NAIROBI IS STILL SAFE!

Of late Kenya has been making headlines and not because another marathon runner won a race nor the wildbeest have re-started the wildebeest migration, but because Kenya has gone to war in Somalia. Even though the word war is involved, it is not what you may imagine.

Kenya being one of the stable countries in East Africa, she has opened her doors to many of her sourrounding neighbours who are subtle in war or still not stable economically. Most of these people come in as refugees and are in need of help, therefore Kenya has a number of refugee help camps on its borders especially where Kenya and Somalia borderlines are. This however has somewhat turned into a turmoil because Somalia has militia groups who have been terrorising the Somalia people for years now and they seem to have gone a notch higher by penetrating  the Kenya coast and abducting tourists especially in Lamu where our coast lines meet!

On numerous ocassions the militia group in question, Alshabab believed to be an arm of the Al-queda terrorist group,has attacked not only Kenyan or African ships but European and Asian ships too on these very same waters.Kenyan government therefore decided to send military troops into Somalia to protect herself and more so, the ever increasing number of Somali refugees in Kenya who have fled their country because of the Al shabab.

Fear has spread the streets and into other countries that with this war position, Kenya is no-longer safe. However, the government has deployed heavy security all over the cities with all buildings and malls doing the same. The tourism minister released a press statement earlier in the week, stating that Kenya and her cities are still safe for tourists and their should not fear nor cancel their trips.

I also agree with the government, i live and work in the city center and even though the Alshabab have issued threats, i do not believe Kenya should be deemed as an unsafe place. Maybe we need to take more precatution and keep our eyes open but would  this mean we close our doors to the helping the refugees too?What do you think?


 

Poaching - It must stop!

It is with deep sorrow that i write about this topic after all that has been said and done to try and curb poaching! One week ago, another rhino was killed in the act of poaching in Kenya's rhino conservancy, dubbed as one of East Africa's largest rhino sanctuary, the Ol Pejeta Conservancy. The rhino was known as Chebii, she was a mother of a four month male rhino calf. 

For those of you who may not know, rhinos are among the animals on the endangered species list with only a few hundred estimated to be living! The most ridiculous and insane thing about these poaching / killings is not that the poachers are killing for just the horns of these animals because of the cash value they carry but it is believed that myths surrounding the horns of rhinos and elephants say they are good for medicinal purposes! If you think that's insane get this, Chebii (the recently killed rhino) was found not only missing her horns but her nipples and a piece of vulva had been removed!Sounds like a horror movie.These animal body parts are said to be for the use of witchcraft!! How sickening is this?!!!

In Kenya if you are caught in the act of poaching and are charged in court, your sentence would be a fine of KES 2,000 (approximately US$ 25) only!!This means if you are going to sell one piece of horn (black market) about US$ 15,000, what is a fine of US$ 25 to you?! Well, currently the government is discussing on amending the wildlife act and we just have to wait and see where that will take us. If they asked my opinion, i think these poachers need a much bigger fine and probably prison sentence to help curb poaching...


It is highly believed that the Chinese are the probable high number of buyers especially because of the cultural ties in regards to ornamental value and  (largely pseudo-scientific) medicinal purposes. It is with this effect that our friends at the Ol Pejeta conservancy have come up with a petition that they plan on passing to the China High Commission in Nairobi, Kenya and hopefully have an agreement with the Chinese government on what measures should be taken in order to protect these animals!

Please follow the link to add your name to the petition: China - Stop the killing of elephants and rhinos across Africa!

Pay it forward blogfest

I am glad i decided to visit other blogs today, otherwise i would have missed this and missed the chance to meet many new bloggers!

So as the challenge requests, here are my three blogs;

1. Karen :  Hope,Faith and life

2. Misha:  My First Book

3. Angela Felsted: My poetry and Prose Place

Please visit, Follow these blogs and if you manage, visit the below too..

The Wildcat

I always used to think that wildcats were big, mean and ..well, wild as the name suggest. This may be because i am obsessed with wild animals and when someone utters the word wild all that comes in my mind are game reserves and forests.... My thoughts were however not wrong but partly wrong.

Real facts about Wildcats
According to wikipedia and the little knowledge i have, wildcats are small, similar to the domesticated cats, native to Europe, western part of Asia and Africa.They hunt small mammals,birds and other creatures of similar size.There are several subspecies distributed in different regions world wide.

The History 
An interesting fact though, a study suggest that all current house cats in the world are descendants from a group of self domesticating wildcats 10,000 years ago, somewhere in the Near East. It is believed that this domestication occurred when the Agricultural Revolution yielded grain, which would be stored in granaries, that attracted rodents, which in turn attracted cats!

The more i learnt about wildcats the more i started to relate to them. Even though we human beings act all civil and...domesticated, we all have a wild side in us and just like the domesticated cat, when provoked we show our wild side, and just like the wildcat subspecies that choose to remain wild all these years after the Agricultural Revolution and not get domesticated, we at times choose to be a wildcat.

So do you have a wildcat side inside of you or are you simply a wildcat?

Images credited - wikipedia.org

Invisible Impala

It has been a while since i sat down and commited to writing an article on my blog. Of course there is the excuse that i am too busy and that i do not seem to have time anymore but the real truth is,i was scared that if i were to start writting, i would probably get down to saying what i really felt. That sounds quite deep!

Recently, i have been feeling like an Impala grazing in one of the Kenyan parks!Impalas are beautiful, simple and independant which are all good things but when people visit the park all they seem to see are the big five!!The lion,elephant,leopard,buffalo and rhino! If other animals are around, not much attention is given to the Impala. They are treated as though they are simply an extra in a play! I know i am runting but the truth is even though we are not the big five, it is always important to know that someone else will see your beauty as i noticed that of the Impala.

Facts about the Impala
1. An Imapala is a medium sized African Antelope. The name comes from a Zulu word meaning gazelle.
2. They are mainly found in Kenya, Tanzania, Swaziland, Mozambique, Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Southern Angola, South Africa and Uganda.
3. There estimated to be of about 2 million in Africa.

So do you ever feel like an Impala?