A world away from the cup: The burgeoning famine that should be the biggest story in Africa this summer

vendredi 16 juillet 2010

Publié par red.impala // à vendredi, juillet 16, 2010 //

A world away from the cup: The burgeoning famine that should be the biggest story in Africa this summer

in Daily Mail (original article from below FR post)

Crossing the High Atlas mountains of Morocco you may come upon a village impossibly remote, set high on the edge of a gorge. After a sti ff climb you reach it, thinking that it must be the very last village.

But no, there's a track leading upwards, and as you round a bend in the gorge, you see another village seeming to rise from the Earth itself, but way, way above you. So you head for this village, thinking there can't possibly be another... and yet there is, and another and yet another still, until you give up, realising you'll never reach the very highest village.

You don't need to wait for the telegram...

Ce matin-là, le monde commençait pour nous à s’émouvoir. L’opérateur de T. S. F. nous remit enfin un télégramme : deux pylônes, plantés dans le sable, nous reliaient une fois par semaine à ce monde: Courrier France-Amérique parti de Toulouse 5 h 45 stop. Passé Alicante 11 h 10. (...) En dix minutes, la nouvelle nous parvenait par Barcelone, par Casablanca, par Agadir, puis se propageait vers Dakar. Sur cinq mille kilomètres de ligne, les aéroports étaient alertés. (...) Un moteur grondait quelque part. De Toulouse jusqu’au Sénégal on cherchait à l’entendre.

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. Courrier Sud.

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Inspiration (2): Impalas

An impala is a medium-sized African antelope. The name impala comes from the Zulu language meaning "gazelle".

Impala range between 73 and 92 cm (29 and 36 in) tall. Average mass for a male impala is 46 to 76 kg (100 to 170 lb), while females weigh about 35 to 50 kg (77 to 110 lb). They are normally reddish-brown in color (hence the Afrikaans name of "Rooibok"), have lighter flanks and white underbellies with a characteristic "M" marking on the rear. Impalas are an ecotone species living in light woodland with little undergrowth and grassland of low to medium height. They have an irregular distribution due to dependence on free water, soils with good drainage with firm footing and moderate or less slope. While they are usually close to water in the dry season, they can go weeks without drinking when they have access to green vegetation.

Impalas are adaptable foragers. They usually switch between grazing and browsing depending on the season. During wet seasons when grasses are green and growing they graze. During dry seasons it browses foliage, shoots, forbs and seeds. It can also adapt to different habitats by being a grazer in one habitat a browser in another. Leopards, cheetahs, lions and wild dogs prey on impala.

see also: http://impala-nomade.blogspot.com/2007/08/trs-prcisement.html

Impala Nomade

vendredi 16 juillet 2010