A wood carver using a foot operated lathe - very basic but effective. He is making candlesticks from African Blackwood - Mpingo, which is becoming rare in its natural environment.
This was on the Moshi - Nairobi road and I waited in the car while the womenfolk looked for souvenirs. I could see a guy creeping towards the vehicle - he had noticed they had left their bags in the back seat and had not locked the door. I watched him as he crept closer and closer, then turned and locked the door. I quickly got out of the car and he ran off!
This is Mama Miriam with her little boy, Noah. From the village of Engorora Mama Miriam was the wife of the Environmental Co-coordinator. His bicycle leans on the wall.
Miriam was a good student at the local school and will by now be around 27 years old - I wonder how she is?
Noah is wearing clothes my sister sent over.
We visited the Great Zimbabwe Ruins while we were in Zimbabwe. I had never heard of them before and remain amazed at them.
The history is not really known, but the collection of stone and building must have taken an age!
Great Zimbabwe covered a large area and anyone visiting Zimbabwe should take the time to see the ruins. There were few tourist when we went there - most were Zimbabweans.
We spent a day there an were in awe of those who built the place.
I could not stop taking photos and this corridor area amazed me. There were Baobab trees throughout showing the age of the place. The stonework varied in quality because, I guess of the time it took to build, but here, the work is very good.
I guess these things are called 'ramparts', but again it shows the amount of rock that was needed to build all the structures. I have shown just a morsel.
The rock-work blended in with the natural rock. The rocks seemed to have no mortar and fitted well.
The guy selling crafts outside the Great Zimbabwe Ruins area was a nice fellow. The lack of tourists had made scraping a living very difficult for him. He said he made all of the crafts himself - I had no reason to disbelieve him.
As a child I had seen a movie at school about locusts, what they did and how they controlled them. I still can see the fixed wing aircraft applying insecticide and needing to use windscreen wipers to clear the view. So I was pretty excited to see a swarm locusts while I attended a course in the Eastern Highlands.
I expected that when the locusts landed, they would eat all the green vegetation in sight, but the just seemed to run out of energy and land to rest - then they took off again. There are a few at Waipara, North Canterbury. We used to see them while working in tussock areas.
We travelled by train to Victoria Falls and hired bicycles to enter Zambia. The Zambezi River is huge and is the water makes the Victoria Falls.
The roar and the mist is spectacular and the micro-climate interesting.
It sure is a mighty river!
It is difficult these days to understand the motivation an courage of the man David Livingston.
It was somewhere here that Stanley found him, and I guess he too was an intrepid fellow.
Plenty is known about these two but do we really understand?
With my small camera it is not possible to capture the grandeur of Victoria Falls, but it is easy to see in other media. I feel fortunate to have visited there.
The Zambezi River was at its lowest for some 40 years while we were there, so I was able to walk out to the very edge of the falls and sit there. Normally water would be pouring over there. Awesome.
In the rock pools there was money that tourists had tossed in, presumably for luck. I am amazed that locals had not collected it up.
There are many spectacular views of the falls and there are all sorts of activities that are related to the falls. Quite a few too that are unrelated!
It pays to watch your gear. I left my drink bottle on the river bank while I sat on the edge of the falls. A baboon opened it and had a good swig!
At the camping grounds a troop of baboons seemed to tear through each morning looking for food - tipping over rubbish containers and searching unmanned tents!
They are quite a problem!
Sunrise from the train on the way to Victoria Falls. The trip from Bulawayo was overnight and an enjoyable experience. Facilities were good and the service too was very good.
The Bulawayo Train Station.
This was on the Moshi - Nairobi road and I waited in the car while the womenfolk looked for souvenirs. I could see a guy creeping towards the vehicle - he had noticed they had left their bags in the back seat and had not locked the door. I watched him as he crept closer and closer, then turned and locked the door. I quickly got out of the car and he ran off!
This is Mama Miriam with her little boy, Noah. From the village of Engorora Mama Miriam was the wife of the Environmental Co-coordinator. His bicycle leans on the wall.Miriam was a good student at the local school and will by now be around 27 years old - I wonder how she is?
Noah is wearing clothes my sister sent over.
We visited the Great Zimbabwe Ruins while we were in Zimbabwe. I had never heard of them before and remain amazed at them.The history is not really known, but the collection of stone and building must have taken an age!
Great Zimbabwe covered a large area and anyone visiting Zimbabwe should take the time to see the ruins. There were few tourist when we went there - most were Zimbabweans.We spent a day there an were in awe of those who built the place.
I could not stop taking photos and this corridor area amazed me. There were Baobab trees throughout showing the age of the place. The stonework varied in quality because, I guess of the time it took to build, but here, the work is very good.
I guess these things are called 'ramparts', but again it shows the amount of rock that was needed to build all the structures. I have shown just a morsel.
The rock-work blended in with the natural rock. The rocks seemed to have no mortar and fitted well.
The guy selling crafts outside the Great Zimbabwe Ruins area was a nice fellow. The lack of tourists had made scraping a living very difficult for him. He said he made all of the crafts himself - I had no reason to disbelieve him.
As a child I had seen a movie at school about locusts, what they did and how they controlled them. I still can see the fixed wing aircraft applying insecticide and needing to use windscreen wipers to clear the view. So I was pretty excited to see a swarm locusts while I attended a course in the Eastern Highlands.
I expected that when the locusts landed, they would eat all the green vegetation in sight, but the just seemed to run out of energy and land to rest - then they took off again. There are a few at Waipara, North Canterbury. We used to see them while working in tussock areas.
We travelled by train to Victoria Falls and hired bicycles to enter Zambia. The Zambezi River is huge and is the water makes the Victoria Falls.The roar and the mist is spectacular and the micro-climate interesting.
It sure is a mighty river!
It is difficult these days to understand the motivation an courage of the man David Livingston.It was somewhere here that Stanley found him, and I guess he too was an intrepid fellow.
Plenty is known about these two but do we really understand?
With my small camera it is not possible to capture the grandeur of Victoria Falls, but it is easy to see in other media. I feel fortunate to have visited there.
The Zambezi River was at its lowest for some 40 years while we were there, so I was able to walk out to the very edge of the falls and sit there. Normally water would be pouring over there. Awesome.In the rock pools there was money that tourists had tossed in, presumably for luck. I am amazed that locals had not collected it up.
There are many spectacular views of the falls and there are all sorts of activities that are related to the falls. Quite a few too that are unrelated!
It pays to watch your gear. I left my drink bottle on the river bank while I sat on the edge of the falls. A baboon opened it and had a good swig!At the camping grounds a troop of baboons seemed to tear through each morning looking for food - tipping over rubbish containers and searching unmanned tents!
They are quite a problem!
Sunrise from the train on the way to Victoria Falls. The trip from Bulawayo was overnight and an enjoyable experience. Facilities were good and the service too was very good.
The Bulawayo Train Station.
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