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kemetic-dreams · 3 years

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Possessed: Voodoo’s Origins and Influence from the Blues to Britney

Blissed-out, ecstatic union with our divine selves — we seek it at raves and rock concerts, and in the desert with the Burning Man. I try to get there when I’m jamming with my band — but I didn’t realize until I wrote The Language of the Blues: From Alcorub to Zuzu how much this longing relates to West African spirituality, and the Voodoo concept of possession.

Vodou (the proper Kreyol/Creole spelling of Voodoo) is a neo-African religion that evolved in the New World from the 6000-year-old West African religion Vodun. This was the religion of many slaves brought from West Africa to the Americas and the Caribbean.

Vodun was brutally repressed by slave-owners, yet its powerful beats, ethics and aesthetics endured. We owe our concepts of cool, soul and rock and roll to it.

The roots of rock are in a West African word for dance — rak. As Michael Ventura wrote in his important essay on rock music, “Hear that Long Snake Moan”:

The Voodoo rite of possession by the god became the standard of American performance in rock’n’roll. Elvis Presley, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, James Brown, Janis Joplin, Tina Turner, Jim Morrison, Johnny Rotten, Prince — they let themselves be possessed not by any god they could name but by the spirit they felt in the music. Their behavior in this possession was something Western society had never before tolerated.

Vodou possession is not the hokey demon-possession of zombie movies; it’s a state of union with the divine achieved through drumming, dancing and singing. It’s becoming “filled with the Holy Ghost” in the Pentecostal Christian tradition or attaining yogic bliss through the practice of kirtan, singing the names of God — Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna.

In the Yoruba culture of West Africa, being able to connect with one’s inner divinity is called coolness (itutu). In Yoruba morality, generosity indicates coolness and is the highest quality a person can exhibit. In American culture, we say that nice person is cool, or that a musician “has got soul.” We notice “Southern hospitality.”

The Trans-Atlantic slave trade carried these ideas to the New World, particularly as slavers burrowed inward from Senegambia on the West African coast to the Kingdom of Dahomey, a Vodun stronghold.

Dahomey spread across much of today’s Togo, Benin and Nigeria and was heavily involved in the slave trade. Vodun practitioners were shipped overseas by the thousands when the Fon people of Benin conquered their neighbors, the Ewe, in 1729. Many Fon were also kidnapped and traded into slavery in exchange for textiles, weapons, brass pots, Venetian beads and other European goods.

Vodun is a Fon-Ewe word meaning God or Great Spirit. This supreme creator was represented as the giant snake Dan carrying the universe in its coils. Today, in Haiti and American Vodou strongholds like New Orleans, Dan is worshiped as Damballah, the Grand Zombie (the Bantu word nzambi means God). He’s John Lee Hooker’s “Crawling Kingsnake”.

Branching off from this almighty God-force are spirit-gods called loa. During Vodou ceremonies, a loa may descend the center post of the temple to possess or “ride” a worshiper who has reached a sufficiently high state of consciousness. The morality implicit in this is stated in the Haitian proverb, “Great gods cannot ride little horses.”

Vodun practices like drumming were definitely noticed by nervous colonists who had imported fierce warriors and tribal priests to work their farms. After a deadly rebellion in the South Carolina colony in 1739, the colonists realized slaves were using talking drums to organize resistance. The Slave Act of 1740 in South Carolina barred slaves from using “drums, horns, or other loud instruments.” Other colonies followed suit with legislation like the severe Black Codes of Georgia.

Soon, religious repression was in full swing. Slaves caught praying were brutally penalized, as this excerpt from Peter Randolph’s “Slave Cabin to the Pulpit” recounts:

In some places, if the slaves are caught praying to God, they are whipped more than if they had committed a great crime. Sometimes, when a slave, on being whipped, calls upon God, he is forbidden to do so, under threat of having his throat cut, or brains blown out.

Vodun practitioners taken as slaves to plantations in Haiti, Cuba, Brazil, and Jamaica were also prohibited from practicing their religion. But enslaved Vodun priests arriving in the Catholic West Indies quickly grasped similarities between their tradition of appealing to loa to intercede with God, and Catholics praying to saints for intercession. By superimposing Catholic saints over the loa, slaves created the hybrid religions Santeria (saint worship) in the Spanish Islands, Vodou in Haiti and Candomblé in Brazil.

On Aug. 22, 1791, Haitian slaves revolted on a signal from Vodou priests, who consulted their oracle to determine which military strategies would succeed. The revolutionaries defeated Napoleon Bonaparte’s army and declared independence Jan. 1, 1804, establishing Haiti as the world’s first black republic. Freaked by a successful slave revolt, the United States and Western Europe slapped economic sanctions on Haiti, turning the prosperous colony into an impoverished state that could no longer sell the products of its fields.

In 1809, Vodou arrived in the United States en masse when Haitian slave owners who had fled to Cuba with their slaves were expelled. Most relocated from Cuba to New Orleans, nearly doubling the city’s size in one year. Today, 15 percent of New Orleans practices Vodou, and it’s popular in other U.S. cities with African and Haitian communities.

Among the arriving Haitians was Marie Laveau. She became the leader of New Orleans Vodou practitioners in 1820 when she was elected the human representative of the Grand Zombie. (Former White House Social Secretary Desirée Rogers is descended from Marie Laveau.)

Laveau kept a python named Zombi, and danced with it on her shoulders while presiding over ceremonies. This image was appropriated, with other Vodou nods, for Britney Spears’s “I’m a Slave 4 U” performance at the 2001 MTV Video Music Awards.

The sensationalistic 1884 book Haiti or the Black Republic by Sir Spencer St. John, slammed Vodou as an evil cult, with gruesome descriptions of human sacrifice and black magic — some of which had been extracted from Vodou priests via torture. It became a popular source for the Hollywood screenwriters who began churning out voodoo horror flicks in the 1930s.

The first musician to bring pop-Voodoo imagery to the stage was Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, who would rise from a coffin onstage with a bone in his nose. Hawkins had intended for his hit record “I Put A Spell On You” to be a soulful ballad. But once the producer “brought in ribs and chicken and got everybody drunk, we came out with this weird version,” Hawkins admitted, adding “I found out I could do more destroying a song and screaming it to death.” Hawkins kicked off the undead craze among rockers like Alice Cooper and Marilyn Manson.

Meanwhile, despite the severe repression, Vodun practices crept into Southern black churches. Descriptions of black Baptist church services in the late 1800s and early 1900s depict the congregation dancing in a circle in a “rock” or “ring shout” as they follow the deacon, who bears a standard.

It was the deacon’s job to whip parishioners into a frenzy of fainting and speaking in tongues called “rocking the church.” The concept of a deity “riding” with a worshiper transferred to these Christian churches, where the cry “Drop down chariot and let me ride!” was often heard, as well as “Ride on!” and “Ride on, King Jesus!” This became the solidarity shout, “Right on!”

Blues singers fronting big bands, like Joe Turner and Jimmy Rushing, copied the way church solo singers belted over the choir. The radio beamed this new “shouting blues” all over black America. It was picked up by country blues singers like Muddy Waters and T-Bone Walker, who had moved to Chicago and used it with their new electrified bands. These, in turn, inspired rockers like Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, The Beatles and The Rolling Stones

Africans brought here as slaves carried with them incredibly strong aesthetic, ethical and cultural values that not only withstood the shock of their forced transplantation to the New World, but transformed and invigorated it. Their influence made us uniquely American. It’s why we respond to that Voodoo beat.

#africans #african culture #vodun #vodu #kemetic dreams #jimi hendrix #blues #jazz music #jazz #yoruba #igbo #africanspirituality #africanamericans

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sojournsafaris-blog · 5 years

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Places to Have the Best Adventure in Kenya

Kenya - the name is practically synonymous with "safari." Perhaps no other spot on the planet summons such a spirit of experience and sentiment. The decent variety of activities astonishes all who visit and review the nation's plenteous natural life beat the rundown. Being part of adventure tours in Kenya of reputed tour operators see crowds of wildebeest roaring over the savanna during the Great Migration in the Maasai Mara; come eye-to-eye with an elephant in Amboseli; or wonder about Lake Nakuru, spotted with a huge number of flamingos. In these sun-doused lands, antiquated tribes, for example, the Maasai, Kikuyu, and Samburu, hold their customary traditions, living in relative amicability with the common world.

Past the world-renowned safari parks lies a trove of beachfront treasures. You can snorkel and dive fish-rich coral reefs, unwind on silvery shorelines, experience the blend of societies and foods in Mombasa and Malindi, and explore tropical islands saturated with Swahili history.

Geographically, Kenya is staggering. Encompassed by calderas and mountain ranges, the Great Rift Valley separates the nation. Toward the east of this broad valley, you can climb the snow-shrouded tropical pinnacles of Mount Kenya and fish for trout in perfectly clear streams. Hell's Gate National Park harbors obsidian caves and murmurs with normal fountains and natural aquifers. To encounter the sentiment of Kenya's vivid colonial history caught in the film Out of Africa, head to Nairobi. This clamoring capital is the door to one of the world's most reminiscent and energizing travel goals.

Maasai Mara National Reserve Maasai Mara National Reserve likewise called "Masai Mara" is one of the world's most eminent game reserves. Flanking Tanzania, the Mara is the northern expansion of the Serengeti and structures an untamed life passageway between the two nations. The name is after the statuesque, red-shrouded Maasai individuals who live in the recreation center and graze their creatures here as they have accomplished for quite a long time. In their language, Mara signifies "mottled," maybe a reference to the play of light and shadow from the acacia trees and cloud-studded skies on the vast prairies.

The recreation center is popular for the Great Migration, when a large number of wildebeest, zebra, and Thomson's gazelle travel to and from the Serengeti, from July through October. In the Mara River, crowds of hippos and crocodiles hide. The recreation center is likewise known for giving fantastic predator sightings, because of its enormous populaces of lion, cheetah, and panther - particularly in the dry a very long time from December through February. Because of the recreation center's height, the climate here is mellow and delicate all year. The adventure tours in Kenya give you the best opportunities to enjoy and experience this amazing natural feature.

Amboseli National Reserve Crowned by Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa's most astounding pinnacle, Amboseli National Reserve is one of Kenya's most prevalent visitor parks. The name "Amboseli" originates from a Maasai word signifying "salty dust," an adept depiction for the recreation center's dry conditions. The reserve is probably the best place in Africa to see huge groups of elephants very close. Another natural life normally seen in the recreation center incorporates huge cats, for example, lion and cheetah, just as giraffe, impala, eland, waterbuck, gazelle, and in excess of 600 types of birds. Nature sweethearts can explore five unique territories here, going from the evaporated bed of Lake Amboseli, wetlands with sulfur springs, savannah, and forests. Search for the nearby Maasai individuals who live in the zone around the recreation center.

Tsavo National Park Kenya's biggest park, Tsavo, is in two parts: Tsavo West and Tsavo East. Together these parks include four percent of the nation's all-out zone and incorporate waterways, cascades, savannah, volcanic slopes, a gigantic igneous rock level, and a great assorted variety of untamed life. Halfway between Nairobi and Mombasa, Tsavo East is a place for photographing commendable sightings of huge elephant crowds rolling and washing in red dust. The palm-bordered Galana River winds through the recreation center giving astounding game view and a rich contradiction to the parched fields. Different features here incorporate the Yatta Plateau, the world's longest magma stream; Mudanda Rock; and the Lugard Falls, which spill into rapids and crocodile-filled pools.

Tsavo West is wetter and geologically progressively shifted, with probably the most delightful view in the northern ranges of the recreation center. Features here are Mzima Springs, a progression of characteristic springs with enormous populaces of hippos and crocodiles; Chaimu Crater, an incredible spot for seeing birds of prey; and Ngulia Rhino Sanctuary. Untamed life is not as simple to see in Tsavo West due to the dense vegetation, yet the wonderful landscape compensates all.

Samburu, Buffalo Springs, and Shaba National Reserves On the banks of the palm-lined Ewaso Nyiro River, Samburu, Buffalo Springs, and Shaba Reserves lie in a dry locale in the remote north of Kenya. Shaba National Reserve is one of two zones where George and Joy Adamson raised Elsa the lioness, put on the map in the film Born Free. The untamed life in each of the three stores relies upon the waters of the waterway to endure, and numerous species are uncommonly adjusted to the dry conditions, for example, Grevy's zebras; Somali ostriches; and gerenuks, the long-necked antelope that remain on two back legs to arrive at the crisp shoots on upper tree appendages.

A top fascination in Samburu National Reserve is the Sarara Singing Wells, nearby watering gaps where Samburu warriors sing customary tunes while pulling water for their cows to drink. You may likewise be compensated with sightings of enormous felines and wild hounds.

Lake Nakuru National Park Lake Nakuru National Park, in Central Kenya, is renowned for its immense herds of pink flamingos. The feathered creatures crowd on Lake Nakuru itself, one of the Rift Valley lakes that include very nearly 33% of the recreation center's region. The recreation center was set up in 1961, and in excess of 450 types of birds have been recorded here, just as a rich decent variety of other untamed life. Lions, panthers, warthogs, waterbucks, pythons, and white rhinos are only a portion of the creatures you may see, and the scenes run from clearing prairies flanking the lake to rough bluffs and forest.

The recreation center likewise secures the biggest euphorbia candelabrum backwoods in Africa. These tall, expanding succulents are endemic to the area and give an intriguing textural component to the parched scenes.

Lake Naivasha A shelter for birders, Lake Naivasha lies at the highest point of the Great Rift Valley and has been known to recoil extensively in the midst of outrageous dry spell. A prospering floriculture industry in the region is likewise affecting water levels and quality. Perhaps the ideal approaches to see a natural life is by vessel. You can spot in excess of 400 types here, including African fish falcons. Hippos slosh in the water, and giraffes, zebra, bison, and eland touch around the edges of the lake. Keep a watch out for Colobus monkeys in the coverings, as well.

Close Lake Naivasha, the Crater Lake Game Sanctuary includes an untamed life rich nature trail. Only south of Lake Naivasha, the moderately reasonable Hell's Gate National Park ensures a wide assortment of natural life and offers brilliant climbing openings with two wiped out volcanoes and the red precipices of Hell's Gate Gorge. On the southern shore of Lake Naivasha, you can fly in for some tea at the Elsamere Conservation Center, the previous home of the late Joy Adamson, creator of Born Free and her better half George.

Mount Kenya National Park In the Central Highlands, east of the Great Rift Valley, Mount Kenya National Park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site including the nation's namesake most noteworthy mountain at 5,199 meters and giving the uncommon sight of the tropical day off. Shaped by a progression of volcanic emissions, Mount Kenya has three ice sheet shrouded crests. The most astounding is Batian, in spite of the fact that Nelion, the following most astounding, is a harder trip. The most reduced pinnacle, Lenana, is the least demanding trip, albeit erratic climate can posture difficulties.

View changes from icy masses, lakes, and mineral springs to high woodland and thick pockets of bamboo. The assorted variety of greenery gives compensating chances to adventure. Among the natural life here, you may spot Colobus monkeys, bison, elephant, tree hyrax, panther, and hyena.

In order to have the best adventure tours in Kenya, it is wise to contact Sojourn Safaris. They have years of experience and knowledge to organize the best adventure safaris and enable you to explore untamed Kenya while you have perfect comfort and safety. Call or whatsapp at (+254) 722 661 827 to speak to their safari specialists.

#Adventure Tours Kenya #Kenya Camping Safaris #Masai Mara Safari Kenya #Zanzibar Beach Tour #Gorillas Trekking Uganda

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scared-aquarius · 6 years

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Signs as dragons

Aries: Yofune Nushi- Yofune Nushi is the name of a sea dragon in Japanese legend. It lived in a cave by the rocks near Oki Island. It was both predatory and destructive. It had the ability to create storms and would frequently eat fishermen and other inhabitants of the island. Every year on the 13th of June it demanded a maiden sacrifice, otherwise it would cause a storm and destroy the fishermen’s fleet. One year a girl name Tokoyo bravely volunteered to be sacrificed. Once Yofune Nushi got close enough and was about to eat her, Tokoyo took out a dagger and slashed the beast’s eyes. Blinded, she was able to slash its throat and kill it.

Taurus: African Dragon- This dragon is quite different from other more well-known dragons. The majority are serpentine but they have between 2-4 legs. It is said that only those with 4 legs could fly. Their diet consists mainly of African Elephants, preferring nothing else. They sometimes eat other meat, but only when very hungry. They do not attack humans unless they feel threatened. African dragons also have a magical stone in their head that has powerful healing properties. If a human village was struck by plague, the village elders would often approach the local dragon for help. They usually gave the dragon gifts such as the village's best elephant.

Gemini: Y Ddraig Goch- The Welsh Dragon, or Y Ddraig Goch (meaning red dragon), appears on the national flag of Wales. In the Mabinogion story Lludd and Llefelys, the red dragon fights with an invading white dragon. Their pained shrieks cause women to miscarry, animals to perish and plants to become barren. Lludd, the British King, asked his brother Llefelys, the King of France, for help. Llefelys tells Lludd to dig a pit in the center of Britain and fill it with mead and cover it with cloth. The two dragons were lured into the pit and fell asleep. They were now trapped and became entombed in Dinas Emrys. Centuries later, a new king wanted to build a fortress upon the mountain containing to dragons, unbeknownst to him. He build the fort yet the strong stone kept crumbling and he didn’t know why. He was told by a false magician to sacrifice a fatherless boy and only then would the fortress hold. A boy name Merlin was chosen. Merlin, outraged, told the king of the true reason his fortress kept crumbling. The king’s masons excavated the mountain and in doing so, released the dragons where they continued their battle once again.

Cancer: Raitro- Japanese legend tells of a poor Japanese peasant who prayed to the Buddha for rain, as they were suffering a drought and his crops were failing. Suddenly the heavens opened and the rain came down, accompanied by a loud clap of thunder. The peasant went outside to look and saw a handsome baby lying on the grass. As there was nobody around, the peasant and his wife adopted the child and called him Raitro. From then on whenever there was a lack of rain, Raitro would simply call the clouds and order them to rain, making his adoptive family rich. When Raitro reached the age of 18, he thanked his foster parents for their care, turned into a white dragon, and flew away.

Leo: Chinese Dragon- The Chinese dragon is snake-like with some characteristics of fish and turtles. They can cause natural disasters like storms, tidal waves and floods. China is home to the mythical Dragon Gate, and it is said that carp who are able to leap over it become dragons. Chinese Emperors were thought to be descendants of the mythical beasts. Chinese dragons are thought to be born every 12 years and have the ability to breathe clouds. They can also appear in human form. Unlike in many other cultures, dragons in China were thought to be benevolent creatures who bring good fortune. The natural enemy of the Chinese dragon is the tiger and these two creatures are depicted having bloody battles in many Chinese art pieces. In Chinese martial arts, "Dragon style" is used to describe styles of fighting based more on understanding movement, while "Tiger style" is based on brute strength and memorization of techniques.

Virgo: Gargouille- Gargouille was a sea serpent with membranous fins instead of limbs. It emerged from the Seine River began to spew water onto the country side. The Gargouille then created a giant tidal wave and whatever the water did not kill, the dragon ate it for its meal. The archbishop of Rouen, St. Romain, intended to put a stop to the problem. The Gargouille lived in a cavernous lair in the banks of the Siene River, and he intended to travel there to stop the dragon from continuing its plague. No one wanted to accompany him on his quest. Instead, he took with him two prisoners condemned to death. When they got to its lair, its attacked ferociously. However, the creature became docile when shown a cross made from two of St. Romain’s fingers. They were able to put a rope around its neck and bring it back to the town. They burned the creature and cast the ash back into the Siene River. Ever since then, the drains that divert the rainwater from the roof of a church building have been decorated as monstrous entities and been called gargoyles.

Libra: Zmey Gorynych- In Slavic mythology, the Zmey Gorynych was a monstrous dragon. It has three heads and it sometimes confused for a hydra. It often played the antagonistic role in Russian literature, appearing beast or human-like and wooing women. In Ukraine, the rainbow is said to be controlled by the Zmey Gorynych and is used as a sort of tunnel that sucks water from lakes and rivers and is put into the sky as clouds. The Zmey Gorynych is also said to be able to create tornados by whipping around its tail. Both the male and female dragons were said to sometimes be involved in human relationships.

Scorpio: Tarasque- Reported as being the son of the Leviathan, the Tarasque was known as the tyrannical dragon that tormented the people of southern France during the first century. It is a dragon with a gigantic head, a shell with sharp spikes and six legs. It can live within both land and water and would frequent the Rhône River where it would sink ships and devour the passengers. It’s hard shell protects it from anyone who tries to kill it. It also has the ability to breathe fire and would cook anyone who got too close. Its tail contains poison similar to that of a scorpion.

Sagittarius: Zilant- The Zilant is a legendary creature that is something between a wyvern and a dragon. It has been the official symbol of Kazan since 1730. According to legend, a beautiful damsel married a resident of Old Kazan. She went to fetch water from the river and complained to the local ruler that his town was poorly situated and to move to the city of Zilantaw Hill. He agreed, however the hill was infested with snakes with a leader with two heads named Zilant. One head ate only grass while the other ate youths and virgins. The ruler put straw and wood near the hill and in spring when the snakes came out, they set fire to the pile, killing the snakes. However, Zilant escaped to the Qaban lakes where he now resides. From time to time, he will crawl back out and take vengeance by devouring many citizens.

Capricorn: Cockatrice- The Cockatrice is a two-legged dragon with the head of a rooster. It is the product of an egg laid by a rooster that was incubated by a toad or snake. It possesses the ability to kill people just by looking at them, known as the “death-darting eye of the Cockatrice”, as well as being able to kill just by touching or breathing on them. The only creature immune from the death glance of the Cockatrice is the weasel. This dragon can only die if it looks at itself in the mirror or if it hears the crow of a rooster.

Aquarius: Nāga- Nāga, or the Sanskrit word for “snake”, is regarded as a demon-serpent. It is usually described as a five-headed dragon that guards temples. Nāgas have jewels in their hoods, necks or heads. The jewel forms in the throat and is used to emit a bright light when the Nāga needs to see in the dark. They also have a deadly venom with a destructive nature similar to fire. The venom is so deadly that even a Nāga’s breath or stare could cause harm or death. However, Nāgas only harm when mistreated so many superstitions exist solely to warn to not provoke the creature.

Pisces: Imugi- The Imugi is a dragon from Korean mythology. They start out as serpents and transform into dragons if they are able to survive past 1000 years old. They would submerge themselves under cold waters for a millennium in order to achieve this. Once transformed, they would be able to fly the skies and create massive storms with their roars. Unlike their European flire-breathing counterparts, Imugis are said to reside in rivers, lakes, oceans and even deep ponds. They are bringers of rain and clouds. They are said to be large, benevolent, python-like creatures and their sighting is associated with good luck.

picture sources (Yofune Nushi // African Dragon // Y Ddraig Goch // Raitro // Chinese Dragon // Gargouille // Zmey Gorynych // Tarasque // Zilant // Cockatrice // Nāga // Imugi)

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cyanocoraxx · 6 years

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natural habitats of common snakes

- ball python: found in west african savannahs, grassland, scrub forests and sparse woodlands. during the day, they hide within mammal burrows and tree hollows. some sources suggest that these snakes live in termite mounds, but this is often disputed.

- burmese python: found throughout southern asia in the edges of woodlands, grasslands, marshes, swamps, rocky foothills, river valleys and jungle clearings. often found near running water.

- cali kingsnake: widely distributed throughout oregon, california, nevada, utah, arizona and northwestern mexico, where they prefer woodland, grassland and desert habitats. they are terrestrial but will climb low branches and shrubs when hunting. notably, they are not found in the damp redwood zone of california which may indicate a preference for habitats with lower humidity.

- common boa: found in central america and northern south america, where they prefer rainforest clearings but also occupy savannahs, woodlands, tropical deserts, semi-deserts and scrubs. they tend to hide in mammal burrows and will also climb trees when given the opportunity.

- common garter: indigenous to north american grassland, forests, streams, wetlands, meadows, marshes and ponds, never far from water as they need a water source to hunt. they rest in decaying logs, tree stumps, stream banks and rodent burrows.

- corn snake: north american ratsnakes that prefer deciduous woodland, grassland and rocky outcrops. they are found in rocky crevices, logs and burrows.

- green tree python: found in indonesian and australian tropical rainforests. found in bushes, shrubs and trees where they spend most of their time climbing for safety and to hunt.

- honduran milksnake: prefers nicaragua’s tropical rainforests where they can be found in and under leaf litter. providing leaf litter can help to simulate this habitat and encourage natural behaviours.

- rainbow boa: endemic to south american tropical rainforests, humid forests and savannahs, where humidity can reach up to 100% and there is an abundance of plant cover and climbing opportunities.

- reticulated python: also found in southern asian rainforests, woodlands, wetland, swamps and bogs. they are often found near waterbodies for camouflage, protection and access to prey and will happily make use of a large water bowl in captivity.

- rosy boa: lives in the dry shrublands, granite outcroppings, rocky slopes, deserts, and near-desert areas of southwestern america and northern mexico. interestingly, they appear to prefer south-facing hillsides at elevations from sea level to over 2,000 meters and are often found very close to rocks for cover.

- western hognose: found throughout southern canada, united states and mexico in prairies, river floodplains, thornscrub, grasslands, semi-deserts and oak savannah. they enjoy burrowing in loose, sandy soil and will replicate this behaviour when given the opportunity in captivity.

#snakes #mine

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southrift-galaxy-safaris-blog · 4 years

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Nakuru, an idyllic place

Nakuru... As you approach the Great Rift Valley from Nairobi, the scenery changes and you are thrust into a world of idyllic vistas. Nakuru simply means “Dust or Dusty place”. Don’t let the word fool you because you will be amazed at the brilliant sites the place has to offer. Nakuru and the regions around are endowed with cosmic resources that attract both domestic and foreign tourists and has ideal view points such as; Lion hills, Baboon cliff, and Out of Africa hills, others include Enasoit hill, Honeymoon, Lion hill ridge, waterfalls-Masalia, and very unique vegetation. Rift Valley views The economy of Nakuru depends mainly on agriculture, manufacturing, and tourism. Tourism is the most important economic activity in Nakuru. Here are the major tourist attractions; LAKE NAKURU NATIONAL PARK 140km northwest of Nairobi, the park lies in Central Kenya in Nakuru district of the Rift Valley Province. The alkaline lake has a crusty shoreline, surrounded with wooded and bushy grasslands. Famous for its flamingos (Greater and Lesser) that turns the shoreline crimson including 450 species of birds. There are also a variety of other animals like the endangered white rhino, giraffes, python snakes, leopards, lions, black rhinos Lake Nakuru Activities Game drives, Bird watching, Camping, Boat rides Major attractions Flamingo (Greater and Lesser), Great white pelicans and other water birds including a variety of terrestrial birds numbering about 450 species. Different species of animals including black rhinos, white rhinos, lions. View-points: Lion hill, Baboon cliff and Out of Africa.. Hills: Enasoit, Honeymoon, Lion hill ridge. Waterfalls: Makalia. About 550 different plant species including the largest euphorbia forest in Africa; yellow acacia woodlands. Cycle with Rhino fund raising event every September. MENENGAI CRATER Located eight kilometres from Nyahururu – Nakuru main road, Menengai Crater, a dormant volcano is the second largest crater in the world and plunges 483 metres from the rim. The volcano was formed about 200,000 years ago. The 12 x 8 km caldera formed 8000 years ago. Menengai is one of the best-preserved calderas in the world. The crater floor is ideal for hiking. The summit is accessible by foot or vehicle. There is geo—thermal prospecting in the crater for energy. Menengai Crater Attractions Crater walk, Few places in Kenya to see the South African National flower, the Protea growing wild Bird watching Lord Egerton Castle Lord Maurice Egerton built the castle hoping that the woman he fell in love with would agree to live in it, but she turned his proposal down and broke his heart. She had turned down his first offer to stay in his first six-bedroom house calling it a chicken coop and when he built the castle, she did not accept his proposal either. The castle is located about 12km from Nakuru Town. The castles’ design is beautiful both in and out. It sits on beautifully landscaped land. It is one of the places to visit in Nakuru County for a taste of aristocratic lifestyle of the last century. Lord Egerton Castle Ol Donyo Eburru Ol Donyo Eburru is the highest peak of Mount Eburru. This attraction is part of the Eburru ecosystem, which spreads over Nakuru County. Eburru Forest has a variety of flora and fauna species. Indigenous trees weave a maze offering shade and habitat to the hundreds of birds. Other wildlife animals to see are giraffes, bushbucks, gazelles, waterbucks, monkeys, buffalos, bongos, baboons and leopards. Kigio Wildlife Conservancy This community owned conservancy is in Gilgil. It has about 3,500 wildlife animals that include buffalos, elands, waterbucks, leopards, Rothschild giraffes, hyenas and hippos. Makalia River and Falls The Makalia River rises in the south-west of the Mau Forest, and is a key source of water for Lake Nakuru. It is one of three major rivers, along with the Njoro and the Enderit, which also originate in the Mau Forest complex and drain into the lake, together with treated water from the town’s sewage works and the outflow from several springs along the shore. The falls area is usually a scenic site where the roar of rushing water provides a background to birdsong and the occasional impala grunt or baboon bark. When dry, as now, it is eerily quiet, and provokes the question: how much damage has been done to the Mau ecosystem (through uncontrolled deforestation) to cause the drying up of this (and other) once perennial rivers? Makalia Falls and river Hyrax Hill Prehistoric Site The famous Leakey family discovered this Neolithic site in 1927, and excavations began in 1937 to reveal fossils dating back to 1500 B.C. They found tombs, human settlements and skeletons of 19 bodies. These and other fossils are preserved in the Hyrax Hill Prehistoric Site and Museum. Hyrax Hill Kariandusi Pre-historic Site The Leakeys discovered this site in 1928. The fossils excavated hand axes of the Stone Age period, a molar of an elephant with a straight tusk, algae skeletons and knives. This attraction is a short distance from the Nairobi-Nakuru Highway in Gilgil. Kariandusi Pre-Historic site Olkaria Hot Spa Olkaria Hot Spa is adjacent to Hell’s Gate National Park. After a safari in the park, walk into the spa for another round of thrilling fun. This spa has naturally heated water, cooled to a temperate fit for human skin. The large outdoor spa attracts dozens of adventure seekers daily. Baboon Cliff. The Baboon cliff and its lookout point offer finest view across the lake and over the shimmering fringe of pink around the lake's white shores. There is a nature trail of 100 meters long which winds its way along the cliff. Picnic tables and lavatories are available. You may spot rock hyrax at the top of the cliff near the picnic site and baboons in small trees hanging over the cliff and awaiting for food. The Baboon cliff is covered by euphorbia, acacia and olive trees. Out of Africa Hill and Lion Hill In the southern part of the the park, the Out of Africa hills have spectacular views along the edge of the towering black Baboon cliff and it is the greatest sundowner spot of the park, specially for people staying at the nearby Naishi house. Note that the hills offer no facilities. The Lion Hill is located at the eastern part of the park and the hill is fully covered by strange cactus-like trees, the Euphorbia candelabrum (known also as candle tree), forming the biggest euphorbia forest in Africa and a unique preshistoric forest. Lodges Nakuru offers accommodation that suit all budget giving you both comfort and affordability. Lake Nakuru lodge, Sarova Lion Hill Lodge, Flamingo Hill Tented Camp, Sopa Lodges. Self-Catering-Wildlife Clubs of Kenya hostels and house, KWS Naishi house. Special Campsites-Naishi, Chui, Rhino, Soysambu, Nyati, Nyuki and Reedbuck. Public Campsites-Makalia and Backpackers. Contact us on offers or Connect with us on Social Media for more information. FACEBOOK TWITTER YOU TUBE Email: [email protected] Call us on +254 720 824 502 / +254 720 823 229 Holiday Packages Visit our WEBSITE for more offers Top holiday deals in Kenya Best Deals on Major Seasonal Holidays – Valentine, Easter, Madaraka, Mashujaa, Jamhuri & Christmas. Variety of options – Safari adventures, Beach, Getaways & International. Only top-rated destinations & pocket-friendly prices. Weekend Getaway Deals in Kenya Self Drive Holiday Deals in Kenya Outdoor Activities in Kenya Madaraka Express SGR Holiday Deals in Kenya Seasonal holiday Deals in Kenya Top Self Drive Holiday Deals in Kenya If you think you have to travel far to enjoy a nice weekend, you may never get away. Besides, you can enjoy a beautiful weekend right here in Kenya. There are countless wallet-friendly Kenyan self drive getaways that won’t even break your budget. Don’t spend your weekend, doing absolutely nothing at home. Whether you are looking for romantic destinations, pristine beaches, and adventurous outdoor activities, there are plenty wallet-friendly getaways that will satisfy your weekend desires. Malindi & Watamu Self Drive Deals Mombasa South Coast Self Drive Deals Mombasa North Coast Self Drive Deals Masai Mara Self Drive Holiday Packages Lukenya & Machakos Self Drive Meru Holiday Self Drive Deals Mt. Kenya & Aberdare Self Drive Holiday Deals Nyeri Holiday Self Drive Deals Samburu Holiday Self Drive Deals Read the full article

#magicalKenya #whyIloveKenya #adventuretravel #Kenyavacation #LakeNakuruNationalPark #safarisinkenya #toptraveldestinations #travel

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mmuhumuzadaniel · 5 years

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Fascinating facts about the African Rock Python: Did you know that;Like all pythons, this snake is non-venomous. It kills by constriction, ambushing and coiling around its prey, and tightening its coils every time the victim breathes out. Death happens by cardiac arrest, rather than by asphyxiation or crushing. African rock pythons feed on everything from birds and bats to medium-sized mammals. The larger python captures warthogs, bushbucks and even crocodiles, swallowing them whole. Poultry, dogs and goats are also at risk of attack. A huge meal takes months to digest. African rock pythons lay 20–100 hard-shelled, elongated eggs in an old animal burrow, termite mound or cave. The female coils around her clutch, protecting them from predators and possibly helping to incubate them, and guards the babies for up to two weeks after hatching. Pythons are among the most primitive of snakes in evolutionary terms. With two functioning lungs (more advanced snakes have only one) and small thorn-like projections on the lower body. These are known as pelvic spurs, which are presumed to be the vestiges of hind limbs. Scientists recognize two subspecies of the African rock python: Python sebae sebae(African rock python) and the slightly smaller Python sebae natalensis (Southern African rock python). The smaller Python sebae natalensis, is found in southern Tanzania and further southward, and is believed to be a completely separate species: Python natalensis. So there you have it. If you're a snake lover (or just plain curious), put an African rock python sighting high on your Safari To Do List. We assure you that, serpents aside, there are a lot of wildlife wonders to behold in the stunning east African country of uganda. Plan your next African safari tour with us! We are here to make you Safari lit. With Agume Steven Uganda Call/Watsapp+256788833866 Email: [email protected] (at Kampala, Uganda) https://www.instagram.com/p/B3rOLnnHNKA/?igshid=h0kmxpz55bu4

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cryptswahili · 5 years

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A letter to the Python community in Africa

Greetings from Australia,

I am not an authoritative source on Africa. I am neither an African resident or national. I spend about 1–2 months of the year in South Africa for work but isolated into the office or my hotel.

Over the last 12 months, I’ve been enraptured with the creativity and passion of the Python community across the African continent and want to use this letter to explore and share some of the amazing things that are happening.

I believe the broader international Python and Software community can learn a lot from what so many amazing people are doing across Africa.

This is not a story of overcoming adversity as is often painted in the media, this is a story of opportunity and passion. In my experience, Africa is a colorful mosaic of cultures and history, the more you learn and explore, the more you get drawn in to go further.

Speaking to non-Software people about Python in Africa, you might get some funny looks. The “African rock python” is the largest known species of snake native to Africa, with an average adult length of 20 feet and lengths recorded up to 30 feet. If you are here for photos and stories of snakes, I’m sorry to disappoint but there aren’t any.

Stories from Southern Africa

“Southern Africa”, generally includes the nations of Angola, Botswana, Eswatini (Swaziland), Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. The UN’s definition would exclude Mozambique, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

Some of these countries are very small, Lesotho is a small, mountainous, land-locked country in the middle of South Africa. South Africa is a huge country with almost 60 million people and a GDP higher than Denmark. To say this is a diverse group of countries would be a gross understatement.

There are some large metropolitan cities in Southern Africa, mainly Cape Town, Luanda, Johannesburg, and Durban.

Namibia hosts the PyCon Namibia conference in the capital city Windhoek. 2018 was the biggest PyConNA yet.

The attendance of PyCon NA was 50% male and 50% female. Yea, I was blown over by that statistic too. I have never, in my life, attended a tech conference with better than 75/25 split in the attendance.

So like I said earlier, the rest of the international community should be taking notes…

They had 82 attendees from 12 different countries, mostly across the African continent but also some international travelers.

Throughout this article, I’m going to call out people in the Python Africa community who are impacting serious change. One such person is Jessica Upani, Chair of PyCon NA. You can see some of the work that Jessica is doing to inspire school children in this video,

youtube

Python in Namibia is driven by people like Ngazetungue Muheue, Honors student from the University of Namibia. Ngatatue Mate, the VP of Python Namibia society talks about how he got into Python and applies it to his life:

youtube

The hard work of the Namibia community is delivering within both the youth and adult professional groups, like this story from a year 12 student building a Python app and being featured in the national news:

YouthPaper | Herman Mutalya (17), a Grade 12 pupil at Windhoek Technical High School, is in the final stages of developing a mobile application called Study-Pal, which he says will make studying easier for Grade 12 pupils in Namibia. https://t.co/6Bhv9ZjmaN

— @TheNamibian

Botswana is using Python to tackle global issues. The Botswana-Harvard HIV/AIDs partnership is using Python and Django to power it’s clinical trials unit.

Zimbabwe is home to the world-famous Victoria Falls as well as large reserves of endangered animals.

The Python community in Zimbabwe is booming, thanks to a group of impassioned Pythonista’s like the PSF Director Marlene Mhangami and Anna Makarudze.

youtube

Marlene founded ZimboPy, an education programme for local women wanting to get into Python. The courses are free, local and teacher-led. One of the students has gone on to study at Harvard, others to pursue professional development careers.

ZimboPy August 2018 Mentorship Week https://t.co/1X3iuIdK6x

— @TerraMeijar

2 things I was not expecting to find in Harare were a world-leading Cybersecurity programme using Python and one of the worlds largest supercomputers running Jupyter.

During an unfortunately-brief visit last year I got a tour of Harare and it’s new HPC facility. This is the existing suite, the new one is going to be one of the largest in the world. Local students and researchers are invited to the facility to run tests, hypothesis, and algorithms with Jupyter Notebooks fully integrated into their PC lab. This is cutting-edge technology.

Visited the High Performance Computing Center this morning. They're building one of the biggest super computers in the world in #Zimbabwe. discussing #ai use cases. Free computation for local research students and startups, all using Jupyter notebooks and #Python!

— @anthonypjshaw

Cybersecurity and the adoption of Python in Zimbabwe are being driven by people like Tendai Marengereke, a professor at HIT. Do you know of any Cybersecurity degrees being taught using Python at your local university? I don’t, they’re still teaching Pascal and Java.

South Africa’s capital city Johannesburg is one of the business-capitals in Africa, host to big tech names like Microsoft, Oracle, Amazon and Dimension Data (who I work for).

The software engineering job market in South Africa is growing, rapidly. So much so that Google and the PSF funded a startup to help people find dev jobs quickly. Powered of course by Python.

Hyperion team

One of the things we’re doing at Dimension Data is introducing Python as a business-automation tool. Python is used to automate HR systems, Finance Systems, Technology Operations and Reporting. That means we need a lot of people to know Python! So far, we’re up to 4000 employees learning basic to intermediate Python.

How Dimension Data launched a #LearnToCode initiative for 31,000 employees

Going to Eastern Africa…

“Eastern Africa” has many countries, like Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan.

Uganda hosts over 1,000,000 refugees and Python is being used as a way to reeducate people in dire need of opportunity. This presentation by Linus Wamanya, Kato Joshua, and Buwembo Murshid speak to some of the ways Python is being used in Eastern Africa. It’s hard not to be moved by this talk,

youtube

Kenya, on the East Coast of Africa with a coastline on the Indian Ocean, is known for Safari tours. Kenya’s 2 major cities, Nairobi and Mombasa are host to communities of Python developers.

Kenya’s capital, Nairobi has a regular Python meetup with over 1300 members where people can learn about complex Python technologies like Concurrency and Gevent.

Kenya’s PyCon “PyCon-KE” was sponsored by International tech companies like Microsoft and Google, as well as innovative African FinTech Jumo.

@PeterOkwara conducting a workshop on getting info of an EOS #Blockchain node using Python #PyConKE2018 @StrathU @PyNBO

— @EosNairobi

The tracks at PyCon-KE 2018 focused on IoT, AI, Data Science and Web Development. It’s easy to see how with African tech startup and local innovators, these companies can thrive. Data Science featured heavily at the PyCon in Nairobi, even getting the local youth involved with “Data Science for Kids” talk by a local high school student.

2017’s PyCon KE hosted programmes for the local youth too, like this music-oriented concept using Sonic Pi.

PyConKe

I could share 100’s of stories from Kenya, but we have another 40+ countries to explore…

Tanzania’s capital, Dar es Salaam is hiring Python developers to be part of Africa-wide data journalism and civic technologies fund, “Code for Africa”

Tanzania Calling: help us kickstart data journalism and civic tech in Dar es Salaam

CfA’s projects include “Drone Journalism” initiatives to give citizens ‘actionable information’ on issues such as air and water pollution.

Rwanda is host to a thriving developer community. It’s a small country with 12 million but that doesn’t stop them from innovating in the fields of data science and AI.

Local DjangoGirls team, “Django Girls Kigali” host workshops in the countries capital to teach them about software development, Internet tech and web development.

Here is what you missed! #DjangoGirlsKGL

— @DjangoGirlsKgl

There are also social startups in Kigali, like Nyaruka, who use Django and other open-source technology to build software for local companies and NGO’s.

Artificial Intelligence again is being researched and taught in Rwanda, with a local group “AI Saturdays”, a social club for AI developers and researchers.

Central and West Africa

Central Africa has huge swathes of lush rainforest, the rainforest in the Congo is the 2nd largest in the world after the Amazon. Population density is low in the center due to the environment, so if you go further West and work up and around the coast, you’ll find Pythonista’s-a-plenty.

Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa, with over 15% of the people in the continent living there. Lagos has a large and rapidly growing Python community.

Aisha Bello, another inspiring person in the African Python scene co-organizes PyCon-NG, PyLadies and Django Girls.

PyCon-NG, the PyCon hosted in Lagos was host to some of the best tech talent in Africa. It was also one of the most diverse PyCon’s in the world

PYCON NIGERIA 2018 REPORT

For a quick glimpse of what you missed (apparently, some really hot chili sauce) check out this video. All of the PyCon NG talks are available on YouTube.

youtube

Another large city in Nigeria is Abuja, the nation’s capital, and host to some growing Python communities. One of those communities is Django Girls Abuja.

7 more days to the close of registrations for Django Girls Abuja Workshop. Let all the Women in your life be aware of this golden opportunity to begin a career in programming and apps development. Absolutely free! To register, Visit: https://t.co/xddOryUzTr Please Retweet. Thanks

— @djangogirlsabj

DG Abuja is run by a team of volunteer coaches, like Akoh James and Adeshola Funmilayo. It could be easy to sit back and look at all this success and think it “just happens”, but it can’t without the dedication and hard work of all these inspiring people.

Togo, to the west of Benin is new on the Python scene and is joining forces with Python Ghana and Python CI. The 3 countries are bordering and sit on the south western coast of Africa. There’s an upcoming GDG event in the Lomé with AI on the agenda (I think, it’s written in Français).

Ghana, next door is host to the first PyCon Africa in 2019. After reading all these stories, I’d decided I cannot miss out so I’ve marked it in my calendar and I’ll see everyone in Accra.

PyCon Ghana 2018 was the first PyCon in Ghana, but it looked like a huge success

The DSF warmly congratulates PyCon Ghana, its organisers and all the Ghanaian Python community on a very successful first edition of the conference. @PyConGhana #PyConGhana

— @djangoproject

PyLadies Ghana is up and running thanks to people like Mimi Darteh and Abigail Dogbe. There are workshops in Wa, to the North, Ho to the east and the major cities Accra and Kumasi.

We could actually jump for the whole world😄.This is to every #PyLady out there, for all your continuous effort and hard work in advancing, educating and promoting the use of #Python both at your various work places and to the Community as a whole. #PyLadies #PyLadiesGhana #WCW

— @PyLadiesGhana

The PyLadies in Ghana went on a recent field trip to Esoko, a company that uses technology and mobile applications to help farmers in remote communities.

Glad I was part of the @PyLadiesGhana #FieldTrip to @Esoko. The team received us warmly and we learnt about the products and services they offer and how it is to work with their company.They were also glad to answer all our questions. #AProIn60Mins #PyladiesGhana #PythonGhana

— @AsedaAD

Cotê d’Ivoire next door to Ghana (Ivory Coast) has a Python community too, partnering with Ghana and Togo.

There’s a Django Girls chapter set up in the capital Abidjan and you’ll see many of the community in PyCon Africa this year.

Il y avait plusieurs activités , mais je tiens à faire une mention spéciale aux geekettes de #Djangogirls Abidjan. Elles ont donné un cours sur les bases de la programmation avec le langage Python. J'étais trop fière de voir cet atelier. "Edwige G. " 👉https://t.co/UTGAKP9aXh

— @DjangogirlsCIV

Northern Africa

is sadly a different story than the other regions, with major humanitarian crises in Libya, and Sudan.

Morocco is host to a new Pydata meetup in Casablanca, which covers data science in Python talks from local researchers and developers

Making discovery by accident and sagacity @lammiia

— @PyDataCasa

Egypt’s capital Cairo has a PyData chapter also with some interesting talks and research

Check out this Meetup: 2nd #PyDataCairo #Meetup: The Role of Thermal Imaging in Crowd Counting & Control. Main speaker: Dr. Nermin Negied. Join us at https://t.co/32KJB6Oemn #Meetup via @Meetup @PyData @NumFOCUS

— @PyDataCairo

Conclusion

The story of Python Africa continues to expand and evolve. This is a story of surprises, opportunity, and passion.

Without the numerous volunteers, advocates, teachers, and mentors (only a fraction of which were mentioned), none of this would be possible.

Also, a special mention to the Python Software Foundation and the Django Software Foundation, for their generous grants to sponsor some of these meetups and groups.

I can’t wait to see how this story unfolds, I will be there at PyCon Africa 2019, I hope to see you there too…

…and I hope you will be taking notes.

Yours Sincerely,

Anthony Shaw

Follow me on Twitter, GitHub or LinkedIn and contact me if you have any other stories you want to share on this article.

A letter to the Python community in Africa was originally published in Hacker Noon on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

[Telegram Channel | Original Article ]

#cryptocurrency

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agriosanemos-archive-3-blog · 7 years

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Fantasy Verse Census: Redux

Below is a list of the characters who survived and are now in the time skip. They will be split into species rather than clans as all gods, demons, and dragons are counted as different clans. For dragons I will list what kind they are for reference.

Myrrdin McGrath - Rowena (Snowy Owl)

Rhiannon McGrath

Casey McGrath - Erskine (Ocelot) cirquedeyokai

Brian McGrath - Frederick (European Rabbit)

Sif McGrath - Gunilla (Wolverine), Eira (Bonded Horse)

Guinevere McGrath - Cedric (Southwest African Lion)

Khione McGrath - Altair (Snow Leopard)

Chulainn McGrath - Kelvin (Rock Sparrow)

Brianna McGrath - Druce (Golden Eagle)

Albion McGrath - Llyr (European Hedgehog)

Cairbre McGrath - Jennifer (Red Fox)

Ullr McGrath - Malvyn (Scottish Wild Cat), Cid (Carbuncle)

Eumolpus McGrath - Cecil (Arctic Fox), Lugh (Carbuncle)

Liam McGrath - Sheamus (Mountain Hare), Emil (Carbuncle)

Isolda McGrath - Aislyn (Red Squirrel), Claire (Carbuncle)

Tyr McGrath - Calahan (Pine Marten), Desmond (Carbuncle)

Elpida Vassos

Gaia Vassos - Ismene (White Common Ground Dove)

Nemesis Vassos - Myra (Panther), Cassiopeia (Bonded Wyvern)

Poseidon Vassos - Delphinus (White Common Bottlenose Dolphin)

Amphitrite Vassos - Leviticus (Great White Shark), Aegis (Bonded Wyvern)

Hades Vassos - Atlas (Western Jackdaw), Cerberus (Hell Hound)

Semele Vassos - Ula (Spotted Seal)

Arsen Vassos - Cleon (Transvaal Lion) hanaeemi

Susanna Vassos - Amara (Masai Lion) hanaeemi

Hermes Vassos - Aquila (Red-tailed Hawk)

Melinoe Vassos - Nicodemus (Barn Owl)

Triton Vassos - Lazarus (Angel Shark)

Voluptas Vassos - Nemea (Pampas Fox)

Aesop Vassos - Lici (Masai Lion) hanaeemi

Julia Vassos - Zoro (Snow Leopard) hanaeemi

Alec Vassos - Jase (Carpet Python) hanaeemi

Macaria Vassos - Group of Fireflies, Arete (Carbuncle)

Tyche Vassos - Ophelia (Hooded Sisikin), Lycus (Carbuncle)

Pallas Vassos - Alexios (Gray Seal), Perseus (Carbuncle)

Ra Sabah - Ahkanaten (Saker Falcon)

Mut Sabah - Senusret (Arabian Oryx)

Sobek Sabah - Thesh (Nile Crocodile)

Aerith Sabah - Kalwyn (Southern River Otter)

Tefnut Sabah - Nefertiti (Masai Lion)

Khonsu Sabah - Qa’a (Horned Viper), Mutenhotep (”Bonded Horse”)

Osiris Sabah - Raneb (Apis Bull)

Hera Sabah - Lucina (Green Peacock)

Anhur Sabah - Djoser (Masai Lion)

Mehit Sabah - Semerkhet (African Lion)

Horus Sabah - Khafre (Peregrine Falcon)

Hathor Sabah - Sahura (Egyptian Long-horned Cow)

Imsety Sabah - Sneferka (White Rhinoceros), Muntu (Carbuncle)

Duamutef Sabah - Tiu (Side-striped Jackal), Anpu (Carbuncle)

Qebehsenuef Sabah - Baeufre (Gyrfalcon), Urshu (Carbuncle)

Aten Sabah - Khaba (Egyptian Mongoose), Nekht (Carbuncle)

Ptah Sabah - Amhose (Crested Gecko), Thutmose (Carbuncle)

Qetesh Sabah

Thor Bystrom - Okilinir (Himalayan Brown Bear), Bjorn (Bonded Horse)

Himechi Bystrom - Hertha (Eastern Cougar), Sassa (Bonded Horse) hanaeemi

Balder Bystrom - Brimir (White Mule Deer), Asmund (Bonded Horse)

Ananke Bystrom - Augustine (White Crested Eagle), Asta (Bonded Horse)

Loki Bystrom - Fensalir (Dire Wolf*), Viggo (Bonded Horse)

Yui Bystrom - Kibou (Peregrine Falcon), Senso (Bonded Horse)

Freyr Bystrom - Gullinbrusti (Central European Boar), Brynjar (Bonded Horse)

Hachiman-Jin Bystrom - Yuki (White Turtle Dove), Sarumaru (Bonded Horse) hanaeemi

Freya Bystrom - Sindri (Norwegian Forest Cat), Brynhildr (Bonded Horse)

Tove Bystrom - Ove (Prarie Falcon), Unn (Bonded Horse), Bunbun (Carbuncle) hanaeemi

Agape Bystrom - Bifrost (White Siberian Tiger), Brenna (Bonded Horse), Lars (Carbuncle)

Eirik Bystrom - Gustav (European Goldfinch), Hemming (Bonded Horse), Olav (Carbuncle)

Fenrir Bystrom - Embla (Dire Wolf*), Finn (Bonded Horse), Sven (Carbuncle)

Jormungandr Bystrom - Skjalduf (Titanoboa*), Agnar (Bonded Horse), Vathlauss (Carbuncle)

Hnoss Bystrom - Sigrid (Iberian Lynx), Gunnar (Bonded Horse), Otto (Carbuncle)

Gersemi Bystrom - Shy (Japanese Crane), Brunn (Bonded Horse), Lala (Carbuncle) hanaeemi

Hel Bystrom - Ingrid (Carrion Crow), Hilda (Bonded Horse), Aslaug (Carbuncle)

Ryujin Totsuka - Arata (Striped Dolphin)

Umi-hime Totsuka - Ami (Hourglass Dolphin)

Hotei Totsuka - Hitomi (Japanese Badger)

Toyotama-hime Totsuka - Mitsuki (Showa Sanshoku Koi Fish)

Fukurojuku Totsuka - Hayate (Japanese Weasel)

Tamayori-hime Totsuka - Miki (Hi Utsuri Koi Fish)

Amaterasu Totsuka - Hikari (White Japanese Sparrow)

Ame-no-Uzume Totsuka - Izumi (Black Pipe Fox) hanaeemi

Tsukuyomi Totsuka - Usamaro (White Japanese Hare)

Susano’o Totsuka - Hiraku (Manta Ray)

Kushinada-hime/Samarah Totsuka - Mayumi (Yellow-lipped Sea Krait) huntersxandxangels

Sakuya-hime Totsuka - Koharu (Japanese Sparrow)

Ninigi Totsuka - Ryunosuke (Shiba Inu), Atsushi (White Pipe Fox), Furusawa (Carbuncle)

Hoori Totsuka - Isamu (Sika Deer), Akuma (Hell Hound*), Koetsu (Carbuncle)

Suseri-hime/Leila Totsuka - Kenji (Spotted Eagle Ray), Asha (Bengal Tiger*), Touya (Carbuncle) huntersxandxangels

Haru Totsuka

Hitoshi Totsuka

Bolin Ruan cirquedeyokai

Lilu Ruan cirquedeyokai

Nu-Wa Ruan - Chang-Pu (Clouded Leopard)

Beiji Ruan - Fai-Li (Chinese Ferret Badger)

Lung-Mo Ruan

Yao-Jin Ruan

Azure Ruan cirquedeyokai

Zhilan Ruan cirquedeyokai

Guan-Yu Ruan - Wu-Tao (South China Tiger)

Xi-Fe Ruan

Po-Shang Ruan cirquedeyokai

Liling Ruan cirquedeyokai

Cho Ruan cirquedeyokai

Ao-Qin Ruan

Li-Fen Ruan - Duan-Xia (Golden Pheasant)

Ao-Shun Ruan

Zhu-Li Ruan - Fu-Zhong (Chow Chow)

Dionysus Ruan - Cyrus (Amur Leopard), Callista (Amur Leopard)

Jin-Hai Ruan

Ao-Bing Ruan

Vonungein Ruan cirquedeyokai

Jade Ruan cirquedeyokai

Hanba Ruan

Meng-Po Ruan - Biming (House Mouse)

Xing Ruan - Liang-Shui (Black Giant Squirrel)

Feng Ruan cirquedeyokai

Zong-Ying Ruan - Tao-Ping (Giant Panda)

Bao Ruan cirquedeyokai

Ren-Shu Ruan - Liao-Ming (Carbuncle)

Kundo-Star Ruan - ? (Carbuncle) cirquedeyokai

Aoi Ruan - ? (Carbuncle) cirquedeyokai

Yin-Lin Ruan - Yi-Huo (Carbuncle)

Mei-Lin Ruan - ? (Carbuncle) cirquedeyokai

Mao-Yu Ruan - Su-Jian (Carbuncle)

Shai-Ming Ruan - Min-Wu (Greater Short-nosed Fruit Bat), Wang-Guo (Carbuncle)

Chung-Tao Ruan - Mei-Wu (Lesser Short-nosed Fruit Bat), Zhen-Xun (Carbuncle)

Bo-Xiu Ruan - Cheng-Gong (Yangzte Chinese Softshell Turtle), Hoo-Gwo (Carbuncle)

Many unnamed members.

Marduk Nidnantum - Autu (Gray Wolf), Rigiljo (Bonded Griffin)

Benthesikyme Nidnantum - Helene (Commerson’s Dolphin), Sophie (Bonded Griffin)

Dumuzi Nidnantum - Lugalngu (Arabian Oryx), Uras (Bonded Griffin)

Ishtar Nidnantum - Kuwari (Eurasian Otter), Urnina (Bonded Griffin)

Atar Nidnantum - Omarosa (Sumar Leopard), Enusat (Bonded Griffin), Balum (Carbuncle)

Lulal Nidnantum - Humbaba (Striped Skunk), Samuqan (Bonded Griffin), Bau (Carbuncle)

Shara Nidnantum - Sabit (Spotted Hyena), Inanna (Bonded Griffin), Anbu (Carbuncle)

Yol

Sil

Okaaz

Sonaan

Dinok

Suvulaan

Vul

Dong-Mei

Kun

Vulon

Klo

Gol

Diin

Strun

More unnamed members.

Acheron Iblis - Mandala (Canadian Lynx), Bael (Nekomata), Cairo (Wyvern*) cirquedeyokai

Bael Iblis - Merida (Dire Wolf*) cirquedeyokai

Amunet Iblis cirquedeyokai

Eve Iblis

Titania

Calypso Iblis - Eerie (Carbuncle) cirquedeyokai

Seti Iblis - ? (Carbuncle) cirquedeyokai

Ariel Iblis - Houdini (Carbuncle) cirquedeyokai

Alister Iblis - ? (Carbuncle) cirquedeyokai

Felisha Iblis - ? (Carbuncle) cirquedeyokai

Kufu Iblis - ? (Carbuncle) cirquedeyokai

Mei-Li Iblis - ? (Carbuncle) cirquedeyokai

Arthur Iblis - ? (Carbuncle) cirquedeyokai

Suzaki Iblis - ? (Carbuncle) cirquedeyokai

Ayato Iblis - ? (Carbuncle) cirquedeyokai

Lucas Iblis - Pete (Carbuncle)

Maksis Durand

Maria Durand

Roen (Durand)

Aiko Durand - Roen (Hell Hound)

Lilith Fuza

Urie Fuza - Charon (Hell Hound)

Rem Arlond - Jasper (Hell Hound)

Akemi Durand - Hazel (Carbuncle)

More unnamed members.

Amoxtli/Tatsuya Coaxoch

Ihuicatl/Rei Coaxoch

Anna Coaxoch

Lyra Coaxoch - Cindy (Carbuncle)

Tezcacoatl/Sho Coaxoch

Mage Himura - Harper (Hell Hound)

Alice Himura hanaeemi

Shuu Himura hanaeemi

Rachel Himura hanaeemi

Ichijo Himura hanaeemi

Hima Himura hanaeemi

Sosuke Durand - Rin (Carbuncle) hanaeemi

More unnamed members.

Regime Abernathy werekxnglives

Dexter Abernathy werekxnglives

Erebus Abernathy - Life (Giant Golden-crowned Flying Fox) werekxnglives

Nyx Abernathy - Echo (Golden-capped Fruit Bat)

Tai Abernathy/Wepwawet Sabah - ? (? Jackal) werekxnglives

Kenta Abernathy werekxnglives

Alexandria Abernathy werekxnglives

Mordred Abernathy werekxnglives

Reed Abernathy werekxnglives

Aisha Abernathy werekxnglives

Isaac Abernathy werekxnglives

Yuki Abernathy - Shiro (White Pipe Fox)

Maddie Abernathy - ? (? Pipe Fox) werekxnglives

Hajime Abernathy

Sakura Abernathy

Neville Abernathy werekxnglives

Helios Abernathy werekxnglives

Hypnos Abernathy - Nike (American Black Bear), Chronos (Carbuncle) werekxnglives

Demona Abernathy - Raichu (Carbuncle) werekxnglives

Cain Abernathy - Deadpool (Carbuncle) werekxnglives

Ozalie Abernathy - Thunder (Snow Leopard*), Starlight (Carbuncle) werekxnglives

Madoka Abernathy - Etsuko (Carbuncle)

Arsene Lupin

Reah Argyris - Baron (Persian*), Opal (Carbuncle) renas-rp-universe

Impey Barbicane - Sisi (Corgi*)

Menta Barbicane - Tippy (Corgi*), Cupcake (Carbuncle) renas-rp-universe

Abraham Van Helsing

Kaori Kasegawa - Hak (Peregrine Falcon*), Shirayuki (Carbuncle) renas-rp-universe

Victor Frankenstein

Cardia Frankenstein - Garnet (Carbuncle)

Saint Germain - Nicholas (Javan Leopard)

Neith Germain - Itet (Lesser Bird of Paradise)

Markos Thanos - Mirage (Sumar Leopard), Karnak (Wyvern*) cirquedeyokai

Serqet Thanos - Unas (Yellow Palestine Scorpion), Moswen (Giant Cobra*)

Grimm Thanos cirquedeyokai

Syrina Thanos - Sarabi (Jaguar), Nightmare (Bonded Unicorn), Luxor (Wyvern*) cirquedeyokai

Destroyer Thanos - Sherlock (Great Horned Owl) cirquedeyokai

Hecate Thanos - Arcadia (Least Weasel)

Thoth Thanos - Djaty (Egyptian Ibis)

Seshat Thanos - Dalila (Southern African Cheetah) hanaeemi

Kuk/Riaghan Thanos - Imhotep (Caracal) cirquedeyokai

Sekhmet Thanos - Bijou (White Masai Lion) cirquedeyokai

Makoto Thanos - Chiasa (Ocelot) cirquedeyokai

Bast Thanos - Kakhent (Panther)

Sinbad Thanos

Seth Thanos

Dante Thanos - Mim (Timber Wolf), Archimedes (Timber Wolf), Cali (Ammit Child), Ruby (Hell Hound*), Milo (Phoenix*), Aodh (Dire Wolf*), Vesper (Wyvern*) cirquedeyokai

Wenet Thanos - Kashta (Desert Cottontail Rabbit), Omen (Dire Wolf*)

Viper Thanos - Nagi (White Indian Cobra), Nox (Dire Wolf*) cirquedeyokai

Apollon Thanos - Leon (Forest Raven), Iiakada (Phoenix*), Fos (Pegasus*)

Ming-Chi Thanos - Shiva (White Siberian Tiger), Lin (Bonded Wyvern) cirquedeyokai

Anubis Thanos - Ahmes (Golden Jackal), Kemet (Hell Hound*)

Yue Thanos - Amun (Clouded Leopard), Khan (Bengal Tiger*), Willow (Dire Wolf*) themoondragoness

Zephyrus Thanos - Rhode (Blue Jay)

Iris Thanos - Group of Monarch Butterflies

Eris Thanos - Menwi (Serval), Laika (Dire Wolf*)

Kaito Thanos

Dupree Thanos werekxnglives

Zarah Sabah - Nenet (House Sparrow), Hawkeye (Dire Wolf*)

Asteria Thanos - Balthazar (Dire Wolf/Hoshi-no-Tama*), Areiseus (Carbuncle)

Maahes Thanos - Akudo (Ragdoll Cat), ? (Carbuncle) cirquedeyokai

Kebechet Thanos - Pepi (Golden Jackal), Seka (Carbuncle)

Sah Thanos - Rino (Screech Owl), Evermore (Carbuncle) cirquedeyokai

Citlali Thanos - Chipahua (Margay), ? (Carbuncle) cirquedeyokai

Ajit Thanos - Samar (Lion-tailed Macaque), Starsong (Bonded Griffin), Imaran (Carbuncle)

Sati Thanos - Himmat (White-bellied Sea Eagle), Ishvara (Carbuncle)

Esi Thanos - Cleopatra (Eurasian Wolf), Neema (Carbuncle) hanaeemi

Dakar Thanos - Ramses (Eurasian Wolf), Khem (Carbuncle)

Orpheus Thanos - Icarus (Harz Roller Canary), ? (Carbuncle) cirquedeyokai

Melete Thanos - Jocasta (Red Salamander), Aurora (Carbuncle)

Pothos Thanos - Aenea (Cardinal), Cygnus (Carbuncle)

Eurydice Thanos - Roxanne (Papillon), Dione (Carbuncle)

More unnamed members.

Sherlock Holmes - Annabelle (Corgi*)

Xanthe Vermillion - Chamomile (Carbuncle)

Nanase Sabah

Shirah Zaliyah huntersxandxangels

#blog census

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tagamark · 5 years

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Masai Mara Game Report: October 2019

New Post has been published on https://tagasafarisafrica.com/africa-travel-news/safari-sightings/masai-mara-game-report-october-2019/

Masai Mara Game Report: October 2019

Weather and grasslands

Weather has been hot and humid with cool mornings and strong winds in the late afternoons. Rainfall has been localised and heavy in patches, with a total of 66mm recorded in October. The Musiara Marsh has now dried up under the culvert and the Mara River water level is holding. Sunrise is at 6.20am and sunset is at 6.30pm. The short grass plains are still looking like a golf course, although the little rainfall has brought on a green flush in some areas of the East and West Musiara Plains, Topi Plains and the Olare Orok riverbed areas.

Spectacular October sunrise – photo credit Moses Manduku

On the plains:

Game sightings have been good this month. From around the 12th of October, wildebeest were being seen in large herds in the Trans Mara and spread out across the Olpunyata Plains and also below the escarpment. By the end of the month those of the Serengeti herds had moved south and the resident herds had moved south-east with some crossing the Talek River and were heading towards the northern conservancies. Pockets of wildebeest will be seen in the Olare Orok and the north marsh areas as far as the short grass plains in the northern conservancy. Zebra are still in good numbers although will be scattered when rain falls between the Reserve and adjacent conservancies.

Elephant keep on crossing the Mara River at the BBC campsite river crossing and with a common breeding herd that frequent the camps. More hippo cows with calves are being seen since large pods are in all deep water areas of the Mara River. Since the rain, small herds of Eland have been seen near the marsh on the west side.

Photo credit Moses Manduku

The two Cape buffalo herds are well spread out since mid month; the Bila Shaka breeding herd has latterly been habituating the north fan of Rhino Ridge and will also come down to the Bila Shaka river bed. When closing into the Marsh, the resident marsh lion pride will feed off them. Latterly older bull buffalo are now resident in the West marsh grasslands and can be seen creeping in closer to the camps – a few of these older bulls have since been taken down by the resident west marsh spotted hyena clan.

Marsh Pride male Chongo and buffalo kill – photo credit Moses Manduku

Hyena clans are large at present, with the west marsh clan consisting of over 80 animals – we have had a few sightings of hyenas mating this month although this phenomenon is not often seen.

Topi have started their calving season with good sightings on Topi Plains and Malima Tatu; many of the calves are prey to hyena and cheetah. Coke’s Hartebeest have also been seen with calves. Warthogs are still giving birth with an average of 4-5 piglets per sow and a gestation of five and a half months; the camp grounds are well stocked with warthogs and piglets. Thomson Gazelles are also being seen with plenty of young – female gazelles can have up to two young per year. For the first two weeks after giving birth, the mother hides the fawn in tall grass and returns twice daily to nurse it until it is old enough to join the herd. Impala breeding herds are also being seen with fawns.

A particularly large African Rock Python has been sighted frequently this month in and around the lower Silanga riverbed; on the 20th it had clearly eaten something large due to its extended torso and it was suggested to be that of a Thomson Gazelle since it was in a shallow part of the river bed. Unfortunately, we suspected that Spotted Hyena ate this particular python because we last saw it the evening of the 20th and by the early morning of the 21st, in the immediate vicinity we noticed many hyenas. When pythons have eaten such large prey they become lethargic and slow while they digest and are often easy prey for predators such as hyenas.

On the 19th a pair of jackals had killed and eaten a Thomson fawn. Black-backed Jackals have a varied diet and will eat what they catch; being very efficient, they do not give up quickly which drives this species ahead of other jackals. Black-backed Jackals also have pups of varying ages; a den of three pups can be seen on the east Topi Plains. Bat-eared foxes being chiefly an insectivore are also being seen more regularly; these little foxes are well dispersed within the open areas of the Mara grasslands, although less frequently seen than Black-backed Jackals.

Serval cats are being seen more often with a particular male, south of the Bila Shaka, that appears to be more habituated to vehicle movement than others. Masai Giraffe breeding herds move between habitats and male herds are often seen within the fringes of the riverine woodlands. On the 20th one young male was killed near the BBC campsite woodlands by a larger male while sparing; early the next morning a clan of over 50 spotted hyena had eaten up everything and by evening the bones had been devoured too. A few days later, a group of five male giraffe were seen looking over what was left of the carcass – they hovered over the stained blood remains for well over an hour – extraordinary behaviour that has been seldom seen. A large dark male frequents the camps and will be seen on a daily basis. European bee-eaters have been seen in flight and some sounds of them appear in large flocks. Large flocks of yellow throated sandgrouse can be seen and heard on the very short and dry plains.

Larger Cats:

Lion

Lioness Yaya and her two adult daughters can be seen within the southern Marsh and the lower Paradise Plains. One of her daughters, Pamoja, has two small cubs that are about two months old now. She has moved them out from the riverine woodland thicket to the croton hill south of the Bila Shaka crossing. They have all been hunting and feeding off Zebra and Topi.

Pamoja and cubs – photo credit Moses Manduku

Lioness Spot has two one-year-old sub adult cubs, a male and female, who are mostly seen with lioness Little Red. They are usually seen on the Bila shaka river bed. On the 22nd they had killed a young male buffalo close to the crossing point on the Bila shaka.

Lionesses Rembo, Kabibi, Dada and Kito and their five cubs (three cubs are one year old and two are 10-months-old), have been hunting mostly zebra and buffalo within the Bila Shaka, Northern Marsh and Southern Marsh areas. Towards the end of the month we spotted them with a zebra kill which they later had to abandon as around twenty hyena had surrounded them and the noises being made by the hyena could have possibly attracted more lion from a different pride which would have been a threat to their cubs.

Dada, Kito, Rembo and Kabibi with cubs this October – photo credit Moses Manduku

The six males are split between the Marsh Pride and the Madomo/Ridge Pride lionesses. Bila shaka, Topi Plains and Rhino Ridge areas are best to see the movement of these males. A buffalo and her calf had become separated from the rest of their herd by hyena, who managed to eventually push the calf down into a pond. Marsh Pride male Chongo heard the commotion and took advantage of the easy kill, before eventually dragging it off into the thicket.

Chongo with buffalo kill – photo credit Moses Manduku

Leopard:

Saba, (also known as the Kaboso female leopard) has been seen frequently – she was seen on the 14th being mated by a large male on the south bank of the Olare Orok River. She has one cub and we all thought that this mating meant that she no longer had her offspring, but a few days later she appeared with the very healthy cub in close pursuit. The cub is estimated at two months old and was only received by the public in the first week of the month.

Saba being mated – photo credit Louise Wallis and Frazer Harrison

Saba’s cub – photo credit Jo Plisnier

Romi the female leopard is again being seen in the riverine woodlands close to the old BBC campsite; she was also seen lying over a dead Warburgia tree in the evenings of the 15th, 16th and 19th of the month. The last offspring of Romi, a young male, was seen near the ‘Lake Nakuru’ woodlands stalking Impala late into the evening of the 21st; the Impala sensed the leopard’s advance and sidestepped into the air just as the leopard rushed forward.

Romi’s male offspring – photo credit Moses Manduku

The female leopard Bahati, of the Talek river area, is still being sighted with her two cubs that are estimated to be about nine months old now. She was seen on the 17th while coming down vertically from a Warburgia tree.

A large male leopard has been seen a few times near the Kaburu crossing point on the Mara River, this again is the same male that will hunt wildebeest during the months they are crossing. A large female leopard has been seen on the Ngiatiak side of the Double Crossing: on the 22nd she was seen feeding off the carcass of a wildebeest that was initially killed by lions and after just ten minutes of feeding, a lioness rushed out from a croton thicket to claim back her kill.

Cheetah:

‘Tano Bora’, the five male cheetah coalition, is still being seen between the conservancies and the Reserve; on the 21st they were all seen together in the south-east of the Reserve and one of the males was seen mating with a lone female. They have been hunting yearling wildebeest and Topi. This is a very active coalition of five males.

Currently it’s the calving season of Thomson Gazelles and Topis; cheetah make the most of this period, often targeting the fawns which are of course an easier catch and therefore requires less of their energy. Our guides found Busara the female cheetah (daughter of Amani, born in 2016) enjoying her second Thomson Gazelle fawn in less than one hour.

Busara and fawn kill – photo credit Moses Manduku

Imani the female cheetah is now on her own as her three cubs have come of age. She has been seen less often this month and the last time we saw her was in the Motorogi Conservancy. Meanwhile, solitary males and females are still being seen; south of the Double Crossing and below Emartii Hill are good places to see a young male while the lone female was being seen on Paradise Plains and Rhino Ridge.

Walking Safaris in North/East Masai land

Our guided walks for October have been windy and cool with many overcast days. The grassland plains are short and dry with scattered plains game being seen – mostly Topi and Thomson gazelles. Pockets of male resident wildebeest would move in and around due to grass levels being short. We have seen many warthogs and young piglets – it’s surprising that the warthogs in the conservancies give birth a little later than those in the Reserve. Spotted hyenas have been active on the east and southern plains, attracted by the resident wildebeest that come and go. With the cool and dry conditions, many of the walks have lasted longer and our guests have enjoyed their bush breakfast slightly later in the morning.

Giraffe have been seen to move around the habitat of croton thickets and gardenia groves of which there are many between the two open plains. On the 16th two large male giraffes were seen neck fighting near the Gardenia grove riverbed.

We saw many active Jackal pairs hunting Thomson and Impala fawns in October. The female cheetah called Nalangu (with six young cubs estimated at three-months-old) has moved out from the Lemek Conservancy and into Mara North since the middle of the month.

By Patrick Reynolds, Manager at Governors’ Il Moran Camp.

Post courtesy of Governors Camps

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perfectzablog · 6 years

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How Internships Connect First Generation College Bound Students to STEM Careers

This story on STEM education was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Read more about higher education.

SAN JOSE, Calif. — It was not an ordinary lunch period at Downtown College Prep Alum Rock High. Berenice Espino and her Quest for Space teammates had gathered in the engineering classroom to watch as a SpaceX rocket was launched into the atmosphere heading for the International Space Station, carrying onboard a science experiment they’d designed. NASA astronauts would test the device, which analyzes the effects of weightlessness on cooling and heating systems, and send data back to the students.

The launch marked the latest effort by the 5-year-old charter school, to expose students to the skills they’ll need to access high-tech jobs. The day after the launch, for example, Espino and classmate Jaime Sanchez were learning Python programming through Udacity, an online education platform that offers “nanodegrees.” Other students in their engineering class were constructing a robot for the Dell-sponsored Silicon Valley Tech Challenge and designing a “tiny house” to shelter a homeless person.

Most students at the high school, on San Jose’s East Side in the southern end of Silicon Valley, are from Mexican immigrant families. Nearly all will be the first in their families to go to college; some will be the first to complete high school. Espino’s mother works as a cook. Sanchez’s father is a landscaper; his stepfather, a construction worker.

The kids who grow up in Silicon Valley’s Latino neighborhoods, the children of groundskeepers, janitors, cooks and construction workers, rarely get a shot at high-paying, high-tech jobs. Just 4.7 percent of the Valley’s tech professionals are Latino and 2.2 percent are African-American, according to 2015 data from the American Community Survey. By contrast, 57 percent are foreign born, with many coming from India and China, a local industry group estimates.

Across California, Latino and black students, many from low-income families, earn lower scores on state exams than white or Asian students and are far less likely to take the advanced math and science classes that prepare students for high-tech majors and careers. Bay Area nonprofits are working with schools to improve math proficiency. For example, the Silicon Valley Education Foundation’s summer program, Elevate Math, is raising algebra readiness, a critical first step on the STEM success track.

However, educators realize that getting students on track academically isn’t enough. They’re also trying to make working-class students aware of the high-tech career opportunities just a few miles up the road.

“Half our kids don’t know what’s out there or what it means to be an engineer,” said Chris Funk, superintendent of the East Side Union High School District, which serves San Jose’s majority Latino and Vietnamese immigrant neighborhoods. “They drive past the tech buildings, but they don’t know what’s going on inside.”

Using a drill press in the engineering lab of his San Jose high school, Josue Valverde Ortiz makes wheels for a robot that will compete in the Silicon Valley Tech Challenge. “We don’t have much of a budget, so we use what we have,” he says. (Joanne Jacobs for The Hechinger Report)

Fifteen miles north of Funk’s office is Google’s headquarters, known as the Googleplex, in Mountain View, once a blue-collar town. The children of immigrant laborers attend high schools alongside the children of “tech titans” in the Mountain View-Los Altos district, says Darya Larizadeh.

She leads a two-year-old district program designed to expose lower-income students to professional careers. Pathways, Exposure, Academic Connection, Knowledge (PEAK) takes students to local companies such as Google and Facebook, as well as to hospitals, law firms and other businesses. It also organizes weeklong internships and job shadowing during school breaks. “Our goal is for them to see tech as something they could choose,” says Larizadeh.

Other Bay Area districts also see the need to connect first-generation, college-bound students to careers. In the last five years, San Francisco Unified, Oakland Unified, East Side, San Jose Unified, plus smaller districts and charters, have partnered with the nonprofit Genesys Works to place 12th-graders in nine-month internships at high-tech and other companies.

During the summer before the students’ senior year, Genesys Works trains them in technical skills, such as information technology, as well as soft skills, like writing professional e-mails, handling feedback and networking. Once school starts, students spend their mornings in class and their afternoons at work, averaging 20 hours a week at $10 an hour. Nearly all enroll in college, says Peter Katz, executive director of Genesys Works – Bay Area.

The program, founded in Houston in 2002, plans to train and place 150 interns in the Bay Area this fall. Most come from non-white, lower-income families and will be first-generation college students, says Katz.

As a high schooler, Kateryn Raymundo interned at Salesforce, a tech company, through the nonprofit Genesys Works. She now attends San Francisco State and hopes to have a career in marketing. (Photo courtesy of Pedro Raymundo)

Kateryn Raymundo, who emigrated with her family from Guatemala when she was eight, was in the first group of interns five years ago. A student at George Washington High, a large public school in San Francisco, she wanted to go to college but had little sense of what her career options might be. “I didn’t know what was out there,” she recalls. Her father, a welder, and her mother, a hotel housekeeper, didn’t finish middle school.

Genesys Works found Raymundo an internship in customer support at SalesForce, a cloud computing company, then helped her apply to college. Four years later, she’s completing a marketing degree at San Francisco State while working full-time at SalesForce as a data analyst. She’s built “an awesome network,” she says, which she hopes will help her land a marketing job when she graduates this December.

While DCP Alum Rock’s first graduating class is finishing their first year of college, graduates of its sister school near downtown San Jose, DCP El Primero High, have been moving on to higher education for over a decade: The first class graduated in 2004. Those who earn in-demand tech degrees tend to do well, said Edgar Chavez, college success director for the Downtown College Prep charter network, which also includes two middle schools. However, many students major in the social sciences in college, then struggle to find professional jobs. To help college graduates launch careers, DCP now provides career counseling — and sometimes internships. Chavez is pushing every student to complete a summer internship in college — or earlier.

Patricia Villegas, a 2004 graduate, is helping alumni with resumes, interviews and advice. A staffing agency employee, she recruits contract workers for Google. To land even a temporary job there, applicants need a four-year degree, software skills and real-world experience, she says. “Internships are super, super important.”

At DCP Alum Rock, students get plenty of hands-on experience. The school’s engineering program started in 2014, when Principal Terri Furton realized math teacher Luis Ruelas had, in her words, a love for “what you can do with math.” Together they adopted the Project Lead the Way curriculum, an instructional approach that encourages students to identify community problems and design solutions.

That first year, with California gripped by an historic drought, an Alum Rock team designed a gray-water recycling system that was a national winner in a Samsung-sponsored contest. The award money covered the costs of outfitting the lab. “We didn’t think we could beat teams from the rich schools,” recalls Jaime Sanchez, Espino’s Python partner. “But we did.”

More recently, when the city of San Jose announced a design contest for “tiny houses” for the homeless, Ruelas’ students went to work on a plan, crowd-funding money to pay for materials. Faced with neighborhood resistance, the city downscaled the project and canceled the contest. Undaunted, the students plan to build the house in the fall and find a place for it, perhaps at a church.

“Even achievers don’t see engineering as an option,” says Ruelas, a Mexican immigrant who struggled to learn English so he could earn a materials science degree at San Jose State. When students try it, they’re hooked, he says.

Today, 55 percent of DCP Alum Rock students take engineering or computer science, including a lab where they work on projects for competitions in robotics, rocketry and engineering. The school also offers a BUILD entrepreneurship class where students develop product ideas and pitch them to Silicon Valley professionals. For a U.N.-sponsored conference for high schoolers in New York City, DCP Alum Rock pupils collaborated with students in Jiangsu, China, via video chat, to design a way to cool homes and filter air without electricity.

Like other Bay Area schools, DCP is also emphasizing internships and similar experiences that expose students to professional careers, says Kelly Neal, who manages partnerships for DCP. This year, four DCP students are interning through Genesys Works, at Service Now, a cloud computing company, and at Silicon Valley Bank. Others have worked with researchers at Stanford, Berkeley and other university labs. This summer, for the first time, nine students will study abroad.

“It’s beneficial to realize that not everybody looks like them and to have that experience before they go to college,” says Neal.

Espino, who watched her science project launch into space, will study software engineering at the University of California at Merced starting this fall. While nearly half of the university’s student body is Latino, she doesn’t expect to see many first-generation Latinas in her engineering and computer science classes. That doesn’t faze her.

On launch day, her computer-science teacher, John Benoit, a former Intel engineer, gave the rocketry team patches commemorating the flight. He told the students, “That’s how rocket scientists brag.” As “lead scientist” with her school team, Espino had earned her flight patch.

This story on STEM education was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Read more about higher education.

How Internships Connect First Generation College Bound Students to STEM Careers published first on https://greatpricecourse.tumblr.com/

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bisoroblog · 6 years

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How Internships Connect First Generation College Bound Students to STEM Careers

This story on STEM education was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Read more about higher education.

“It’s beneficial to realize that not everybody looks like them and to have that experience before they go to college,” says Neal.

This story on STEM education was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Read more about higher education.

How Internships Connect First Generation College Bound Students to STEM Careers published first on https://dlbusinessnow.tumblr.com/

0 notes