World’s highest solitary peak spells a clear message to all!

Kilimanjaro is the highest mountain in Tanzania, Africa at 5,895 metres or 19,341 feet above sea level with its three volcanic cones, Kibo, Mawenzi, and Shira at dormant stage.

These two images taken by NASA show the changes in snow accumulations on the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro. The top image was photographed on February 17, 1993 and the lower one was photographed on February 21, 2000. 

Retrieved from Earth Observatory News, Nasa and as a U.S. Government image, it is within the public domain.

Kilimanjaro view from the plane

Uploaded by hayhaenen on Apr 5, 2007 

On a clear morning I was lucky to see this view from the plane of the famous  Mount Kilimanjaro.

Kilimanjaro is one of the 26 regions in Tanzania. Moshi is the capital of Kilimanjaro region and home to Mount Kilimanjaro. Kilimanjaro bordered to the North and East by Kenya, to the South by the Tanga Region, to the Southwest by the Manyara Region, and to the West by the Arusha Region. As of 2002 Tanzania National Census, the population of the Kilimanjaro Region was 1,381,149.

Dendrosenecio kilimanjari

Kilimanjaro National Park - Tanzania – 1996 Photo by Esculapio

Message from Theodore Roosevelt 1914

Groundsels of several species are found throughout the world as common roadside weeds, but nowhere except in the highlands of Africa do they exhibit such large tree forms.

White Snows in the House of God

Message from 100PlacesToRemember on May 20, 2009

When Ernest Hemingways novel The Snows of Kilimanjaro was published in 1936, it made the snow-capped East African mountain famous and turned it into a legend.

For the local Masai tribes living on the plains beneath it, the mountain had already been a living legend for centuries. To them, it is Ngàja Ngái the House of God.

Seen from the plains below, Kilimanjaros peak emerges from a ring of fog and cloud that shrouds its forest-covered lower slopes. When Hemingway first described the mountain, its snow-cap was already melting slowly. Between 1912 and 2003, climate change led to the loss of about 80% of its ice fields, and the remainder of the snow-cap is expected to disappear by 2020. 

In itself, the loss of the snow on top of Kilimanjaro will have a limited effect on the ecosystem, as it feeds only a few minor brooks. However, the symbolic effect will be enormous, as an illustration of the speed at which the global climate is changing.

Further down the mountain, the heavy clouds whose vapour and precipitation irrigate the Cloud Forests and feed the rivers have already diminished, due to the rise in temperatures and decrease in atmospheric moisture. This trend is projected to continue and has already increased the frequency of forest fires. 

Combined with human-induced deforestation, it will further reduce precipitation. This would have a devastating effect on the woodland, as well as the water supply for the million people of the Chagga and Masai tribes who inhabit the flanks of Kilimanjaro.

          Masai Tribe Dances

Uploaded by angelesnovillo on Oct 6, 2006 

Masai tribe dancing in Masai Mara reserve

Masai Music

Uploaded by nedrich on May 17, 2008 

Masai women of the Masai Mara singing

Maasai Culture

Uploaded by exploreTeam on Apr 17, 2007 

The Maasai are a tribal group of East Africa known for their tall stature, signature red clothing, and highly energetic and athletic style of dancing. Both Tanzanian and Kenyan government have encouraged abandonment of the traditional semi-nomadic lifestyle, but they have successfully maintained many age-old customs. Distributed by TubeMogul. explore™ (http://explore.org) is a multimedia organization that documents leaders around the world who have devoted their lives to extraordinary causes. Both educational and inspirational, explore creates a portal into the soul of humanity by championing the selfless acts of others.

Maasai Tribe: 

Arranged marriage views - Tribal Wives - BBC

Uploaded by BBCWorldwide on Jan 30, 2009 

Dionne Braham joins the Maasai tribe in Tanzania to learn more about community values and arranged marriages. Interesting short video from BBC show Tribal Wives. Part of a series. Six women give up their everyday lives and spend a month living with some of the world's most remote tribes, immersing themselves fully into their new culture. Each woman must work, eat and sleep exactly as the other tribal women.

Maasai images and song from the Great Rift Valley 

in East Africa.

Uploaded by egheath on Apr 10, 2007

Mount Kilimanjaro • Tanzania 

By: 100PlacesToRemember on May 20, 2009

  

http://fromd.blogspot.com 

email: voicefromdorient@yahoo.com

Before they disappear - What made Kauai, Hawaii no.1 in the watch list

on the 4th Assessment Report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)?


Kauai, Hawaii, is geologically the oldest of the main Hawaiian Islands, 21st largest island in the United States, known also as the "Garden Isle" and the site of Waimea Canyon State Park, often referred to as "The Grand Canyon of the Pacific". 


To begin with,  let's see . .  . 

Kauai, Hawaii  via helicopter tour

Uploaded by cooldancemoves2007 on Mar 28, 2008

Again, before they disappear-What made Kauai, Hawaii no.1 in the watch list on the 4th Assessment Report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)? 

The answer is the Hawaiian Honeycreepers. 

Just one of the many kinds...

Magumma parva (syn. Hemignathus parvus), Alakai Wilderness Preserve, Kauai, Hawaii.

Date : Undated   Source : USGS Hawaiian Endangered Forest Birds

Decline and Extinction of Native Hawaiian Honeycreepers

Uploaded by hailispock on Oct 23, 2009

'almost endangered' I'iwi.

Message from 100PlacesToRemember on May 20, 2009

Hawaiian Honeycreepers Hiding in the Clouds

High in the cloud forests, where the climate is cool, live the beautiful and colourful Hawaiian honeycreepers. These rare birds use their long, downward-curved bills to sip nectar from flowers, hovering like hummingbirds and emitting a variety of sounds, from nasal squeaks to clear, flute like calls.

The species of honeycreeper that is endemic to Hawaii lives at an elevation above 1,500 metres where the climate is too cool for mosquitoes to survive. Most of the Hawaiian honeycreepers are only 10-13 cm long and weigh no more than eight grams. They are extremely vulnerable to diseases like avian malaria.

The Hawaiian cloud forests make up one of the ecosystems that is most at risk due to climate change. Relatively small shifts in patterns could cause major local changes, putting the islands distinct ecosystems under pressure. 

Deforestation and non-indigenous species like pigs and goats have decimated the honeycreepers habitat in recent years, and it is now an endangered species. With the projected rise in temperatures, mosquitoes are likely to gain a foothold at higher elevations in the Kauai mountains, slowly driving the honeycreeper to extinction.

Let's go back in time!!! 3/7/1927

Song of the Islands by Sol Hoopii's Novelty Trio

Uploaded by algae300 on Aug 15, 2011

Sacred Hawaiian dance for the 

King and Queen of Hawaii at 

Kilauea volcano

Uploaded by cocohawaiikai on Aug 27, 2007

Traditional hula dance performed by Halau O Kekuhi as part of Wolf Trap's Face of America: Hawai'i performance.

  

Uploaded by WolfTrapMedia on Jul 10, 2006

and the final number ...    :D    1914 

KAWAIHAU WALTZ by Pale K Lua and David K Kaili 

Uploaded by cdbpdx on Mar 21, 2009

Message from the uploader:

Vintage Hawaiian music by a Hawaiian guitar duet, Pale K Lua and David K Kaili, of the Irene West Royal Hawaiians, recorded in 1914.


Hawaiian born musician and composer Sonny Cunha published a book of Hapa Haole music in 1914 and that was pretty much the start of the Hawaiian music craze. Enjoy!

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email: voicefromdorient@yahoo.com

World’s Largest Inland Delta in Danger

The Okavango Delta in Botswana covering an area of over 15,000 square kilometers, making it the largest inland delta in the world and once a part of ancient Lake Makgadikgadi, that mostly dried up by the early Holocene may not be around for the next generations to come.

HOPE NOT!

Uploaded by 100PlacesToRemember on May 20, 2009

Image below was catalogued by Johnson Space Center of the United States  
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) 
under Photo ID: ISS028-E-6830.

The Okavango Delta is home to a permanent and seasonal wide variety of wildlife that makes the place even more valuable than tourism.

Here’s where wildlife flourish in the likes of the African Bush Elephant, African Buffalo, Hippopotamus, Lechwe, Topi, Blue Wildebeest, Giraffe, Nile crocodile, Lion, Cheetah, Leopard, Brown Hyena, Spotted Hyena, Greater Kudu, Sable Antelope, Black Rhinoceros, White Rhinoceros, Plains Zebra, Warthog and Chacma Baboon. The endangered African Wild Dog still survives within the Okavango Delta, exhibiting one of the richest pack densities in Africa.

Uploaded by afverissimo on Jan 10, 2010

Message from Uploader:

Botswana...
The Okavango is a unique ecosystem of papyrus-lined waterways, knee-deep floodplains, water-lily lagoons, shady forest glades and rich savannah grasslands. All this fecundity lies in the middle of the largest continuous stretch of sand in the world - the Kalahari Desert Basin. Seen from space as an emerald swirl surrounded by a parched landscape, the Okavango Delta is an incredible source of life in a country that is 80% arid.

Rather than a delta, it is in fact an alluvial fan of sediment and debris, which filled a trough formed by the sinking of the earth's crust, between a series of parallel faults across the Okavango River....

It is a sanctuary to 400 species of birds, including African Fish Eagle, Crested Crane, Lilac-breasted Roller, Hammerkop, Ostrich, and Sacred Ibis.

An antelope flying over a patch of clear water in en:Okavango Delta, en:Botswana. Shot in May 2005. The original in raw format (Nikon) available under a difference license.пан Бостон-Київський 01:28, 17 March 2006 (UTC)

An estimated majority of 200,000 wildlife including buffalos and elephants total of about 30,000 leave with the summer rains to find renewed fields of grass and trees then make their way back as winter approaches. 

Threatened by extreme global climate change are five ethnic groups, each with its own identity and language are the Hambukushu, Dceriku, Wayeyi, Bugakhwe, and ||anikhwe.

Mogwana Dance Troupe - Botswana

Uploaded by Rouvanne on Feb 18, 2007

The Hambukushu, Dceriku, and Wayeyi are all Bantus who have traditionally engaged in mixed economies of millet/sorghum agriculture; fishing, hunting, and the collection of wild plant foods; and pastoralism.

The Bugakhwe and ||anikwhe are Bushmen who have traditionally practiced fishing, hunting, and the collection of wild plant foods utilizing both forest and riverine resources.

Bushmen Dance - Botswana

Uploaded by davidteyoung on Jul 20, 2008

Bushmen dance at wedding in Maun, Botswana

Message from 100 Places to Remember - uploader in part:
An Oasis of Wildlife, Above and Below

The Okavango Delta is trapped in the parched Kalahari Desert with no permanent outlet to the sea, and is a magnet for the wildlife that depends on the delta and its seasonal flooding. Each year, 11 cubic kilometres of water reaches the delta, water that is unusually pure, thanks to the absence of agriculture or industry along the adjoining rivers.

Precipitation is expected to decrease because of climate change, while the temperature is projected to rise. This will cause the deltas enormous peat bogs to dry out, with a risk that the peat will catch fire, releasing massive amounts of greenhouse gases.

More on Okavango Delta
Botswana documents tribal healers' knowledge

Uploaded by dcouzin on Jul 31, 2009

Mapula Lodge, Okavango Delta, 
Botswana, Southern Africa

Uploaded by footstepsinafrica on Apr 22, 2008 Mapula Lodge is an up-market Botswana Safari Lodge situated in the northern part of the Okavango Delta, an area ideal for both land and waterborne activities.

Okavango Delta Underwater HD(Part1)

Uploaded by apanhaesta on Aug 5, 2011 All credits to: 

http://www.earth-touch.com/

Okavango Delta Underwater HD(Part2)

Uploaded by apanhaesta on Aug 7, 2011 All credits to:

http://www.earth-touch.com/

Okavango Delta Underwater HD(Part3)

Uploaded by apanhaesta on Aug 17, 2011 All credits to:

http://www.earth-touch.com/

Okavango Delta Underwater HD(Part4)

Uploaded by apanhaesta on Aug 23, 2011 All credits to:

http://www.earth-touch.com/

Okavango Delta Underwater HD(Part5)

Uploaded by apanhaesta on Aug 26, 2011
http://www.earth-touch.com/

Okavango Delta Underwater HD(Part6)

 Uploaded by apanhaesta on Aug 27, 2011
http://www.earth-touch.com/

Freshwater fish species featured in this documentary: 

Yellow-Belly Bream, Nembwe, Serranochromis robustus, Brownspot largemouth, Serranochromis thumbergi,Copperstripe, Barb, African Pike, Blackback Barb, Barbus Barnardi, Leopard Squeaker, Synodontis Leopardinus, Largemouth Squeaker, Synodontis Macrostoma, Upper Zambezi Squeaker, Synodontis Woosnami, Three-spotted Tilapia, Redbreast Tilapia, Nembwe Yellow-Bellied Bream, Thinface Largemouth Tilapia, Upper Zambezi Labeo, Tiger Fish

Other sources : Wikipedia/Commons /Youtube

http://fromd.blogspot.com
email: voicefromdorient@yahoo.com