og er på størrelse med Danmark. Dermed skulle vi tro at dyretettheten her er mindre enn i Løveparken, men det er jeg sannelig ikke sikker på. Det som er helt sikkert er at biltettheten her er den laveste vi har sett i nasjonalparkene. Mens vi i Ngorongoro, for eksempel, holder utkikk etter hvor de andre safaribilene har stoppet, kan vi i Selous konsentrere oss om å finne dyrene selv. Altså ikke en eneste bil i sikte.

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Nyama Choma - crispy fatty meat roasted to a perfect combination and seasoned with sassy curry flavour.

In Swahili, it literally means “grilled meat”. Using curry powder to marinate the meat, its wobbly fats are further flavored with a sizzling taste.

Back in those days as a volunteer in Bomang’ombe,  Tanzania, I would spend Friday evenings with my local friends munching on Nyama Choma, coupled with ice cold Serengeti beer. They would bring us to the best in town, where the beef was roasted just before we arrived.

Nyama Choma is usually eaten with ugali, boiled cornmeal mush,  the primary staple of the entire Sub-Saharan African continent. Ugali is eaten with almost every other thing, especially soup, stew or sauce, or other dishes with sauce or gravy. As a side dish, ugali is served in a big bowl that everyone eats from.

Where to find it:

Nyama Choma is not available everywhere, and you need to know which ones are good. Always ask a local – they’ll always know the best. Remember to order in advance before you go.

United Republic of TANZANIA

stamp: 300 shillings

year: 1996

amphibian: frog – Hyperolius cinctiventrus

I first found out about this from a Facebook update from a friend who works at ABC News’s investigative unit. I hadn’t even read this story, but already figured out Grizzlies’ rookie center Hasheem Thabeet was behind it. Take the fact that he’s the first person from the impoverished East African country to play in the NBA and couple it with the fact that AI and the Griz parting ways meant a whole lot of jerseys suddenly all but losing value, and you have the interesting headline.

Some – like my friend at ABC News – found the story hilarious. I did too, but I also looked at it from a different angle. A shipment of jerseys to a country where most kids have but one shirt to their name is a big deal. I’ve seen it with my own eyes when I visited ‘bongoland‘ in 2007: most kids in Tanzania’s urban and rural areas wear raggedy clothes. A brand new basketball jersey emblazoned with the last name of one of the NBA’s most prolific scorers at under 6-feet is basically a birthday gift. In return, however small a gesture it may seem to us here in the U.S., it will buy a lot of goodwill from millions of people in East Africa for the Griz, Thabeet and the NBA.

Burundi, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, and Kenya open a common market.

Last Friday, the presidents of Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, and Kenya signed the East African Common Market protocol in Arusha, Tanzania, after eight years of discussion.  Goods, services, and labor will now move freely in the trading bloc, home to 120 million consumers.

They had planned to sign the protocol last April, but disagreements over aspects of the protocol had derailed the signing.

New changes:

-Goods and services produced in the region will be treated equally, and labor can move freely in East Africa.

-Companies can move production plants  to where they find the best business environment.

-Countries with more developed manufacturing sectors can sell their goods cheaply in other countries in the bloc, potentially harming local manufacturers and saving consumers money.

Dr Andrew Marshall, from the Environment Department at the University of York, discovered an undescribed chameleon species—Kinyongia magomberae—when he disturbed a twig snake feeding on a specimen, which was subsequently “spat out.” He took a picture of the unfortunate creature, and a local specialist did not recognize the species. More from the York Press:

The tiny lizard came out of the mouth of a twig snake disturbed by Dr Andrew Marshall in Tanzania’s Magombera forest.

Dr Marshall, from the University of York, was in the threatened forest surveying monkeys.

He said: “I was out there doing conservation research when I came across this snake. It saw me and fled, and as it did so it spat out a chameleon.

“I took photos and showed them to a local herpetologist, who instantly recognised that it was a new species.”

The creature, small enough to sit in the palm of a hand, was named as Kinyongia magomberae by scientists writing in the African Journal of Herpetology.

Shortly after the first discovery, a second Kinyongia chameleon was found by one of Dr Marshall’s colleagues about six miles away.

Unlike the first specimen, this one was very much alive.

:: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: ::

Preparing for Thanksgiving in Tanzania is not an easy task… or a cheap one.  Nor is it, in my opinion, fully enjoyable.  

Our quest to show our thankfulness this year, by consuming massive and excessive amounts of food while praying it to the nourishment of our bodies, began last Friday.  One phase of our electricity was out, leaving us with most of our lights, some of our fans, and none of our refrigeration.  Friday and Saturday were intended to be our big shopping days for Thanksgiving ingredients and the like.  Why so early, you ask?  Well, you see, there are several indispensable Thanksgiving Day foods that are quite difficult to find here in Tanzania.  So we can’t just go to the local outdoor market, or even to the slightly larger community grocer.  Instead we’re forced to frequent several large chain supermarkets that specialize in “westerner” items — yet not any one of them specializes so well that we don’t need to visit the other four.  [Christie and I are lucky, though, because we’re in Dar es Salaam right now.  Were we in Geita, our shopping would have required an overnight trip to Mwanza.]

So our predicament is obvious.  Because EVERYTHING has to be made from scratch here, Christie (who is EXTREMELY pregnant these days) needed to start cooking on Monday.  But short of salting and smoking our groceries in a small wooden shack out back, there’s no way to store the various cold stuffs which are vital to a proper and fitting celebration of that for which we’re thankful — without a fridge.  And so we are forced to wait until electricity comes back, knowing full well it might be barely in time for Christmas dinner — but we’re thankful for Christ’s birth as well, so that would’ve been just fine.

The electricity finally returned, and we were able to visit the five purveyors of corn meal,  green beans, and turkey, in hopes that our dream of a fitting Thanksgiving dinner would come to fruition.  But you would not believe what a turkey costs here!  How could you?!  Because you live in the land of turkey, a formidable wasteland of wings and thighs, where one could probably order a turkey online if he so desired.  But here, considering the per capita income in Tanzania and that of missionaries in any country, the cost of a turkey is enough to make us wonder if we shouldn’t have ordered the bird online, and flown our families over to deliver it and enjoy it with us.  The turkeys we found — and we found four of them in all of Dar es Salaam — were over $65 American money.  That many Tanzanian shillings barely fits in a wallet, and would pay for about 40 African meals in a simple restaurant — or the same number divided between several different simple restaurants if you so preferred.  We didn’t buy a turkey.

Thanksgiving was made for man…
And not man for thanksgiving.

Ovens here are small — most of them anyway.  We can just barely get a single 9 x 13 pan inside, if we hold our mouths just right and kind of balance the pan at a slant, shutting the door very, very carefully.  There’s no such thing as putting several casseroles in to cook at the same time.  Each dish must travel unescorted to meet it’s fiery end in an oven that won’t hold a fixed temperature.  Missionaries in Africa become experts at cooking with the oven door just enough ajar to allow heat to escape at exactly the same rate at which it enters.  Until we run out of propane.

So now it’s 2:45 in the afternoon on Thanksgiving day, and I’ve just returned from exchanging our empty propane tank for a full one.  Now we’re cooking.  It’s our plan to eat at 6:00 tonight…  Chicken…  Without cranberry sauce.  And our families won’t be here to enjoy it with us.  There won’t be any American football on TV — there’s no TV for that matter.  We also won’t have segregated adult and kid tables, or an entire room full of desserts.  But as of right now the refrigerator is working fine, and we’ll have a place to put our leftovers.

We’re so incredibly blessed.  Leftovers… we’ll have leftovers — while many are hungry.  Our parents and siblings won’t be here, but we are with a family of sorts.  Our friends can’t take the place of our moms, but they do remind us of home.  We’ll be able to Skype with our families during the holiday, and I can always check football scores online (War Eagle!).  Christie very much enjoys cooking, even if it does take four days for this one dinner.  Soon we’ll have a baby girl named Baylor, and for that we’re tremendously thankful (and nervous).  God called us to Tanzania and has been faithful to put us here; and even now he daily empowers us to serve his purposes in Geita.  All three of us are healthy, and one of us is tall.  I was able to go running AND play soccer yesterday, and I’m afraid Christie’s had her fill of reading already, but… she can read.  We have countless Christians praying for us, and we can see the Indian Ocean from our dining room window.

Thanksgivings are great here, but a lot of hard work — maybe too much…  I’ve become a firm believer that Thanksgiving was made for man… and not man for Thanksgiving.  Give me God and my family, and something to eat, and I’m a thankful man.  But God’s given me so much more.  And I am thankful.  Even without turkey.

My fellow leaders, we can talk every day but we will not achieve anything for our people who are tired of our lip services. They need development to get out of extreme poverty.

That’s Samuel Sitta in yesterday’s Citizen newspaper. And who could disagree with him – guardian of democratic values, scourge of the corrupt and, let’s not forget, staunch defender of double dipping for allowances)?

And how to get out of poverty in his Urambo East constituency? Power tillers, of course. The occasion was the handing over of 12 power tillers to 12 wards in the constituency. Value? 100 million Tanzanian Shillings. We’ve already seen the unholy alliance of commercial interests and political leaders in Tanzania’s Kilimo Kwanza, or Agriculture First, campaign. So what to make of the Danish government sponsoring the Urambo power tillers, as Sitta claims? Why Urambo East and not, to take a random example, Igunga?

We’ve already recommended the Hubei Fotma power tiller. Sitta and the Danes didn’t take our word for it though. From a close look at the Citizen’s photo of the great event (not on the web see below courtesy Faustine), they’ve gone for the Thailand’s Siam Kubota.

You decide.

Last week my fellow blogUT writer, Julia, wrote a great piece dispelling the alleged evils of social media. This week, I’m continuing that thought.

As Julia mentioned, social media has given us all the opportunity to keep in touch with our friends, reconnect with lost ones, and even share relevant (and well, sometimes not so relevant) information with each other with a simple 140 character tweet. More than anything else, Twitter and other social media tools lets us “learn about and interact with the world in real time, and in a way we never imagined”.

I’d like to take this one step further. Not only has social media given us this chance to connect with each other on a one-on-one basis, but it has also opened the way for a much more far-reaching and collective purpose. Case in point? Tweetsgiving. Never heard of it? Let me give you the low down.

Read more on blogUT.

In case you are thinking of purchasing the new global version of Amazon’s Kindle for Christmas, be aware that there are still quite a few places that the global version will NOT work.  I was disappointed to find that the new version still will not work in my country.

Apparently the new global version will only work in SOME countries.   I thought it would be helpful to most expats to have a complete list of which countries it will, or will not work in (below).

It’s also interesting to note the PATTERN of groups of countries where the Kindle doesn’t work–some countries probably lack satellite coverage or delivery systems, while others probably don’t WANT readers to be able to download whatever they want by satellite.

STARRED (*) countries marked below indicate that Kindle needs to be ordered from a SPECIAL PAGE on the Amazon site.

The Global Kindle version DOES work in (as of Dec. 2009):

Aland Islands, Albania, American Samoa, Andorra, Angola, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Armenia, Aruba, Australia*, Austria, Bahamas, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Benin, Bermuda, Bhutan, Bolivia, Boznia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burundi, Cambodia, Canada, Cape Verde, Cayman Islands, Central African Republic, Colombia, Comoros, Congo, Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Cote d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Denmark, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Falkland Islands, Faroe Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Finland, France, French Guiana, French Polynesia, Gabon, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Gibraltar, Greece, Greenland, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guam, Guatemala, Guernsey, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Holy See, Honduras, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Ireland, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jersey, Kenya, Kiribati, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Latvia, Liberia, Leichtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macao, Macedonia, Madagascar, Malawi, Malta, Marshall Islands, Martinique, Mauritius, Mayotte, Mexico, Moldovia, Monaco, Mongolia, Montenegro, Montserrat, Mozembique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nauru, Nepal, Netherlands, New Caledonia, Nicaragua, Niue, Norfolk Island, Northern Mariana Islands, Norway, Palau, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Puerto Rico, Romania, Russia, Rwanda, Réunion, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, San Marino, Sao Tome and Principe, Serbia, Seychelles, Slovakia, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka,  Suriname, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Tanzania, Timor-Leste, Togo, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, Tuvalu, Uganda, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Uruguay, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Viet Nam, Virgin Islands – British, Virgin Islands – U.S.,  Wallis and Futuna, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

The Global Kindle version does NOT work in (as of Dec. 2009) the following countries:

Afghanistan, Algeria, Antarctica, Argentina, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bouvet Island, British Indian Ocean Territory, Brunei Darussalam, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chile, Chad, China, Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Cuba, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, French Southern Territories, Gambia, Guinea, Heard Island and McDonald Islands, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Isle of Man, Israel, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Korea – Democratic People’s Republic of, Korea – Republic of, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Lesotho, Libya, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco (including the Western Sahara), New Zealand, Niger, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Palestinian Territories, Pitcairn, Qatar, Saint Barthelemy, Saint Helena, Saint Martin, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Somalia, South Georgia and the Sandwich Islands, Sudan, Svalbard and Jan Mayan, Syrian Arab Republic, Tajikistan, Thailand, Tokelau, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, United States Minor Outlying Islands, Uzbekistan,  Yemen.

Nature and Animal Conservation

 

     Preserving species and their habitats is important for ecosystems to self-sustain themselves. Yet, the pressures to destroy habitat for logging, illegal hunting, and other challenges are making conservation a struggle.

Visit : http://www.globalissues.org/article/1…

 What is Biodiversity ?

 

    The variety of life on Earth, its biological diversity is commonly referred to as biodiversity. The number of species of plants, animals, and microorganisms, the enormous diversity of genes in these species, the different ecosystems on the planet, such as deserts, rainforests and coral reefs are all part of a biologically diverse Earth.

   

    Appropriate conservation and sustainable development strategies attempt to recognize this as being integral to any approach. Almost all cultures have in some way or form recognized the importance that nature, and its biological diversity has had upon them and the need to maintain it. Yet, power, greed and politics have affected the precarious balance.

Does it really matter if there arent so many species?

Biodiversity boosts ecosystem productivity where each species, no matter how small, all have an important role to play.

For example, a larger number of plant species means a greater variety of crops; greater species diversity ensures natural sustainability for all life forms; and healthy ecosystems can better withstand and recover from a variety of disasters.

And so, while we dominate this planet, we still need to preserve the diversity in wildlife.

Who Cares?

  Biodiversity boosts ecosystem productivity where each species, no matter how small, all have an important role to play. For example, a larger number of plant species means a greater variety of crops; greater species diversity ensures natural sustainability for all life forms; and healthy ecosystems can better withstand and recover from a variety of disasters.

And so, while we dominate this planet, we still need to preserve the diversity in wildlife.

Loss of Biodiversity and Extinctions

It is feared that human activity is causing massive extinctions. From various animal species, forests and the ecosystems that forests support, marine life. The costs associated with deteriorating or vanishing ecosystems will be high. However, sustainable development and consumption would help avert ecological problems.

 

  

November 25 is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. The white ribbon has become the symbol for the day.

Click on the picture to join the Community

Επειδή οι Αμερικάνοι και το ΝΒΑ πάντα νοιάζονται και φροντίζουν τους φτωχούς και ανήμπορους πολίτες του πλανήτη, το Memphis -με αφορμή τον Τανζανό 7′3 rookie Hasheem Thabeet- αποφάσισε να κάνει μία σημαντική κίνηση που θα βελτιώσει τη ζωή χιλιάδων παιδιών στη Τανζανία.

Όχι… δεν έκανε δωρεά χρημάτων για να χτιστούν υδραγωγεία και νοσοκομεία. Ούτε πρόσφερε ποσότητες φαγητού για χορτάσουν οι εκατομμύρια άστεγοι.

Είχε όμως την ιδέα να στείλει 3000 φανέλες του Allen Iverson στη πατρίδα του Thabeet και να κάνει ευτυχισμένα χιλιάδες παιδιά που ευτυχώς δεν έχουν άλλα προβλήματα και σίγουρα καίγονται για το ΝΒΑ (άσχετα αν το πιθανότερο είναι να μην έχουν τηλεόραση). Η φυγή του ΑΙ από την ομάδα όμως, έφερε τα πάνω κάτω κι ανάγκασε τη διοίκηση να στείλει τελικά φανέλες του Gasol. Το καλό στην υπόθεση είναι ότι δεν έστειλαν φανέλες του Rudy Gay, γιατί δε ξέρω πόσο σωστό θα ήταν σε μία υποανάπτυκτη χώρα της Αφρικής με εγκληματικότητα,  να κυκλοφορούν 3000 Τανζανάκια με τη λέξη GAY στη πλάτη τους με μεγάλα γράμματα

Με αγωνία περιμένουν τις φανέλες Gasol…

Tanzania

I’m just putting the finishing touches on my new book: Tanzania. It is a fine art book of photographs portraying the grandeur of Tanzania, its wildlife and some of the people who live there. My Introduction reads:

Using words alone, I find it impossible to accurately describe a wondrously complex country like Tanzania. While the photographs in this book portray the “Northern Circuit” they are representative of much of the country.

In every way it is a beautiful place, but it is also depressing, straight-forward yet enigmatic, inspiring yet frustrating, challenging yet easy-going. The romantic in me celebrates the wide-open landscapes and wildlife that are little changed in centuries – what Canada once was. The realist in me sees a people hampered by challenges much greater than their economy can solve. Yet Tanzanians are filled with the joy of community and friendship and a joie de vive unparalleled here in Canada. I lament the rapid changes fraught with conflict and tension, yet I yearn for Tanzanians to live their lives free of the afflictions that cause such hardships.

As a writer, this is as far as I go; I hope my photographs can more clearly reveal the grandeur of this great and wondrous country.

– Terry McDonald
November 2009

Tanzania is a beautiful, limited run, 8.5 x 11.25″, 46-page hard cover book with dust jacket and costs just $115 – including delivery  - an ideal Christmas gift for anyone who appreciates great photography and the wonders of Africa.

Featured in the book are images Mount Kilimanjaro, Arusha National Park, Tarangire National Park, the Rift Valley including Ol Doinyo Lengai and Lake Natron, Ngorongoro Crater Conservation Area and Serengeti National Park. As well, I’ve included photos from the bomas of our Maasai friends Kalanga and Baraka showing their extended family. This was a very special time and place for us as their homes are in the real porini (wilderness) north of Monduli near Kitumbeini and the Matisiwi Escarpment – a spectacular area.

Anyone who has travelled to Northern Tanzania would not only recognize the places shown, but will begin to see these wonderful lands in a new light.

I just discovered this delightfully-entertaining, half-hour episode comedy series about a diverse group of Muslims, set in a small Canadian town on on the prairie.  The 20-minute video above is the first episode.

The diverse group of Muslims in the town have the same disagreements among themselves that different groups of Muslims have in their own home countries, or even that different Muslim countries have with each other (between conservative and liberal views of Islam)–but all in an entertaining way.  Of course everyone in the town misunderstands things, in the same ways people misunderstand in real life.

Try this first video.  It’s a very cleverly done Canadian sitcom, filmed in Toronto, Ontario, and Indian Head, Saskatchewan.   The first episode (above) was filmed in Regina.  Little Mosque is the most popular sitcom in Canada and has been syndicated in France, Switzerland, United Arab Emirates, Finland, Turkey, Israel, the West Bank, and African countries.  It is light-hearted, and family-oriented.  Expats who have lived in Muslim countries will especially enjoy this humorous series!

Links to all Little Mosque on the Prairie episodes (Seasons 1 – 4) can be viewed HERE (scroll down the page).   The links are free.

I can’t believe our time in Tabora is nearly over. Time has really flown by!

After being here for two months, I finally feel “settled in.” I feel that we now know the right people to be able to ask questions of and how to ask them. Even something as simple as having a meeting here is different. Early on, when we went into meetings, we’d take the initial awkward silence as an indication to start on our purpose and launch into our questions. Now we’ve learned to wait through the silence (which is only awkward to us!), sign guest books, wait for the formal introductions and sometimes, for the meeting to be formally convened before we launch into anything!

We’ve had scores of meetings and now we’re trying to make as much sense of it as we can, organize our data and get ready to hand it over to our successors. Unfortunately, people here are really slow at getting back to us with anything and we can’t take our American response-time for granted! Barely anyone uses the phone or the internet for anything. For example, if we heard about Joe Schmoe that might be interesting to talk to, we first need an appointment. How do we get an appointment? Find someone in the municipality that knows that Joe and have him go to Joe’s office to get an appointment as opposed to calling or emailing because no one wants to use their cell phones.

At this point, we don’t know if Joe actually knows anything so we can’t really prepare for this meeting. So we meet Joe anyways, figure out what he knows and then try to ask him questions. Everyone here wants a questionnaire so we make one and then usually, someone has to physically hand deliver this questionnaire. It then takes a few weeks of following up (sometimes in person) to get answers, if any. Time’s fluid for everyone but us. Come 3:30 pm, and all the offices are ghost towns. Though Cameron and I have been working almost as much as we would when we’re in Chicago – 7:45 am until about 6 pm at the office and then may be some at home – plus there’s no “water cooler” to hang around here!

It’s really hard to pass on little tid-bits of information about this place that we have found out from living here for two months; information you will never know unless you live here and understand what hardships people here face every day. Some of the information we’ve gathered through talking to people staying in the hotels or casual, off-the-record conversations are very interesting and have given us a lot of insight into the historical, cultural and political aspects of Tabora and how they’ve all played a role in shaping the type of place it is today.

One business owner told us that it’s so hard to run his business that the only reason that he does it is because it’s a personal labor of love. I really hope we don’t lose this kind of information in translation and in putting together a nice, official booklet profiling Tabora. I have to admit, that I’m frustrated at the prospect of leaving here without feeling like I’m done.

On a lighter note, for thanksgiving this week, about 8 of us are planning to do an “Indian feast” catered by a lady who apparently makes great Indian food. I’m sad I’ll be missing black Friday – I don’t know why though – It’s not like I usually pull myself out of bed to go shopping out in the cold, crowded stores when I’m in Chicago! But I will miss our thanksgiving “tradition” of the lunch buffet at Rezas – my favorite Persian restaurant in Chicago with the awesome kebabs (which go with the turkey, cranberry sauce, stuffing and pumpkin pie just fine!) Happy Thanksgiving All!

On November 20, 2009, Norway’s white collar crime unit, Økokrim, charged three former employees of Norconsult AS, one of Norway’s largest consulting firms, with bribing Tanzanian officials in order to secure construction management projects from the national water and sewage authority.  Separately, Økokrim fined Norconsult NOK 4 million (approximately US$711,000) for its role in the conduct, apparently as a settlement “offer.”  Norconsult rejected the fine and intends to contest the government’s charges.  It is expected that the matters will be heard in court sometime in 2010.  Details of this and other international investigations are posted on the TRACE Compendium.

FUENTE | abc.es

Una nueva especie de camaleón, desconocida hasta el momento, acaba de ser descubierta casualmente en Tanzania por un grupo de biólogos de la Universidad de York mientras estudiaban monos en el bosque de Magombera. El hallazgo se produjo cuando los científicos molestaron a una serpiente que estaba devorando a uno de estos novedosos camaleones.
El extraño ejemplar, de unos 15 cm, fue recogido, analizado y comparado con otros dos hallados previamente en la misma zona. Tras comprobar que efectivamente se trataba de una nueva especie, fue bautizado como Kinyongia magomberae (el camaleón de Magombera). Andrew Marshall, que fue el primero en ver al camaleón, ha asegurado que «descubrir una especie nueva es un acontecimiento muy poco corriente, por lo que su identificación y la posterior elección de un nombre es algo realmente excitante».
El animalito se diferencia de otros camaleones, entre otras características, por la distribución de las escamas de su cabeza y por la forma de su apéndice nasal.
La selva de Magombera es uno de los lugares con mayor diversidad biológica de la Tierra. Marshall y su equipo, en efecto, han descubierto ya un gran número de nuevas especies en la zona, desde ranas y musarañas a moluscos y ciempiés.
Toda una riqueza biológica que Marshall intenta preservar. El bosque, sin embargo, no está considerado como «área protegida» por el gobierno tanzano y los investigadores consideran que se encuentra en grave riesgo de desaparición a causa del desarrollo urbanístico e industrial de la zona.

Compartir:

Url: http://elboligrafo.es/2009/11/25/nueva-especie-camaleon/

The YES7 students recently were given an assignment to write a poem about their experience in the YES Program thus far. The assignment was very broad — it could be about meeting their host family, going to a new school, integrating into their community or anything about their experience.

The winning poems were sent to the State Department and will be featured on IRIS’s website. The five winners were:

• “The Waiting,” by Daniel Ishaya
• “Then the Day Came and I Saw…” by Elia Homange
• “A Magical Dream,” by Eshpa Mollel
• “My New Experiences in America,” by Muna El Hadhramy
• “The Dream,” by Terver Kelvin Ubwa

The staff also awarded two Staff Pick awards for other creative poems to:

• “House 209,” by Sunday Ishaya (based on Psalm 23)
• “The Lazy American ‘T,’” by Tijjani Halilu

(From the Home page, click “read more…” to see and read the full poems!)

The Waiting

by Daniel Ishaya

I dreamed
From Nigeria, West Africa
Of going to the United States.
I wished my thoughts could make it so.
Not thinking it possible,
I waited.

When asked if I wanted to sit for a test,
A chance to come to America,
I said, “Yes!”
And again,
I waited.

I tested,
Then tested again.
first a hundred… then thirty-six of us.
Finally,
I was summoned
To the state capital,
Gombe.

At the Ministry of Education
I saw my competition,
But we were competitors no more
Having received the highest scores.
We were off to America.

But…
Now January,
We wouldn’t leave till August,
Eight months
To think and wait.
Worry and wonder.
Poking and prodding,
Vaccinating and x-raying,
Doctors ensuring we were healthy.

August,
Eight hours on a bus.
Going to Abuja, the capital-
Three trips in all
Waiting.
Orientation experiences
Meeting,
Learning,
Interviewing.
The United States’ Embassy,
Whoa!
An interview with a white man.
Nervous, I chose to go first.

August 4, 6:00 a.m. – board bus to Abuja.
9:00 p.m. – board plane
Sixteen hours later – arrive in Des Moines, IA.
I, Daniel Ishaya, am in the
United States of America!

I want to see my host family,
Instead we go to eat.
Whoa! American food.
Scary thought – scarier sight!

We are blessed.
To go to Washington, D.C.
I want to meet my host family,
But more waiting.

We fly once again
Sight seeing…
Walk.
White House…
Walk.
Capitol…
Walk.
State Department…
Walk.
Holocaust Museum…
Walk.
Arlington National Cemetery…
Walk.
Lincoln Memorial…
Walk.
Fly again

Back to Iowa.
Excitement builds
With my anticipation.
My host family
Is in the auditorium,
I am outside-
Waiting
Finally,
The doors fly open,
The families rush out.
They are anxious as we are.
The waiting is over.
Everyone is scanning.
Searching,
Looking for that one face-
The face of our family.

No more waiting!

The Day Came and I Saw…

by Elia Homange

They told me of a school
It sounded very cool
Then the day came and I saw…

I had to take some tests
I had to be better then the rest
Then the dame came and I saw…

I traveled very far
By bus, by plane, by car
Then the day came and I saw…

I arrive in DeWitt
And wondered if I would fit
Then the day came and I saw…

I found a loving family
It seemed a perfect fit for me
Then the day came and I saw…

I wanted to be in a sport
Though I was not of that sort
Then the day came and I saw…

I thought that I would run
Up hills through mud wasn’t fun
Then the day came and I saw…

Teaching of a different kind
Is exercise for my mind
Then the day came and I saw…

When it was chorus time for singing
I wished to stop the bell from ringing
Then the day came and I saw…

I’ve watched people of my age
Perform on the stage
Then the day came and I saw…

I saw the Hawkeye Marching Band
It must be the best band in the land
Then the day came and I saw…

On the Mississippi, I did some boating
Also skiing, tubing, and floating
Then the day came and I saw…

The leaves began to fall
We had to rake them all
Then the day came and I saw…

On Halloween I could see my breath
The haunted houses scared me to death
Then the day came and I saw…

…that to me everything was new!

A Magical Dream

by Eshpa Mollel

I counted to three, three letters appeared
I continued to count, a number revealed
Isn’t it magical, I made YES 7
Everything is possible with YES 7

Above oceans, seas, lakes, mountains, and forests
From one culture to another
From experience to experience
Everything is made possible by YES 7

Making dreams come true
Creating memories to share
Cherished dreams and everlasting memories
Everything is made possible by YES 7

Best families… so lovely
Best coordinators… so caring
Best friends that last forever
Everything is made possible by YES 7

Now I am strong, my fears overcome
Now I can smile, I feel so secure
Now I am courageous and stand on my own
All is made possible by YES 7

From deep down in my heart, I thank you
From my fainting heart, I pray for you
From my loving heart, I care for you
From my shrinking heart, I’ll miss you

Everything is made possible by YES 7!

My New Experiences in America

by Muna Elhadhramy

My life in America is very fun
My journey began under the sun

I met my host parents and they were glad
For me to call them mom and dad

I enjoy spending time with them
We share stories and have a lot of fun

Pippi is our family dog’s name
I run from her but it is no game

I enjoy the American food very much
And I take time to eat a bunch

Spaghetti my mom did make
And yummy cookies she did bake

Each day I am so very bold
But oh! It is so very cold

The trees were very large and green
But now the wind and rain have stripped them clean

Ogden High School is very busy
I learned this when my pop got fizzy

Meeting new friends and going new places
I tried to remember all the new faces

My classes are hard and my teacher’s are funny
My history teacher …………. he is hyper as a bunny

I joined volleyball on my second day
We ran a lot to my dismay

I notice girls clothing as they are walking by
Are those shorts legal? I cover my eyes

Shifting classes confusing me
Lost I always seemed to be

Typing is not my specialty
I get lost within all the keys

I cha cha to the left and then to the right
Homecoming here was such a delight

During football games I cheer and stand
Especially during the marching band

Students at Ogden are very kind
I ask them help and they don’t mind

I really like my family and school
I promise to teach and don’t break the rules.

The Dream

by Terver Kelvin Ubwa

Like a sweet dream
I climbed the hurdles
Separating my real world and my dream world
My dream world filled with welcoming faces
Hugged me with love and kindness
with support and love
Which only my blood could give
Even my real world could only gaze at such love.

Lonely but contented
I towered my new found world
Peace I discovered in the friendliness
Joy I found in the understanding
Wanted I felt when I looked at happy faces.

Like a beautiful nightmare
Struggling to combine my two worlds
hard but gently and smoothly
like egg yolk mixing with flour
Blending with each other slowly
and finally it blends

Then suddenly my eyes filled with tears
When my real world comes calling
and my dream world gives away
Would my eyes ever dry
Would I find such joy
and understanding
Would love ever come my way
Would my tears flow forever

Like all dreams end
I discovered it was not just a dream
it was an adventure
it was an experience filled with fun
and a thousand miles from an ordeal.

Staff Picks:

House 209

by Sunday Ishaya
(Poem based on Psalm 23.)

IRIS is my guide, I shall not fear.
It lets me lay down beside cool Storm Lake -
And it leads me beside the Methodist Church – down to my school.
It restores my dollars every month
For its rules sake.
Even though I pass through the valley of the shadow of a thousand ladies – I make no girlfriend!
For I know your spices are with me – on the road and in town.
IRIS prepares a table before me in the World Food Prize
Though the rice is without salt, I still manage it with water.
Surely the first flight to Nigeria is waiting for me all the rest of my stay -
But I shall dwell in Terry’s House 209 from now until May.

The Lazy American ‘T’

by Tijjani Halilu

I was able to Identify
Though Ratify
How Americans Defy
The presence of ‘T’ to the so-called ‘D’

Something of surprise
Though rationalize
When they suncualize
Even if I try
When I say Peanut Butter
They said Peanud Budder

When I say Water Bottle
They said Wader Boddle
When I say Little
They said Liddle
They keep changing Atom to Adom, Better to Bedder, Newton to Newdn

Can’t they get it right?

Bottle — Boddle
Katie — Kadie
Mountain — Moundn
Katie — Kadie

It never makes sense to me… this LAZY American ‘T’

THANKSGIVING JUST GOT A BIT MORE SOCIAL

Making the Tasty Treats

The first year my mother tried to make a turkey, she apparently over-stuffed the bird and a turkey powder keg blew a hole through the oven door exploding precious white meat all over the wall of our kitchen. Being that I had heard this story on numerous occasions, my first attempt at bird making was very well planned.

Here are a few sites to help get you started using language even the most beginner chef can understand. As an added bonus, after several years of trial-and-error, the Marauder kitchen recommends sage butter (and lots of it) underneath the skin. Also, when attempting to brine, soaking a bird in the crisper overnight is probably not the best idea…

How-Tos:

Videos to impress the giblets out of your friends:

Amazing recipes itemized by course:

Wine Pairing

Gary Vaynerchuk from Wine Library TV offers 12 wine selections to pair with the bird, a somewhat more difficult wine-pairing item.

Giving Thanks

Tweetsgiving

Last year, Epic Change launched Tweetsgiving raising $11,000 for charity in 48 hours. Those donations were used to build a classroom in Tanzania. How’s that for giving thanks? This year, the bar has been raised to $100,000. While many are returning for their third plate of stuffing, Tweetsgiving will be raising awareness across social networks from YouTube to Twitter asking users what they are thankful for. Follow @tweetsgiving on Twitter and tweet about what you’re thankful for from now until the 27^th using the hashtag “#tweetsgiving” at the end of your tweet.

Socialvibe

Socialvibe donates to charity by marketing brands such as Kraft, Timberland, and Powerbar. Every time a brand is successfully marketed, charity benefits. At first, I thought this sounded a little sleazy. But really, marketers scream for your attention on a daily basis. At least in this case, charities benefit somewhere along the line.

Download the Thanksgiving Feast App to play. Every time you add a meal to the table, a real meal is provided through the UN World Food Programme.

Setting the Mood: Best Thanksgiving Song

Sure, this song is old but no has yet to top Adam Sandler on the joys of Thanksgiving.

Talking Tryptophan

Yet again this year, you can get your thanks on via many of your favorite social networks.

Get real-time cooking advice from the Butterball team either on their Twitter feed or Facebook page.

What to do when mom locks herself in the bathroom because your 35-year old brother insists on making fart noises at the table? Butterball may not have the answer for that one…

Get your spirit on with 23,000 of your other friends on the Thanksgiving fan page.

Mobile App Fun

iHost: Thanksgiving

Developed by a Rhode Islander (big-ups to my home state), iHost helps you get organized from menu, shopping list to budget. Their most recent update supposedly added recipes from local Newport, RI chefs. A little Rhode Island flavor has come to southern California. Very nice.

Chef’s Timer

If you’ve cooked with your iPhone in tow, as I always do, you know the device only has one timer. In most situations, that works just fine. But, what about situations where you have three side dishes and a turkey crammed into your tiny NYC oven while your friends stare at your assortment of tiny snacks in disdain? Yup…there’s an app for that.

Thanksgiving = Football

For those of you who know me, you understand why this comes last in the list. I know next to nothing about football. I do know that the grunting emanating from living rooms countrywide leads me to believe that you all care. This year, the NFL is offering a central portal for all 3 Thanksgiving games.

From Marauder’s home to yours, have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Related articles by Zemanta

• The TwitterKids of Tanzania (epicchangeblog.org)
• Thanksgiving Wine Picks: A Trainwreck of Love (dirtysouthwine.com)
• How To Cook A Turkey: 7 Tips From Butterball University (huffingtonpost.com)
• Turkey tips from experts at Butterball University (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• Brine Your Thanksgiving Turkey for Juicier Results [Food] (lifehacker.com)
• Recipes for a Vegan Thanksgiving (well.blogs.nytimes.com)
• How To Carve a Turkey (howcast.com)

Pristagarna 2009

Idag var det stor prisdag för “Göteborgspriset för hållbar utveckling”. I år med tre mycket spännande och intressanta pristagare,  Anna Kajumulo Tibaijuka, Tanzania, Enrique Peñalosa, Bogotá, Colombia och Sören Hermansen, Samsö, Danmark. Jag är med i juryn och vi åt traditionsenligt frukost med pristagarna. Det var en mycket uppsluppen frukost med oerhört dynamiska personer. Inspirerande med internationell utblick! Anna Tibaijuka är den första afrikanska undersekreteraren i FN, dessutom en stark och stridbar kvinna som skall ansvara för att världens större städer blir hållbara, dels kring slum, energi och miljöaspekter.

Sören Hemrmansen är pionjären som har drivit Samsö till att bli helt självförsörjande av alternativ energi. Visserligen enbart 4000 invånare, men med ett gräsrotsperspektiv där man gått från ord till handling. Gemensamt för de tre är att de har gått mot strömmen. Vågat ta strid och i efterhand visat sig vara “vinnare”. Frågan är om det är för få som vågar i Sverige och Västsverige…?  Enrique Peñalosa, som var borgmästare i Bogotá. Där han förändrade staden vad avser trafiksituation, slum och kriminalitet. En av hans huvudbudskap var att han ansåg att vi i framtiden skulle bygga städer för människor inte för bilar. Gaturummet upptas till 4/5 av bilarnas utrymme och resterande del för människorna. En intressant reflektion där han poängterade att det inte var ett ställningstagande mot bilar generellt.

I det sammanhanget var det en tråkig nyhet som kom under senefternmiddagen. Köpet av Saab har stoppats av Koenigsegg. Jag skriver mer om det i morgondagens blogg.