May 4th, 2013 at 1:00PM: Jumbo Elephants may disappear from Tanzania within seven years if current poaching trends continue, Sabahi news service reports.
The Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute counted 109,000 elephants in 2009. In 2012, the number had sunk below 70,000. This is due to a surge in poaching. Elephant ivory commands high prices on the international black market. If current trends continue, the elephants ...Click on a label to read posts from that part of the world.
hornofafrica posts
Elephants May Be Extinct In Tanzania In A Few Years
May 4th, 2013 at 1:00PM: Jumbo Elephants may disappear from Tanzania within seven years if current poaching trends continue, Sabahi news service reports.
The Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute counted 109,000 elephants in 2009. In 2012, the number had sunk below 70,000. This is due to a surge in poaching. Elephant ivory commands high prices on the international black market. If current trends continue, the elephants ...International Adventure Guide 2013: Ethiopia: Addis Ababa And The Northern Circuit
Apr 18th, 2013 at 11:00AM:
Ethiopia is the rising star of the adventure travel scene. The country has a great deal to offer those who want to visit Africa beyond the usual favorites. Want to see ancient ruins? North Africa is dodgy at the moment and Europe is expensive. Want to go on a safari? You can see stunning vistas and isolated tribes you won't find in Kenya, Tanzania or Botswana. Ethiopia is one of the safer ...Rooting For Ethiopia In The Africa Cup Of Nations
Jan 20th, 2013 at 11:00AM: One of the byproducts of travel is that you become more aware of events that don't get much coverage back home. The sports pages here in Spain, for example, aren't exactly full of stories about the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations.
This continent-wide football championship, starting today in South Africa, is sure to be watched by millions of Africans. I'm especially curious as to the public ...Skype Banned In Ethiopia, Punishable By 15 Years In Prison
Jun 16th, 2012 at 11:00AM: A new law passed in Ethiopia has banned Voice Over Internet Protocol services such as Skype, Al Jazeera reports. Use of such services is punishable by large fines and up to 15 years in prison. The law was passed with little fanfare on May 24 but has only just become noticed by international media.
The government-owned Ethio Telecom has a monopoly on telecommunications but the country is filled ...Adventure travel in Somalia?
Mar 9th, 2012 at 10:00AM:
Will Somalia become the next big adventure travel destination?
Short answer: Not anytime soon.
Long answer: For the first time in two decades, there's a ray of hope shining across that chaotic land. The Islamist terrorist group Al-Shabab is on the defensive as it gets pummeled by Kenyan, Ethiopian, African Union, and Somali "government" forces. They've fled Mogadishu and several other ...Somali murals: funky advertising in the Horn of Africa
Oct 21st, 2011 at 2:00PM: One of the fun parts of travel is discovering the street art of a new place. Whether it's the elaborate graffiti of New York or Madrid, the political murals of Mexico, or the current craze of Yarn Bombing, there's always something cool happening on the street.
In the Horn of Africa, street art takes the form of murals. I believe this is a Somali development, because I've seen it much more in ...Eating in the Horn of Africa: camel, goat and. . .spaghetti?
Oct 13th, 2011 at 9:00AM:
When my wife and I went to the Horn of Africa last year for our Ethiopia road trip, we were eagerly looking forward to a culinary journey. We weren't disappointed. Ethiopian food is one of our favorites and of course they make it better there than anywhere else!
While it came as no surprise that the food and coffee were wonderful, the cuisine in the Horn of Africa turned out to be more varied ...The Obama pen: weirdest African souvenir ever?
May 16th, 2011 at 9:00AM:
Obama is big in Africa. There are Obama shops, Obama hotels, Obama t-shirts, even Obama: The Musical. A craze of naming babies Obama hit the continent when he was elected. Even better, the proud parents could fill out the birth certificate with an Obama ballpoint pen.
I came across these in a shop in Harar, Ethiopia. A friend of mine worked for his campaign, so it seemed the perfect gift. The ...Ten (more) random observations about Ethiopia
Apr 26th, 2011 at 9:30AM:
When writing last year's Ethiopia travel series, I collected twelve random observations about Ethiopia. These were interesting bits of information that didn't fit in any of my articles. While writing my Harar travel series, I collected ten more.
1. The standard traveler's money belt that hangs from your neck and is tucked under your shirt is very amusing to Ethiopians because Oromo women ...Tomoca: the best little coffee house in Africa
Apr 25th, 2011 at 9:30AM:
Ethiopia has a lot of great attractions--castles, medieval cities, even werehyenas--yet the thing visitors rave about the most is the coffee.
And why not? Coffee was discovered in Ethiopia. Legend has it that long ago a boy was tending his flock and saw his goats eating unfamiliar berries off a bush. Soon they were dancing around and looking happy. The boy brought some of the berries home to ...The hyena man of Harar: a unique relationship between beast and man
Apr 19th, 2011 at 1:00PM:
The hyenas come just after dusk. We've been sitting in Yusuf's modest farmhouse on the outskirts of Harar talking about them when we hear their familiar yipping laugh. Yusuf picks up a big bucket of mule and camel meat, shoos away his well-fed cat, and strolls outside to meet them.
Yusuf is Harar's biggest celebrity, the famous "hyena man" whom everyone who has heard anything about Harar has ...Qat culture in Harar: East Africa's favorite legal high
Apr 7th, 2011 at 9:00AM:
Every afternoon in Harar, you see men walking along carrying plastic bags filled with leaves. Hararis aren't big fans of salads; they're chewing these leaves for a completely different reason. It gets them high.
Qat (pronounced "chat" in Harari, Amharic, and Somali) is a narcotic leaf from a fast-growing bush found all over the Horn of Africa and Yemen. It's legal and hugely popular in this ...Harar tour: a walk around one of Africa's most unique cities
Mar 11th, 2011 at 8:30AM: After a few days in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa and a long Ethiopian bus trip, I've made it to Harar, my home for the next two months. I'll be exploring the culture and history of this unique city and making road trips to nearby points of interest.
Harar is a medieval walled city in eastern Ethiopia between the central highlands to the west and the Somali desert to the east. It's been a ...Getting to Harar: riding the bus through eastern Ethiopia
Mar 7th, 2011 at 9:00AM:
It's good to be back in Ethiopia again.
I've noticed some changes since my last trip to Ethiopia. More high-rises are going up in the capital Addis Ababa and ATMs have finally appeared. The Internet is faster too, although it isn't the full broadband promised by the government.
Addis is fun, but my real destination is Harar, a medieval walled city in eastern Ethiopia. The whole city is a ...Harar, Ethiopia: Two months in Africa's City of Saints
Feb 28th, 2011 at 9:00AM: What makes an adventure traveler return to a place he's been before? When so many other destinations beckon, why spend two months in a town you've already seen?
Because there's so much more to see. Harar, in eastern Ethiopia between the lush central highlands and the Somali desert, can take a lifetime to understand. For a thousand years it's been a crossroads of cultures, where caravans from ...10 breeds of pirate - Somalis to Vikings to Japanese Pirate Ninjas
Feb 21st, 2011 at 11:00AM:
A yacht carrying a quartet of Americans was recently seized by Somali pirates, the latest in a string of hijackings that reaches back millenia. According to MSNBC, the seized yacht, the "S/V Quest," is owned by Jean and Scott Adam - a couple on a worldwide quest distributing bibles. While they no doubt expected to spread the word far and wide, they were certainly not expecting to be boarded by ...Somaliland adventure: getting to nowhere
May 12th, 2010 at 11:00AM: One of the tempting things about travel in Ethiopia is the proximity to other nations offering a variety of different experiences. I decided that my two-month trip would include a side trip to Somaliland.
The first reaction most people have when I say I've been to Somaliland is, "You went to Somalia? Are you crazy?"
The answer is no on both counts. Somaliland is the other Somalia, the place ...Somaliland: the other Somalia
Feb 5th, 2010 at 9:00AM: There are some places you just can't consider for a vacation. While even Iraq has recently opened up to carefully handled tours, Somalia remains out of bounds. What with an Islamist movement proudly proclaiming its ties to Al-Qaeda, and a decades-long civil war between rival clans, there's no chance of exploring the Somali culture and landscape, right?
Actually, that's only half true.
...Polo's Bastards Top 10 Worst Destinations
Dec 27th, 2006 at 2:26PM: With the current conflict going on between Ethiopia and Somalia, my mind immediately began to wonder what the writers at Polo's Bastards had been up to and what dangerous lands they've been exploring. Last time I checked in they'd just posted a piece on Rio's favelas. Since then North Korea and Chechnya have also made their blog pages. To round off the year though, Lee Ridley spent a little bit ...
