A little something from Wangari Maathai - Earth's greatest environmentalist

This week Kenya and the world mourns the death of a world known environmentalist after she passed away due to cancer, Professor Wangari Maathai.

Maathai became a key figure in Kenya since founding the movement in 1977, staunchly campaigning for environmental conservation and good governance gaining world wide fame when she won the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize for her reforestation work in her native Kenya making her the first African woman, the first Kenyan and the first environmentalist to receive this honour. Her organisation, The Green Belt Movement has so far planted some 40 million trees across Africa and increasing. 

 

 

As the bird in the video above, her courage, strength and determination in conserving the environment did not only speak of what should be done but what we ought to have done, conserve, conserve and conserve! I may have not met her in real life, but from what i have read and watched, she's truly an inspiration to not only myself but Kenya and the World!We ought to walk in her shoes and continue her efforts but most importantly, we need to keep her dream alive!

Earth will miss you Professor Maathai !

The Sea Safari - Please vote for my story!

Last year i took a trip down to the Kenyan coast and gave you all detailed reports in a two part blog series. The first day was described in the blog as Mombasa; Our version of Las Vegas and Hawaii and the second day was described as What happens in Mombasa stays in Las Vegas or is it Hawaii.

This trip holds very special moments in my life especially in my travel life, thus why when i heard of this competition that was being run by one of the local airlines in Kenya (Air Kenya Airways), i knew i had to enter my travel story.

I explain my story with my pictures, from how we went on a sea game drive, to crushing a wedding and how the people at the coast are very friendly. So where's the catch? I need your Votes to win the prize!!!

 

The prize consists of a romantic cruise on the Swahiliana Dhow on the Kenyan Coast,Lamu. Lamu is an ancient town where the Swahili culture lives and thrives!It is one of those towns that time has left untouched, with no vehicles nor state-of-the art roads or technology! It is simple yet a gem in our world...and i need you to VOTE  for me! Everyday you are entitled to one vote. I am deppending widely on the blogsphere world to support one of their own! Please pass this to all the bloggers everywhere!

Thank you!

Angela, xoxo.   

For those who cant access the link please cope and paste this link:   

https://apps.facebook.com/contestshq/contests/145034/voteable_entries/28187533

Starfish: Beauty without Brains?

Besides the Dolphine, i am pretty much scared when it comes to sea animals. A year ago, i did a sea safari while holidaying at our Kenyan Coast and was suprised to learn the number of animals that can be found in the sea! I was introduced to Sea Urchins, Sea Cucumber, Stonefish, Sea Spider and many more. Among the many more was the Starfish.

I always thought this creature was outstanding especially with all the bright colours that they have however, what seemed to amaze me even more was the fact that if you were to remove the Starfish from the water the colour would change. Meaning while in water, being alive gave it some sought of life thus the living bright colour, but once it was out of the water and dried in the sun...well it would loose the colour.

Facts:

• There are over 1800 Starfish species discovered and many more waiting to be discovered.
• They feed on mollusks such as calms,oysters,some snails or any other animal too slow to avoid the attack,or simply decomposed animal and plant material.
• They have no brains, literary!

The Chameleon

Lately i have been going through some very interesting life events. Things have been changing from this to that at times even without my knowledge. I must say the changes have really toiled with my emmotions.I cannot remember a time i have been this hopeful yet this full of despair nor can i recal a time i have cried so much yet laughed as much!My life situation made me think of the Chameleon...does it enoy how often it changes or does it hate or maybe, it could careless what happens to its body?!

Real Chameleon Facts

Chameleons are a distinctive and highly specialized clade of lizards. They are distinguished by their parrot-like feet, seperately mobile and stereoscopic eyes,their very long, highly modified and rapidly extrudable tounges, their tail,crests or horns on their distinctively shaped heads and especially their ability to change colour. There about 160 different species of chameleons. They are mostly found in warm habitats that vary from rain forest to desert conditions.

So coming back to my life,the religious part of me tells me my life is all planned out and should not stress at all and maybe thats how the Chameleon feels, its changing colour is all part of nature.In short, it is all normal and a part of what we call life.

September Swahili Sparrow

The Last time i actually wrote about a bird was in April when I did the April blog challange. Not that I never think of writting about birds, just that birds are those creatures who are constantly in our everyday life that we never give much attention to, as we should. What i mean is if a lion was to appear outside your window you would probably faint in shock or freeze in shock,then later narate the story to all your pals endlessly, wheras birds appear almost, if not everyday on our windows, when we are driving or walking etc but we do not pay much attention...

Introducing the Sparrow

 The sparrows, true sparrows, or Old World sparrows all in the family Passeridae are small passerine birds.
As eight or more species nest in or near buildings, and the House Sparrow and Eurasian Tree Sparrow in particular inhabit cities in large numbers, sparrows may be the most familiar of all wild birds. This means in the number of hours you have been awake today, you have probably seen more than two (2) sparrows without your knowledge!


Fact
There over 20 different species of sparrows and one which i bound to never forget is the Swahili Sparrow,which lives in the Savannah of southern Kenya and Tanzania. So which of the many sparrows do you think you have come across today?

Meet the Swahili Sparrow!!! Did you know she exists?!