Friends of Nairobi National Park Field Trip Video

This little video illustrates the fun and craziness that we get up to – a visit to the Olerai Conservancy in the Nairobi Park wildebeest dispersal area, and installation of a biogas unit at a Masai homestead.

JOIN US!

To Join the exciting group of Friends of Nairobi National Park simply email us on fonnap1@gmail.com, or visit our offices at the Nairobi Park entrance, KWS HQ on Langata Rd , we are right next door to the Smart Card office.

Membership – 1,000 per person per annum, 2,000 per family, 10,000 for corporates.

Tell all your friends!

Perils of Plastic for Women!!!!

Thank you to Patricia Amira who sent me this – it should be on everyone’s blog!

Subject: If you are a woman – READ THIS – Bottle water Toxins and Cancer. Men read this for your sisters, mothers, wives,daughters. Friends. IF YOU ALREADY KNOW THIS ENSURE THAT EVERYONE AROUND YOU DOES…INCLUDING HOUSEHELP.

Another reminder!
No matter how many times you get this
E-mail,

Please send it on!!!!

Bottled water in your car is very dangerous!

On the Ellen show, Sheryl Crow said that this is what caused her breast cancer.
It has been identified as the most common cause of the high levels of dioxin in breast cancer tissue.

Sheryl Crow’s oncologist told her:women should not drink bottled water that has been left in a car.

The heat reacts with the chemicals in the plastic of the bottle which releases dioxin into the water. Dioxin is a toxin increasingly found in breast cancer tissue.
So please be careful and do not drink bottled water that has been left in a car.

Pass this on to all the women in your life. This information is the kind we need to know that just might save us!

Use a stainless steel canteen or a glass bottle instead of plastic!

LET EVERYONE WHO HAS A WIFE / GIRLFRIEND / DAUGHTER KNOW PLEASE!

This information is also being circulated at Walter Reed Army Medical Center .

No plastic containers in microwaves.
No plastic water bottles in freezers.

No plastic wrap in microwaves.

Dioxin chemical causes cancer, especially breast cancer.
Dioxins are highly poisonous to cells in our bodies.
Don’t freeze plastic bottles with water in them as this releases dioxins from the plastic.

Recently the Wellness Program Manager at Castle Hospital , was on a TV program to explain this health hazard.

He talked about dioxins and how bad they are for us.He said that we should not be heating food in the microwave using plastic containers….
This especially applies to foods that contain fat.

He said that the combination of fat, high heat and plastic releases dioxin into the food.

Instead, he recommends using glass, such as Pyrex or ceramic containers for heating food. You get the same result, but without the dioxin.

So, such things as TV dinners, instant soups, etc.,should be removed from their containers and heated in something else.

Paper isn’t bad but you don’t know what is in the paper. It’s safer to use tempered glass, such as Pyrex, etc.

He reminded us that a while ago some of the fast food restaurants moved away from the styrene foam containers to paper. The dioxin problem is one of the reasons…

Also, he pointed out that plastic wrap, such as Cling film, is just as dangerous when placed over foods to be cooked in the microwave.
As the food is nuked, the high heat causes poisonous toxins to actually melt out of the plastic wrap and drip into the food.

Cover food with a paper towel instead.

This is an article that should be sent to anyone important in your life!

Before I read this I thought plastic was bad for baby baboons

Biogas bursting with Energy

We’ve been away for a few days and received this email

Subject “Full of goodness, Bursting with energy”

Content – of the email was simply this photo

You cant imagine my pride… my cow dung has done that! Wow!

I hope you’ll agree that’s pretty serious expansion if you compare photos of the system just a few days ago. And if it’s your first time to participate in my biogas experiment, then you must check out my condom experiment here.

Well, we finally made fire!

Check it out! I’m so happy 🙂

We all knew it would work – so why were we so impressed when it actually did?

There’s something quite delicious about making this thing work – but truth be told, while it was fun flaring the gas around and enjoying the warm blue flame, we have come across a snag. The pressure in the bag is insufficient to run my kitchen stove.

So now we have another plan, it involves two bright blue tanks, more pipes, wrenches, glue and a hose… and some rather ingenious ideas of creating pressure using water… watch this space.

Please note that This is a home experiment to create biogas for our home consumption – we (Paula, Peter and Dominic) would love to hear your comments, get your involvement and hear your ideas.

Technorati : Dominic Wanjihia, Kenya, Paula Kahumbu, Peter Greste, alternative energy, biogas
Del.icio.us : Dominic Wanjihia, Kenya, Paula Kahumbu, Peter Greste, alternative energy, biogas
Zooomr : Dominic Wanjihia, Kenya, Paula Kahumbu, Peter Greste, alternative energy, biogas
Flickr : Dominic Wanjihia, Kenya, Paula Kahumbu, Peter Greste, alternative energy, biogas

Should we brush Kenyan media gay bashing behaviour under the carpet?

A number of people have said ‘enough said’, and ‘it’s an old story’, ‘move on’, and “Caroline  didn’t really mean it”  as well as “don’t trust the media”, “don’t try to change the media” with regard to media attacks on Kenyan gays in my last 3 blog posts.

I know that Caroline can’t really think it’s ok for radio to be gay bashing but what I don’t understand is her defense of fellow gay bashing presenters, and her failure to step in and show some leadership. She is after all the most popular and loved of all Kenyan presenters.

How temptingly delicious – wouldn’t it be great if we could just pretend that it didn’t happen and maybe the furore and bad feelings will magically go away.

Great for who I wonder? The media, Kenyans or Kenyan gays?

I’ve been seriously thinking about brushing this gay bashing issue under the carpet, after all its eating into me and affecting my sleep patterns….Hmm….I’m juggling ideas here…

Brush it under the carpet

or

Get  a conversation going.

hmmmm….I’m having a light bulb moment. Isn’t that what we said should not happen in Kenya after the post election violence? Maybe we don’t need a truth commission after all.  Yes, let’s just forget the post election violence (and ignore the little problem of victims and the remaining IDP’s after all they are minorities right?).

Friends I wonder if it’s our collective failure to speak out, to discuss, to analyse, and to understand issues that makes our community unable to comprehend how something as ‘small and insignificant” as gay bashing on radio. Is it a reflection of our collective psyche  that we are unable to admit when we make mistakes, to apologise and seek forgiveness? Perhaps that’s why the aggression and violence keeps escalating.

I don’t know about you but if the response from Caroline Mutoko at Kiss FM and Marcus at Classic FM is anything to go by, then we are in for a disastrous time during elections come 2012. If we accept gay bashing then what about tribe bashing, religion bashing…yes lets hit out at whatever and whomever we have an issue with.

Brushing the ethical issue of allowing gay bashing on radio under the carpet is a crisis behavior – just peek underneath and you’ll find that the hatred is breeding and it will eventually pop out again, this time with teeth.

I think that we need to deal with these issues that affect Kenyan Society up front and I still maintain that radio is the best and most powerful medium to bring about this change in Kenyan society. But first the radio personalities have a big responsibility and to be credible, they must have moral authority.

Moral authority it seems is in short supply right now on our radio waves. But that need not be a long term problem. It can be fixed with a simple apology.

Thanks to all of you who have made your opinions known on this blog and your own, as well as through twitter. Keep the conversation alive and remember, its not about your opinions on gays, its about how the media are stirring up hatred. We need a thoughtful examination of what we expect of the Media – perhaps then they will understand and change…just maybe.

Speak out or you will be responsible for letting horrible people do horrible things.

Have a great day.

Insects rule the world!

I have been going on dudu safaris with Dino Martins Kenya’s own Dr Dudulittle – a young entomologist with a passion for bugs and nature. He’s completing his PhD at Harvard and has a lot to say about his favourite animals.

We did an experiment to find out how many bugs there are in my Nairobi back yard.

Find out why wider eye spacing is sexier for the Stalk eyed flies

Sexy enough for you?

How dye is made from the disgusting cochineal bug “a sack of eggs with a mouth part” that parasitizes prickly pear cactus.

I’m very proud to be a good friend of Dino who you can see moves in VERY high circles…

Even a princess knows that insects matter

Learn more about our extraordinary insect world through Dino’s blog Dudu Diaries on WildlifeDirect

Dino Martings wth one of his best friends - Mega Bug

Watch this space to learn about this gigantic monster!

Note* for those who think the word dudu is a rude word, think again. It means insect in Swahili, and insects rule the world

Podcast from the depths of the Suswa caves …be afraid..

Hello to all of you who care about Mt. Suswa.

I hope you enjoyed the photos and story in previous post, here’s a podcast recorded on my baby, a Fostex, to try and capture the atmosphere deep in the caves. Enjoy and let me know what you think.

Paula’s podcast from deep down in the caves

Leave a comment if you like it… or even if you dont!

P x

Yunasi – the greatest band in Kenya

Last night I discovered Yunasi, the greatest band in Kenya, and possibly the world – they won the BBC World Service’s Next Big Thing 2007 competition at the Maida Vale studios in London. They were playing out doors at a friends house – the dance floor was a grassy slope, the fans were going bezerk (me included) kicking up dust for Africa, I drank to much red wine and offered my services as a marketing agent, then helped them sell 6 CDs!

What I can’t figure out is how I missed them until now!

Signs found only in Kenya

Deviation

Tea label in Kenya