Africa
Category archives for Africa
From Fit to Fat to Fit and Back: Exercise and Weight Loss
Posted by Greg Laden on January 10, 2010 Did you ever watch cattle? I mean, really watch them, for a few hours? Mostly they just sit or stand around munching on grass, chewing their cud, or snoozing. But every once in a while a handful of them will stand up and point in one direction. And they may take a few steps in…
Nyamulagira Volcano and Human Evolution
Posted by Greg Laden on January 4, 2010 I had mentioned earlier that the volcanoes of the Virugna region in the Western Rift Valley (as well as other highland spots) have often been islands of rain forest separated from each other by different habitats, including grasslands and wooded savannas. this has produced an island effect that has been a laboratory for evolution, and…
The Volcano Nyamuragira: Some Context
Posted by Greg Laden on January 3, 2010 Nyamuragira, just now erupting, is one of the numerous Virunga Volcanoes, which form a large cluster of volcanoes spanning the border of Congo, Rwanda and Uganda, between Lake Ex-Edward (a.k.a. Lake Rutenzege) and Lake Kivu. The largest population center is Goma, on Lake Kivu, along the southern margin of the lava fields from these volcanoes,…
Congo Volcano Erupting
Posted by Greg Laden on January 2, 2010 Mount Nyamulagira, 25km (16 miles) from the eastern city of Goma, erupted at dawn on Saturday, sending lava into the surrounding Virunga National Park. About 40 endangered chimpanzees and other animals live in the area. But the country’s famous critically endangered mountain gorillas are said to be safe as they live further east. source These…
Crocs Afar
Posted by Greg Laden on October 23, 2009 One day, about six thousand years ago (or more like 15 thousand ? the timing of this is disputed) a volcano in the vicinity of Mwea, Uganda blasted a huge volume of stuff into the air, covering the surrounding landscape and choking off most of the life forms living in a nearby lake. (A very…
RIP Franco
Posted by Greg Laden on October 14, 2009 We knew what you meant, even if the Big Man never did.
The meme of honourable death
Posted by Greg Laden on September 25, 2009 The Anglo Boer War (in what is now South Africa from October 11th, 1899 to May 31st, 1902) was a turning point in European style military history. Previously, infantry would operate in large blocks that would move forward, turn and open or close ranks, and winning an infantry engagement would involve getting your columns around…
Primitive Cultures are Simple, Civilization is Complex (A falsehood) I
Posted by Greg Laden on September 21, 2009 This is yet another in a series of posts on falsehoods. To refresh your memory, a falsehood is a belief held by a number of people that is in some way incorrect. That incorrectness may be blatant, it may be subtle, it may be conditional, it may be simple, it may be complex. But, the…
Embassy Bomber Killed in Somalia?
Posted by Greg Laden on September 14, 2009 One of the senior planners of the attacks on the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania a few years back is reported killed by US special operations troops in a raid that happened earlier today in Somalia. Here’s a link to a story with some detail, but obviously not caught up yet.
Sierra Leone Ferry Sunk
Posted by Greg Laden on September 10, 2009 More than 200 people remain missing in Sierra Leone a day after a boat capsized, killing at least 8, police said on Thursday. Police official Ibrahim Samura said most of the passengers onboard were schoolchildren returning from holidays in the West African nation. more
The poor and the dark skinned have more babies than the rich and the light skinned
Posted by Greg Laden on August 31, 2009 Good morning and welcome to another installment of “The Falsehoods.” Today’s falsehood is the assertion that the poor have more babies than the rich, or that the poor just have more babies to begin with. In comparison to … whatever.
A True Ghost Story Part 5: The Grave on the Hill
Posted by Greg Laden on July 17, 2009 … continued … One of the main reasons we were staying in Kimberley at all was to assist the museum staff with a particular, and rather singular, survey and excavation. The location and circumstances of this field project were quite remarkable.
A true ghost story. Part I: A City of Death and Misery
Posted by Greg Laden on July 13, 2009 Everything I’m about to tell you in this story is true.1 This is a long story, so it may span more than one blog post. You might not want to read this story while you are alone or while sitting in the dark.2
Wildlife in Protected Areas Compared to Non-Protected Areas of Kenya
Posted by Greg Laden on July 9, 2009 It has become virtually axiomatic that as climate shifts or other potential insults to the ecology of a given area occur, plants and animals enclosed in parks bounded by “impermeable” landscapes are at great risk. Instead of the extreme ranges of a plant or animal moving north or south, or across a gradient of rainfall,…
What a Difference a Century Can Make
Posted by Greg Laden on July 8, 2009 At the beginning of the 20th century, a traveler in Central Africa made mention of some strange people that he had come across. He was traveling among regular, run-of-the-mill natives…probably Bantu-speaking people living in scattered villages and farming for their food. But along the way, strange people came out of the forest. These strange people…
Mail Order Brides and Hypergyny
Posted by Greg Laden on July 1, 2009 Seymour had a mail order bride and he was very proud. Seymour was a night watchman that I got to know because I was forever lurking around at night, passing through alarmed doors and making a nuisance of myself and, usually, keeping just one step ahead of Seymour, who’s main objective in life was to…
The good book
Posted by Greg Laden on June 28, 2009 Whenever I sat at Joseph and Mary’s dinner table, Mary showed a great deal of interest in my work. In between her frequent forays away from the dining room table to get this or that food item, or to issue instructions to a servant, or whatever, she would sit at the table across from me…
Don’t be a Jew
Posted by Greg Laden on June 27, 2009 Joseph and Mary, and Little Joe and Mary, and Grinker and I, sat around the table where most of the dinner had been laid out. Additional bits and pieces of the dinner would be brought out as needed shortly, but now it was time to pray. So we held hands and bowed our heads, and…
Dirty poor people living in slime: Missionaries and American Idol
Posted by Greg Laden on June 26, 2009 Actual missionaries As you may have noticed, I have written a series of posts about missionaries in eastern Zaire in the 1980s and early 1990s, focusing on my own personal experiences. These seven posts represent only a small number of these experiences, but they are more or less representative. They are meant to underscore the…
Attack of the Hound of Malembi. Or, “Whose are these people, anyway?”
Posted by Greg Laden on June 26, 2009 As I’ve mentioned previously, the study site I worked in was beyond the Peace Corps Line. It was beyond the Blender Line. And it was beyond the Beer Line. Out here in this arguably very remote area, we were never short of remoteness. Every year the study site become more and more remote, as roads…
Michael Jackson Thrilled The Kids in Zaire
Posted by Greg Laden on June 25, 2009 I have only one Michael Jackson story.
The Great White Missionary
Posted by Greg Laden on June 25, 2009 It was a rare day that I was at the Ngodingodi research station at all … usually I was off in the forest with the Efe Pygmies, up the road excavating an archaeological site. It was also rare that Grinker, my cultural anthropologist colleague, was at the research station. He was spending most of his…
Our Research Camp as a Mission Station
Posted by Greg Laden on June 24, 2009 A couple of “missionary” posts back, I intimated that we got to stay at the missionary stations while visiting various cities or en route between points in return for our work giving out medicine and such at our research camp. In truth, the arrangement was a bit more complex and subtle than this, and in…
Forget the Maginot Line, What About the Beer Line?
Posted by Greg Laden on June 23, 2009 Near the end of the earth there are lines one might not cross for fear of falling off. OK, you won’t really fall off, but you will become scared and lost.
On a Mission from God
Posted by Greg Laden on June 22, 2009 Lately I’ve been reading the 19th and early 20th century traveler’s accounts of what is now known as the Western Rift Valley and the Ituri Forest, Congo. Some are written by the famous ‘explorers’ such as H.M. Stanley, others written by scientists on expeditions in the area, and still others by missionaries. Reading these accounts…
King Leopold’s Soliloquy
Posted by Greg Laden on June 21, 2009 Through the filter of time … a repost that may still be interesting to you from two years ago. I’m reminded of this work of literature owing to a recent discussion on another post. I like to point this text out whenever I get a chance, and since I’ve got a blog, this is an…
Guinea Worm Disease
Posted by Greg Laden on June 16, 2009 Here is the Guinea Worm Movie, and for more information and additional links, click here. Minor Africa Story hidden below the fold.
Flight 447 and the ITCZ
Posted by Greg Laden on June 9, 2009 I had never felt airsick before, or since. But now I was a nauseated rag doll flopping around in the middle row of a six seater prop plane and I was ready to hurl at any moment. BBC depiction of the path of Flight 447. I find it astonishing that the most important weather related…
Shell Folds in Nigerian Killings Case
Posted by Greg Laden on June 9, 2009 Royal Dutch Shell has agreed a $15.5m (£9.7m) out-of-court settlement in a case accusing it of complicity in human rights abuses in Nigeria. It was brought by relatives of nine anti-oil campaigners, including author Ken Saro-Wiwa, who were hanged in 1995 by Nigeria’s then military rulers. The oil giant strongly denies any wrongdoing and says…
Rape Crisis in East Congo Tied to Mining Activity
Posted by Greg Laden on June 2, 2009 -Activists concerned by this year’s escalation of sexual violence in eastern Congo are trying to turn up the heat on those benefitting–directly or indirectly–from illicit mineral extractions. “Conflict minerals power our entire electronic industry,” John Prendergast, co-founder of the Enough Project, told U.S. senators at a May 13 hearing on sexual violence in eastern Congo…
, which is now available for the 
