Nora Photos: Recently Added Galleries and Collections

carnaval

nora@noraphotos.com (Nora Photos) — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 04:08:24 GMT

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Various

nora@noraphotos.com (Nora Photos) — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 18:46:28 GMT

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Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania. East Africa. BW

nora@noraphotos.com (Nora Photos) — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 14:10:53 GMT

]]>The Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA) is a conservation area and a UNESCO World Heritage Site situated 180 km (110 mi) west of Arusha in the Crater Highlands area of Tanzania. It features the Ngorongoro Crater, the world's largest unbroken volcanic caldera. Eight million years ago, the crater was an active volcano but its cone collapsed, forming a 610-meter deep crater, with sides so steep that it has become a natural enclosure for a very wide variety of wildlife, including most of the species found in East Africa.

Although quite large, covering an area of 311 sq. km the 20-kilometre wide crater accounts for just a tenth of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, which also includes the still active Ol-Ndoinyo Lengai volcano (meaning "Mountain of God" in the Maasai language), which last erupted in 1983, and the Olduvai Gorge, where the Leakeys, a family of renowned archaeologists, discovered the remains of a 1.8 million year old skeleton of Australopithecus boisei, one of the distinct links of the human evolutionary chain (indeed, fossils show that the area is one of the oldest sites of hominoid habitation in the world).

Most East African animals can be found in the crater, with the exception of Topi, Impala, and Giraffe (the latter because there isn't enough acacia to browse, the former probably due to fierce competition from wildebeest).

Ngorongoro is one of the last places in Africa where to reliably see the endangered black rhino, as a small population lives pretty much undisturbed. Although a population of almost 100 rhinos lived here in 1965, by the mid 80s poaching had almost completely eradicated them, reducing their numbers to under 5 individuals. After severe intervention by the Tanzanian government (including 24-hour ranger surveillance), the population has slowly recovered to the actual (2004 census) 17 individuals.

Predators are common sights in the crater, including cheetahs, hyenas, jackals, and the magnificent black-maned lions. Leopards and the night-goers (serval, ratel, and bat eared fox) are much more elusive.
Animals found in the Ngorongoro, besides the mentioned before, include wildebeest (7,000 estimated in 1994), zebra (4,000), eland, Grant's and Thomson's gazelle (3,000), hippopotamus (though very uncommon), hartebeest, waterbuck, warthog, mountain reedbuck, buffalo, and elephant. Oddly, elephants found in the crater are predominately old bulls who survived, inside the relative safety of the crater, the pre-ivory ban days in the 1980s. These are probably the largest elephants to be found in the Serengeti ecosystem. No females are known to inhabit the crater.

Birds also abound in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, with over 500 species recorded.

Contrary to what is commonly thought, the crater is not a self-contained ecosystem and some animals do migrate in and out, though not in significant numbers. Most of the animals are resident and remain year-round, with 20,000 to 30,000 large mammals to be found at any given time within the Crater walls.

Wildlife in Serengeti National Park. East Africa. BW

nora@noraphotos.com (Nora Photos) — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 14:10:50 GMT

]]>The Serengeti ecosystem is a geographical region in Africa. It is located in north Tanzania and extends to south-western Kenya between. It spans some 30,000 km2 (12,000 sq mi).

The Serengeti hosts the largest mammal migration in the world, which is one of the ten natural travel wonders of the world.
The region contains several national parks and game reserves. Serengeti is derived from the Maasai language, Maa; specifically, "Serengit" meaning "Endless Plains".

Widely recognised as the major wildlife reserve in the world, the Serengeti National Park is, simply put, a vast natural paradise. The park includes, besides the Serengeti National Park, the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, the Maswa Game Reserve, the Loliondo, Grumeti and Ikorongo Controlled Areas in Tanzania, and the Masai Mara National Reserve in Kenya. Actually the second is a more appropriate figure to consider, as there are no fences along the different park borders, and animals can freely move from one to another.

Its extensive grassland plains spotted with acacia trees are home to the largest herds of migrating ungulates and (as an obvious consequence) the highest concentrations of large predators in the world.

Wildlife numbers are impressive. A 1990 study estimated wildebeest population at a sheer 1.6 million, Thomson's gazelle at 440,000, zebra at 250,000, lion at 2,800, hyena at 9,000, leopard at 1,000, and cheetah at 500.

The massive population of hoofed animals, the world's largest in the wild, gives place to one of nature's most imposing events, the Great Wildebeest Migration. Every year the herbivores are forced to follow the rains in their search for water and grazing grassland, a 500km round trip from the Southern Serengeti to the northern edge of the Masai Mara National Reserve. The circular migratory route sees the animals heading North to the Masai Mara grasslands every June, after finishing the mineral-rich pastures of the northern Serengeti plains and woodlands. By October, when the rains leave the Mara for the Serengeti, the migratory animals make the reverse route, heading for the southern Serengeti plains once again.

One of the oldest ecosystems on Earth, the Serengeti has remained almost intact over the past million years. Its plains are mostly crystalline rocks overlain by volcanic ash with numerous granitic rock outcrops, known as kopjes, which are home to rich ecosystems (and where lions usually hide their cubs). In the north and along the western corridor are mountain ranges of mainly volcanic origin. Two rivers flowing west usually contain water and there are a number of lakes, marshes, and waterholes.

The grassland plains are the major type of vegetation, but become almost desert during periods of severe drought. In wetter areas, sedges such as Kyllinga spp. take over. There is an extensive block of acacia woodland savannah in the centre, a more hilly and densely wooded zone covering most of the northern arm of the park, and some gallery forest.

Protected area since 1940, the Serengeti gained national park status in 1951 with extensive boundary modifications in 1959. It was internationally recognised as part of Serengeti-Ngorongoro Biosphere Reserve (with the adjoining Maswa Game Reserve) under UNESCO's Man and the Biosphere Programme in 1981 and inscribed on the World Heritage List in the same year.

Wildlife in Lake Nakuru National Park, Kenya. East Africa. BW

nora@noraphotos.com (Nora Photos) — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 14:08:51 GMT

]]>Lake Nakuru is one of the Rift Valley soda lakes at an elevation of 1754 m above sea level. It lies to the south of Nakuru, in the rift valley of Kenya and is protected by Lake Nakuru National Park.

The lake's abundance of algae attracts the vast quantity of flamingos that famously line the shore. Pollution and drought destroy the flamingos' food, Cyanobacteria, or blue-green algae, and causing them to migrate to the nearby Lakes, more recently lakes Elmenteita, Simbi Nyaima and Bogoria. The flamingos feed on algae, created from their droppings mixing in the warm alkaline waters, and plankton. But flamingo are not the only avian attraction, also present are two large fish eating birds, pelicans and cormorants. Other birds also flourish in the area, as do warthogs, baboons and other large mammals. Black and white rhinos have also been introduced.

The lake's level dropped dramatically in the early 1990s but has since largely recovered.
Nakuru means "Dust or Dusty Place" in the Maasai language. Lake Nakuru National Park, close to Nakuru town, was established in 1961. It started off small, only encompassing the famous lake and the surrounding mountainous vicinity, but has since been extended to include a large part of the savannahs.

Lake Nakuru is protected under the Ramsar Convention on wetlands.
Lake Nakuru National Park (188 km², 73mi²) was created in 1961 around Lake Nakuru, near Nakuru Town. It is best known for its thousands, sometimes millions of flamingos nesting along the shores. The surface of the shallow lake is often hardly recognizable due to the continually shifting mass of pink. The number of flamingoes on the lake varies with water and food conditions and the best vantage point is from Baboon Cliff. Also of interest is an area of 188 km (116 mi) around the lake fenced off as a sanctuary to protect Rothschild giraffes, black rhinos and white rhinos.

The park has recently been enlarged partly to provide the sanctuary for the black rhino. This undertaking has necessitated a fence - to keep out poachers rather than to restrict the movement of wildlife. The park marches for 12.1 km on the south eastern boundary with the Soysambu conservancy which represents a possible future expansion of habitat for the rhinos and the only remaining wildlife corridor to Lake Naivasha.

The park now (2009) has more than 25 black rhinoceros, one of the largest concentrations in the country, plus around 70 white rhinos. There are also a number of Rothschild's giraffe, again translocated for safety from western Kenya beginning in 1977. Waterbuck are very common and both the Kenyan species are found here. Among the predators are lion, cheetah and leopard, the latter being seen much more frequently in recent times. The park also has large sized pythons that inhabit the dense woodlands, and can often be seen crossing the roads or dangling from trees.

As well as flamingos, there are myriad other bird species that inhabit the lake and the area surrounding it, such as African fish eagle, goliath heron, hamerkop, pied kingfisher and verreaux eagle. Thousands of both little grebes and white winged are frequently seen as are stilts, avocets, ducks, and in the European winter the migrant waders.

Zanzibar People. The Indian Ocean. BW

nora@noraphotos.com (Nora Photos) — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 14:06:53 GMT

]]>Zanzibar or the Land of the Black People was used by the Arab traders as a base for voyages between Arabia, India and Africa. The finest exotic spices grown on the island on the ‘cash crops’, the ivory which came form Africa, and the most terrific ‘slave trade’, made it a centre of commerce, conquered and exploited along centuries by great empires: Assyrians, Egyptians, Phoenicians, Indians, Chinese, Persians, Portuguese, Omani Arabs, English
The very peaceful and secluded white sand beaches of Zanzibar, the Spice Island. The Assyrians, Egyptians, Phoenicians, Indians, Chinese, Persians, Portuguese, Omani Arabs, English used it for their voyages as a world trade point. Today the ‘Land of the Black People’ is a tropical and marine paradise in the middle of the green-turquoise crystal clear waters of the Indian Ocean…. A place where the sun always sets over Africa.

People. Kenya & Tanzania, East Africa. BW

nora@noraphotos.com (Nora Photos) — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 14:03:19 GMT

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On a journey through East Africa: Kenya and Tanzania. The coffee farmers living in the jungles at the bottom of Kilimanjaro, growing coffee on plantations inherited from one generation to another, harvesting every seven years the coffee berries which will undergo the long exhausting process of becoming the pure ‘Arabica’, the coffee with the most amazing blends and aromas in the world.

Wildlife in Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania. East Africa

nora@noraphotos.com (Nora Photos) — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 14:01:00 GMT

Wildlife in Serengeti National Park. East Africa

nora@noraphotos.com (Nora Photos) — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 14:00:41 GMT

Wildlife in Lake Nakuru National Park, Kenya. East Africa

nora@noraphotos.com (Nora Photos) — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 13:56:38 GMT

Zanzibar People. The Indian Ocean (aged colours)

nora@noraphotos.com (Nora Photos) — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 13:54:37 GMT

People. Kenya & Tanzania, East Africa

nora@noraphotos.com (Nora Photos) — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 13:46:25 GMT

People Kenya & Tanzania. East Africa (aged colours)

nora@noraphotos.com (Nora Photos) — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 13:45:52 GMT

Zanzibar People. The Indian Ocean

nora@noraphotos.com (Nora Photos) — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 13:44:02 GMT

Zanzibar Landscape. Indian Ocean.

nora@noraphotos.com (Nora Photos) — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 13:42:12 GMT

]]>Zanzibar or the Land of the Black People was used by the Arab traders as a base for voyages between Arabia, India and Africa. The finest exotic spices grown on the island on the ‘cash crops’, the ivory which came form Africa, and the most terrific ‘slave trade’, made it a centre of commerce, conquered and exploited along centuries by great empires: Assyrians, Egyptians, Phoenicians, Indians, Chinese, Persians, Portuguese, Omani Arabs, English.
The very peaceful and secluded white sand beaches of Zanzibar, the Spice Island. The Assyrians, Egyptians, Phoenicians, Indians, Chinese, Persians, Portuguese, Omani Arabs, English used it for their voyages as a world trade point. Today the ‘Land of the Black People’ is a tropical and marine paradise in the middle of the green-turquoise crystal clear waters of the Indian Ocean…. A place where the sun always sets over Africa.

African Landscape. Kenya & Tanzania. East Africa

nora@noraphotos.com (Nora Photos) — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 13:33:14 GMT

]]>Serengeti is derived from the Maasai language ‘Maa’, "Serengit" meaning "Endless Plains”. Approximately 70 larger mammal and some 500 avifauna species are found there. The high diversity of species is due to the diverse habitats ranging from riverine forests, swamps, kopjes, grasslands and woodlands. Blue Wildebeests, gazelles, rhinos, zebras, buffalos, cheetahs and elephants are some of the commonly found large mammals in the region.

The Serengeti hosts the largest mammal migrations in the world, which is one of the ten natural travel wonders of the world. Each year around the same time the great wildebeest migration begins in the NgoroNgoro area of the southern Serengeti of Tanzania.

Ngorongoro Crater, one of the world’s greatest natural spectacles for its magical setting, is a sanctuary for the amazing wild life trapped inside it. It formed when a giant volcano exploded and collapsed on itself some two or three millions years ago. The extraordinary volcanic landscape with alkaline lakes, plains and hills is the home of local Maasai tribes which still maintain their traditional way of life.

Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa, the highest ‘walkable’ snow-covered equatorial mountain in the world (5,892m), a magnificent and spectacular undertaking. Stories of its resident man-eating spirits living on the highest volcanic cone Kibo, are now relegated to the realms of fiction and legends. The mountain ‘which defeats the leopard’ still shines in the African sun with its brilliant white top … the snows of Kilimanjaro…

African Landscape. Kenya & Tanzania. East Africa

nora@noraphotos.com (Nora Photos) — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 19:47:44 GMT

]]>Serengeti is derived from the Maasai language ‘Maa’, "Serengit" meaning "Endless Plains”. Approximately 70 larger mammal and some 500 avifauna species are found there. The high diversity of species is due to the diverse habitats ranging from riverine forests, swamps, kopjes, grasslands and woodlands. Blue Wildebeests, gazelles, rhinos, zebras, buffalos, cheetahs and elephants are some of the commonly found large mammals in the region.
The Serengeti hosts the largest mammal migrations in the world, which is one of the ten natural travel wonders of the world. Each year around the same time the great wildebeest migration begins in the NgoroNgoro area of the southern Serengeti of Tanzania. Ngorongoro Crater, one of the world’s greatest natural spectacles for its magical setting, is a sanctuary for the amazing wild life trapped inside it. It formed when a giant volcano exploded and collapsed on itself some two or three millions years ago. The extraordinary volcanic landscape with alkaline lakes, plains and hills is the home of local Maasai tribes which still maintain their traditional way of life.
Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa, the highest ‘walkable’ snow-covered equatorial mountain in the world (5,892m), a magnificent and spectacular undertaking. Stories of its resident man-eating spirits living on the highest volcanic cone Kibo, are now relegated to the realms of fiction and legends. The mountain ‘which defeats the leopard’ still shines in the African sun with its brilliant white top … the snows of Kilimanjaro…

Wildlife in Lake Nakuru National Park, Kenya. East Africa

nora@noraphotos.com (Nora Photos) — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 19:44:05 GMT

]]>

Lake Nakuru is one of the Rift Valley soda lakes at an elevation of 1754 m above sea level. It lies to the south of Nakuru, in the rift valley of Kenya and is protected by Lake Nakuru National Park.

The lake's abundance of algae attracts the vast quantity of flamingos that famously line the shore. Pollution and drought destroy the flamingos' food, Cyanobacteria, or blue-green algae, and causing them to migrate to the nearby Lakes, more recently lakes Elmenteita, Simbi Nyaima and Bogoria. The flamingos feed on algae, created from their droppings mixing in the warm alkaline waters, and plankton. But flamingo are not the only avian attraction, also present are two large fish eating birds, pelicans and cormorants. Other birds also flourish in the area, as do warthogs, baboons and other large mammals. Black and white rhinos have also been introduced.

The lake's level dropped dramatically in the early 1990s but has since largely recovered.
Nakuru means "Dust or Dusty Place" in the Maasai language. Lake Nakuru National Park, close to Nakuru town, was established in 1961. It started off small, only encompassing the famous lake and the surrounding mountainous vicinity, but has since been extended to include a large part of the savannahs.

Lake Nakuru is protected under the Ramsar Convention on wetlands.
Lake Nakuru National Park (188 km², 73mi²) was created in 1961 around Lake Nakuru, near Nakuru Town. It is best known for its thousands, sometimes millions of flamingos nesting along the shores. The surface of the shallow lake is often hardly recognizable due to the continually shifting mass of pink. The number of flamingoes on the lake varies with water and food conditions and the best vantage point is from Baboon Cliff. Also of interest is an area of 188 km (116 mi) around the lake fenced off as a sanctuary to protect Rothschild giraffes, black rhinos and white rhinos.

The park has recently been enlarged partly to provide the sanctuary for the black rhino. This undertaking has necessitated a fence - to keep out poachers rather than to restrict the movement of wildlife. The park marches for 12.1 km on the south eastern boundary with the Soysambu conservancy which represents a possible future expansion of habitat for the rhinos and the only remaining wildlife corridor to Lake Naivasha.

The park now (2009) has more than 25 black rhinoceros, one of the largest concentrations in the country, plus around 70 white rhinos. There are also a number of Rothschild's giraffe, again translocated for safety from western Kenya beginning in 1977. Waterbuck are very common and both the Kenyan species are found here. Among the predators are lion, cheetah and leopard, the latter being seen much more frequently in recent times. The park also has large sized pythons that inhabit the dense woodlands, and can often be seen crossing the roads or dangling from trees.

As well as flamingos, there are myriad other bird species that inhabit the lake and the area surrounding it, such as African fish eagle, goliath heron, hamerkop, pied kingfisher and verreaux eagle. Thousands of both little grebes and white winged are frequently seen as are stilts, avocets, ducks, and in the European winter the migrant waders.

Wildlife in Serengeti National Park. East Africa

nora@noraphotos.com (Nora Photos) — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 19:27:44 GMT

]]>The Serengeti ecosystem is a geographical region in Africa. It is located in north Tanzania and extends to south-western Kenya between. It spans some 30,000 km2 (12,000 sq mi).

The Serengeti hosts the largest mammal migration in the world, which is one of the ten natural travel wonders of the world.
The region contains several national parks and game reserves. Serengeti is derived from the Maasai language, Maa; specifically, "Serengit" meaning "Endless Plains".

Widely recognised as the major wildlife reserve in the world, the Serengeti National Park is, simply put, a vast natural paradise. The park includes, besides the Serengeti National Park, the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, the Maswa Game Reserve, the Loliondo, Grumeti and Ikorongo Controlled Areas in Tanzania, and the Masai Mara National Reserve in Kenya. Actually the second is a more appropriate figure to consider, as there are no fences along the different park borders, and animals can freely move from one to another.

Its extensive grassland plains spotted with acacia trees are home to the largest herds of migrating ungulates and (as an obvious consequence) the highest concentrations of large predators in the world.

Wildlife numbers are impressive. A 1990 study estimated wildebeest population at a sheer 1.6 million, Thomson's gazelle at 440,000, zebra at 250,000, lion at 2,800, hyena at 9,000, leopard at 1,000, and cheetah at 500.

The massive population of hoofed animals, the world's largest in the wild, gives place to one of nature's most imposing events, the Great Wildebeest Migration. Every year the herbivores are forced to follow the rains in their search for water and grazing grassland, a 500km round trip from the Southern Serengeti to the northern edge of the Masai Mara National Reserve. The circular migratory route sees the animals heading North to the Masai Mara grasslands every June, after finishing the mineral-rich pastures of the northern Serengeti plains and woodlands. By October, when the rains leave the Mara for the Serengeti, the migratory animals make the reverse route, heading for the southern Serengeti plains once again.

One of the oldest ecosystems on Earth, the Serengeti has remained almost intact over the past million years. Its plains are mostly crystalline rocks overlain by volcanic ash with numerous granitic rock outcrops, known as kopjes, which are home to rich ecosystems (and where lions usually hide their cubs). In the north and along the western corridor are mountain ranges of mainly volcanic origin. Two rivers flowing west usually contain water and there are a number of lakes, marshes, and waterholes.

The grassland plains are the major type of vegetation, but become almost desert during periods of severe drought. In wetter areas, sedges such as Kyllinga spp. take over. There is an extensive block of acacia woodland savanna in the centre, a more hilly and densely wooded zone covering most of the northern arm of the park, and some gallery forest.

Protected area since 1940, the Serengeti gained national park status in 1951 with extensive boundary modifications in 1959. It was internationally recognised as part of Serengeti-Ngorongoro Biosphere Reserve (with the adjoining Maswa Game Reserve) under UNESCO's Man and the Biosphere Programme in 1981 and inscribed on the World Heritage List in the same year.

Wildlife in Lake Nakuru National Park, Kenya. East Africa. BW

nora@noraphotos.com (Nora Photos) — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 19:16:09 GMT

]]>
Lake Nakuru is one of the Rift Valley soda lakes at an elevation of 1754 m above sea level. It lies to the south of Nakuru, in the rift valley of Kenya and is protected by Lake Nakuru National Park.

The lake's abundance of algae attracts the vast quantity of flamingos that famously line the shore. Pollution and drought destroy the flamingos' food, Cyanobacteria, or blue-green algae, and causing them to migrate to the nearby Lakes, more recently lakes Elmenteita, Simbi Nyaima and Bogoria. The flamingos feed on algae, created from their droppings mixing in the warm alkaline waters, and plankton. But flamingo are not the only avian attraction, also present are two large fish eating birds, pelicans and cormorants. Other birds also flourish in the area, as do warthogs, baboons and other large mammals. Black and white rhinos have also been introduced.

The lake's level dropped dramatically in the early 1990s but has since largely recovered.
Nakuru means "Dust or Dusty Place" in the Maasai language. Lake Nakuru National Park, close to Nakuru town, was established in 1961. It started off small, only encompassing the famous lake and the surrounding mountainous vicinity, but has since been extended to include a large part of the savannahs.

Lake Nakuru is protected under the Ramsar Convention on wetlands.
Lake Nakuru National Park (188 km², 73mi²) was created in 1961 around Lake Nakuru, near Nakuru Town. It is best known for its thousands, sometimes millions of flamingos nesting along the shores. The surface of the shallow lake is often hardly recognizable due to the continually shifting mass of pink. The number of flamingoes on the lake varies with water and food conditions and the best vantage point is from Baboon Cliff. Also of interest is an area of 188 km (116 mi) around the lake fenced off as a sanctuary to protect Rothschild giraffes, black rhinos and white rhinos.

The park has recently been enlarged partly to provide the sanctuary for the black rhino. This undertaking has necessitated a fence - to keep out poachers rather than to restrict the movement of wildlife. The park marches for 12.1 km on the south eastern boundary with the Soysambu conservancy which represents a possible future expansion of habitat for the rhinos and the only remaining wildlife corridor to Lake Naivasha.

The park now (2009) has more than 25 black rhinoceros, one of the largest concentrations in the country, plus around 70 white rhinos. There are also a number of Rothschild's giraffe, again translocated for safety from western Kenya beginning in 1977. Waterbuck are very common and both the Kenyan species are found here. Among the predators are lion, cheetah and leopard, the latter being seen much more frequently in recent times. The park also has large sized pythons that inhabit the dense woodlands, and can often be seen crossing the roads or dangling from trees.

As well as flamingos, there are myriad other bird species that inhabit the lake and the area surrounding it, such as African fish eagle, goliath heron, hamerkop, pied kingfisher and verreaux eagle. Thousands of both little grebes and white winged black terns are frequently seen as are stilts, avocets, ducks, and in the European winter the migrant waders.

Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania. East Africa. BW

nora@noraphotos.com (Nora Photos) — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 19:14:01 GMT

]]>

The Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA) is a conservation area and a UNESCO World Heritage Site situated 180 km (110 mi) west of Arusha in the Crater Highlands area of Tanzania. It features the Ngorongoro Crater, the world's largest unbroken volcanic caldera. Eight million years ago, the crater was an active volcano but its cone collapsed, forming a 610-meter deep crater, with sides so steep that it has become a natural enclosure for a very wide variety of wildlife, including most of the species found in East Africa.

Although quite large, covering an area of 311 sq. km the 20-kilometre wide crater accounts for just a tenth of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, which also includes the still active Ol-Ndoinyo Lengai volcano (meaning "Mountain of God" in the Maasai language), which last erupted in 1983, and the Olduvai Gorge, where the Leakeys, a family of renowned archaeologists, discovered the remains of a 1.8 million year old skeleton of Australopithecus boisei, one of the distinct links of the human evolutionary chain (indeed, fossils show that the area is one of the oldest sites of hominoid habitation in the world).

Most East African animals can be found in the crater, with the exception of Topi, Impala, and Giraffe (the latter because there isn't enough acacia to browse, the former probably due to fierce competition from wildebeest).

Ngorongoro is one of the last places in Africa where to reliably see the endangered black rhino, as a small population lives pretty much undisturbed. Although a population of almost 100 rhinos lived here in 1965, by the mid 80s poaching had almost completely eradicated them, reducing their numbers to under 5 individuals. After severe intervention by the Tanzanian government (including 24-hour ranger surveillance), the population has slowly recovered to the actual (2004 census) 17 individuals.

Predators are common sights in the crater, including cheetahs, hyenas, jackals, and the magnificent black-maned lions. Leopards and the night-goers (serval, ratel, and bat eared fox) are much more elusive.
Animals found in the Ngorongoro, besides the mentioned before, include wildebeest (7,000 estimated in 1994), zebra (4,000), eland, Grant's and Thomson's gazelle (3,000), hippopotamus (though very uncommon), hartebeest, waterbuck, warthog, mountain reedbuck, buffalo, and elephant. Oddly, elephants found in the crater are predominately old bulls who survived, inside the relative safety of the crater, the pre-ivory ban days in the 1980s. These are probably the largest elephants to be found in the Serengeti ecosystem. No females are known to inhabit the crater.

Birds also abound in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, with over 500 species recorded.

Contrary to what is commonly thought, the crater is not a self-contained ecosystem and some animals do migrate in and out, though not in significant numbers. Most of the animals are resident and remain year-round, with 20,000 to 30,000 large mammals to be found at any given time within the Crater walls.

Zanzibar People. The Indian Ocean. BW

nora@noraphotos.com (Nora Photos) — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 19:12:09 GMT

]]>Zanzibar or the Land of the Black People was used by the Arab traders as a base for voyages between Arabia, India and Africa. The finest exotic spices grown on the island on the ‘cash crops’, the ivory which came form Africa, and the most terrific ‘slave trade’, made it a centre of commerce, conquered and exploited along centuries by great empires: Assyrians, Egyptians, Phoenicians, Indians, Chinese, Persians, Portuguese, Omani Arabs, English
The very peaceful and secluded white sand beaches of Zanzibar, the Spice Island. The Assyrians, Egyptians, Phoenicians, Indians, Chinese, Persians, Portuguese, Omani Arabs, English used it for their voyages as a world trade point.

Today the ‘Land of the Black People’ is a tropical and marine paradise in the middle of the green-turquoise crystal clear waters of the Indian Ocean…. A place where the sun always sets over Africa.

Wildlife in Serengeti National Park. East Africa. BW

nora@noraphotos.com (Nora Photos) — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 19:08:26 GMT

]]>The Serengeti ecosystem is a geographical region in Africa. It is located in north Tanzania and extends to south-western Kenya between. It spans some 30,000 km2 (12,000 sq mi).

The Serengeti hosts the largest mammal migration in the world, which is one of the ten natural travel wonders of the world.
The region contains several national parks and game reserves. Serengeti is derived from the Maasai language, Maa; specifically, "Serengit" meaning "Endless Plains".

Widely recognised as the major wildlife reserve in the world, the Serengeti National Park is, simply put, a vast natural paradise. The park includes, besides the Serengeti National Park, the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, the Maswa Game Reserve, the Loliondo, Grumeti and Ikorongo Controlled Areas in Tanzania, and the Masai Mara National Reserve in Kenya. Actually the second is a more appropriate figure to consider, as there are no fences along the different park borders, and animals can freely move from one to another.

Its extensive grassland plains spotted with acacia trees are home to the largest herds of migrating ungulates and (as an obvious consequence) the highest concentrations of large predators in the world.

Wildlife numbers are impressive. A 1990 study estimated wildebeest population at a sheer 1.6 million, Thomson's gazelle at 440,000, zebra at 250,000, lion at 2,800, hyena at 9,000, leopard at 1,000, and cheetah at 500.

The massive population of hoofed animals, the world's largest in the wild, gives place to one of nature's most imposing events, the Great Wildebeest Migration. Every year the herbivores are forced to follow the rains in their search for water and grazing grassland, a 500km round trip from the Southern Serengeti to the northern edge of the Masai Mara National Reserve. The circular migratory route sees the animals heading North to the Masai Mara grasslands every June, after finishing the mineral-rich pastures of the northern Serengeti plains and woodlands. By October, when the rains leave the Mara for the Serengeti, the migratory animals make the reverse route, heading for the southern Serengeti plains once again.

One of the oldest ecosystems on Earth, the Serengeti has remained almost intact over the past million years. Its plains are mostly crystalline rocks overlain by volcanic ash with numerous granitic rock outcrops, known as kopjes, which are home to rich ecosystems (and where lions usually hide their cubs). In the north and along the western corridor are mountain ranges of mainly volcanic origin. Two rivers flowing west usually contain water and there are a number of lakes, marshes, and waterholes.

The grassland plains are the major type of vegetation, but become almost desert during periods of severe drought. In wetter areas, sedges such as Kyllinga spp. take over. There is an extensive block of acacia woodland savanna in the centre, a more hilly and densely wooded zone covering most of the northern arm of the park, and some gallery forest.

Protected area since 1940, the Serengeti gained national park status in 1951 with extensive boundary modifications in 1959. It was internationally recognised as part of Serengeti-Ngorongoro Biosphere Reserve (with the adjoining Maswa Game Reserve) under UNESCO's Man and the Biosphere Programme in 1981 and inscribed on the World Heritage List in the same year.

People. Kenya & Tanzania, East Africa. BW

nora@noraphotos.com (Nora Photos) — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 19:01:05 GMT

Zanzibar Landscape. Indian Ocean.

nora@noraphotos.com (Nora Photos) — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 18:51:17 GMT

Zanzibar People. The Indian Ocean

nora@noraphotos.com (Nora Photos) — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 18:36:19 GMT

People. Kenya & Tanzania, East Africa

nora@noraphotos.com (Nora Photos) — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 18:26:01 GMT

]]>On a journey through East Africa: Kenya and Tanzania. The coffee farmers living in the jungles at the bottom of Kilimanjaro, growing coffee on plantations inherited from one generation to another, harvesting every seven years the coffee berries which will undergo the long exhausting process of becoming the pure ‘Arabica’, the coffee with the most amazing blends and aromas in the world.

Wildlife in Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania. East Africa

nora@noraphotos.com (Nora Photos) — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 11:52:41 GMT

Patagonia, South America. Flora

nora@noraphotos.com (Nora Photos) — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 07:58:11 GMT

]]>Patagonia is a region located in Argentina and Chile, integrating the southernmost section of the Andes mountains to the southwest towards the Pacific ocean and from the east of the cordillera to the valleys it follows south through Colorado River towards Carmen de Patagones in the Atlantic Ocean. To the west, it includes the territory of Valdivia through Tierra del Fuego archipelago.

The name Patagonia comes from the word patagón used by Magellan in 1520 to describe the native people that his expedition thought to be giants. It is now believed the Patagons were actually Tehuelches with an average height of 180 cm compared to the 155 cm average for Spaniards of the time.
The Argentine portion of Patagonia includes the provinces of Neuquén, Río Negro, Chubut and Santa Cruz, as well as the eastern portion of Tierra del Fuego archipelago and the southernmost department of Buenos Aires province: Patagones. The Argentine politico-economic Patagonic Region includes the Province of La Pampa. Patagonia has a Welsh colony.

The Chilean part of Patagonia embraces the southern provinces and regions of Aisén and Magallanes, including the west side of Tierra del Fuego and Cape Horn.

Argentine Patagonia is for the most part a region of steppelike plains, rising in a succession of 13 abrupt terraces about 100 metres (330 ft) at a time, and covered with an enormous bed of shingle almost bare of vegetation. In the hollows of the plains are ponds or lakes of fresh and brackish water. Towards the Andes the shingle gives place to porphyry, granite, and basalt lavas, animal life becomes more abundant and vegetation more luxuriant, acquiring the characteristics of the flora of the western coast, and consisting principally of southern beech and conifers. The high rainfall against the western Andes (Wet Andes) and the low sea surface temperatures offshore give rise to cold and humid air masses, contributing to the ice-fields and glaciers, the largest ice-fields in the Southern hemisphere outside of Antarctica.

HISTORY

Human habitation of the region dates back thousands of years, with some early archaeological findings in the area dated to at least the 13th millennium BC, although later dates of around the 10th millennium BC are more securely recognized. There is evidence of human activity at Monte Verde in Llanquihue Province, Chile dated to around 12,500 BC. The glacial period ice-fields and subsequent large meltwater streams would have made settlement difficult at that time.

The region seems to have been inhabited continuously since 10,000 BC, by various cultures and alternating waves of migration, the details of which are as yet poorly understood. Hearths, stone scrapers, animal remains dated to 9400-9200 BC have been found east of the Andes. The Cueva de las Manos is a famous site in Santa Cruz, Argentina. A cave at the foot of a cliff, it has wall paintings, particularly the negative images of hundreds of hands, believed to date from around 8000 BC.

The indigenous peoples of the region included the Tehuelches, whose numbers and society were reduced to near extinction not long after the first contacts with Europeans. The Tehuelches were mainly a nomad tribe that moved from east to west during the change of the seasons, following their hunting habits. One of the principal camps found by archeologists recently is the site of Monte Verde near Puerto Montt, which dates 14.500 BP. The Tehuelches skillfully hunted deer, pumas and new guanacos during the season, in this way they would sustain their feeding habits all year. They would have their children during this period, in protected areas of the forest and Cordilleras of the Chilean Patagonia and away from the heat of the eastern and western territory.

Around 1000 BC, Mapuche-speaking agriculturalists penetrated the western Andes and from there across into the eastern plains and down to the far south. Through confrontation and technological ability, they came to dominate the other peoples of the region in a short period of time, and are the principal indigenous community today. The Tehuelche model of domination through technological superiority and armed confrontation was later repeated as Europeans implemented a succeeding but conceptually identical cycle, essentially replacing the position of the former dominators with a new, albeit predominately European class.

Early European exploration and Spanish conquest attempts (1520-1584)

The region of Patagonia was first mentioned in European accounts in 1520 by the expedition of Ferdinand Magellan, who on his passage along the coast named many of the more striking features – Gulf of San Matias, Cape of 11,000 Virgins (now simply Cape Virgenes), and others. However, it is also possible that earlier navigators such as Amerigo Vespucci had reached the area (his own account of 1502 has it that he reached its latitudes), however his failure to accurately describe the main geographical features of the region such as the Río de la Plata casts some doubt on whether he really did so.

The first European explorers of Patagonia observed that the indigenous people in the region were taller than the average Europeans of the time, prompting some of them to believe that Patagonians were giants. According to Antonio Pigafetta, one of the Magellan expedition's few survivors and its published chronicler, Magellan bestowed the name "Patagão" (or Patagón) on the inhabitants they encountered there, and the name "Patagonia" for the region.

However, the Patagonian giant frenzy was to die down substantially only a few years later, when some more sober and analytical accounts were published. In 1773 John Hawkesworth published on behalf of the Admiralty a compendium of noted English southern-hemisphere explorers' journals, including that of James Cook and John Byron. In this publication, drawn from their official logs, it became clear that the people Byron's expedition had encountered were no taller than 6-foot-6-inch (1.98 m), very high but by no means giants. Interest soon subsided, although awareness of and belief in the myth persisted in some quarters even up into the 20th century.

Two hydrographic surveys of the coasts were of first-rate importance: the first expedition (1826–1830) including HMS Adventure and HMS Beagle under Phillip Parker King, and the second (1832–1836) being the voyage of the Beagle under Robert FitzRoy. The latter expedition is particularly noted for the participation of Charles Darwin who spent considerable time investigating various areas of Patagonia onshore, including long rides with gauchos in Río Negro, and who joined FitzRoy in a 200 miles (320 km) expedition taking ships boats up the course of the Santa Cruz river.

Until 1902, a large proportion of Patagonia's population were natives of Chiloé Archipelago (Chilotes) who worked as peons in large livestock farming estancias. As manual labour they had status below the gauchos and the Argentine, Chilean and European landowners and administrators.

Patagonia, South America. Flora

nora@noraphotos.com (Nora Photos) — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 07:56:26 GMT