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This popular floating restaurant was on the rocks until Frida Njeri took over

This popular floating restaurant was on the rocks until Frida Njeri took over

THERE are no land rates for this bar and restaurant that floats on the sea waters of Lamu Island in Kenya. People have lived here for over 700 years. Lamu Old Town is older than Zanzibar, and other settlements in East Africa where Bantu, Arabic, Persian, Indian, and European influences fused into the Swahili culture. The town, with its relatively well-preserved buildings and traditions, is now a UNESCO World Heritage site. The island’s natural beauty, history, culture, and popularity with tourists, are what led the bar and restaurant’s original owner to situate it right in the Indian Ocean canal that…
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India Navy rescues bulk carrier crew after Arabian Sea hijack attempt

India Navy rescues bulk carrier crew after Arabian Sea hijack attempt

THE Indian Navy rescued the crew of a merchant vessel after its attempted hijack in the Arabian Sea and said it had not found any pirates on board. An Indian Navy warship intercepted the Liberian-flagged MV Lila Norfolk bulk carrier less than a day after it received a report that the vessel had been hijacked about 460 nautical miles off Somalia. About five to six armed people boarded the vessel on Thursday, according to a report received by the UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency, which said the ship's crew had gathered in the ship's citadel. The navy said all…
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Ina-Maria Shikongo deploys her art to protect the Okavango Delta from big oil

Ina-Maria Shikongo deploys her art to protect the Okavango Delta from big oil

"THIS piece is for Ken Saro-Wiwa," said Ina-Marie Shikongo, pointing to a textile collage shaped like an inverted dome hanging above the grey sofa where she was seated, surrounded by other artwork referencing the earth's warming climate. In a world often muted by diplomacy, Shikongo stands out as a defiant burst of unapologetic activism. Since 2020, the Namibian climate activist has used her art to fight a looming environmental threat to the wildlife-rich Okavango Delta. Shikongo and other activists have made their presence felt at COP28, hosted by the United Arab Emirates' most populous city, and her work is a…
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Residents report gunfire in Ethiopian holy city, but govt says all peaceful

Residents report gunfire in Ethiopian holy city, but govt says all peaceful

FIGHTING broke out between the army and a regional militia in Ethiopia's mediaeval holy city of Lalibela, a World Heritage site, four residents told Reuters, but the government said the area was peaceful. Fano, a part-time militia in the northern Amhara region which has no formal command structure, has been battling the army since late July. It captured Lalibela, famous for its rock-hewn churches, and Gondar, the second-biggest city in Amhara, for several days in August before being repulsed. The fighting, which has killed hundreds of people, is the biggest security challenge faced by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed since the Tigray war ended…
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Life’s no longer rosy at Senegal’s Pink Lake after floods

Life’s no longer rosy at Senegal’s Pink Lake after floods

NGOUDA DIONE ON the shore of Senegal's Pink Lake, salt farmer Pape Sira Ba has raked in what he fears may be his last harvest. Extreme floods contaminated the 3-square-km lake five months ago, turning its famous waters green and threatening thousands of people who depend on it for their livelihoods. Officially known as Lake Retba, the lake's high salinity and rare microbiome long-fostered algae that turned it a pinkish colour, making it one of the West African country's most visited attractions and under consideration as a UNESCO World Heritage site. Everything changed last September when torrential rains hit the…
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Congolese NGOs decry mining in main refuge of ‘Africa’s unicorn’

Congolese NGOs decry mining in main refuge of ‘Africa’s unicorn’

ERIKAS MWISI KAMBALE ILLEGAL gold mining is destroying tracts of pristine rainforest in Congo's Okapi Wildlife Reserve, a UNESCO World Heritage site meant to be a haven for the endangered mammal nicknamed Africa's unicorn, environmental organisations warned on Tuesday. Industrial activities are supposed to be banned in the 13,000 square kilometres of the reserve in the northeast Democratic Republic of Congo. Aerial photo evidence shows mining has persisted, the civil society groups said at a joint news conference to mark the international day of the okapi. The Council for Environmental Defense through Legality and Traceability (CODELT) said the ongoing destruction…
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Pandemic and war hit tourism in Lalibela, holy Ethiopian site

Pandemic and war hit tourism in Lalibela, holy Ethiopian site

AS they have done for hundreds of years on the Orthodox Easter weekend, priests wrapped in traditional white robes read the Bible by candlelight on Saturday evening in the rock-hewn churches of Lalibela in northern Ethiopia. The ancient ritual has been a tourist draw in recent years. Tens of thousands of visitors from around Ethiopia and abroad usually come to Lalibela, home to a UNESCO World Heritage site of 12th and 13th-century monolithic churches, to celebrate and witness the most important holiday in the Orthodox calendar. But they were missing this year. Even many local worshippers stayed home, reflecting the…
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Hundreds of pelicans found dead in Senegal World Heritage site

Hundreds of pelicans found dead in Senegal World Heritage site

SOME 750 pelicans have been found dead in a UNESCO World Heritage site in northern Senegal that provides refuge for millions of migratory birds, the country's parks director said. Rangers found the pelicans on January 23 in the Djoudj bird sanctuary, a remote pocket of wetland near the border with Mauritania and a resting place for birds that cross the Sahara Desert into West Africa each year. An unverified video published on local media showed hundreds of pelican carcasses scattered on a beach, muddy and darker than their normally eye-catching white. "We took some samples for screening and we hope…
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