Why shouldn’t you buy a current RyanAir ticket for $11.85 between London and Shannon? Because you can use those funds to buy a cup of coffee and actually drink it.
Western travelers excited about returning to Africa and other far off places have a number of hurdles facing them. The most important one is how to get there. Current enticements by ridiculously discounted air tickets is not a solution.
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So finally we have evidence of exactly when it is likely to be safe enough to return to East Africa: June 1.
This isn’t said exactly right. This is the date that the most reliable, experienced safari companies in Kenya and Tanzania believe tourists will really return. I agree, though I think it will be much more slowly than they do.
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Trump is not only recalling our military willy nilly, he is kneecapping our few diplomats left as he strews mayhem in Africa.
Tensions are on a sudden rise in Ethiopia, Egypt and Somalia, and best I can tell it all leads back to reflexive tweet-like actions by Trump since his defeat.
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Stipulated that much of politics is symbolic. Why else would a high court judge come to work in a burkha and often cover his head with a white mop tying it all up with a Christmas bow? But in this revolution dedicated to stamping out untruth, symbols slip.
Whether Kenya, South Africa or the U.S., if the tables were turned, I’d push through Amy to the court. It’s the law.
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The President’s incompletely known virus situation this weekend drove the media to explain “viral load.” This provides travelers excellent information for predicting when they might be unshackled.
Viral load is the “amount of virus in the blood.” As a critique of the President’s irresponsible behavior, and as an indicator for travelers, we need to understand it.
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Less developed societies register less sickness from Covid-19 than developed societies. The science is mounting particularly from Africa and leading to considerations that achieving “herd immunity” is the best path forward for less developed countries.
The more and better you look, the more you find. South Africa and Morocco, for example which are pretty developed countries, report virus impacts more similar to Europe than Kenya or Cameroon. On the other hand, there are intriguing anti-body studies in sub-Saharan Africa which suggest something more might be at work protecting Africa.
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My daughter watched a plane fly into a twin tower on 9/11 from her apartment roof in New York. I heard the bombing of the Kenyan embassy and ten minutes later from the garden of my nearby hotel pieces of eyeglasses, jangling key chains and fabric fell out of the sky at my feet. Both of us later saw horrible pain and destruction.
“August seventh” was as big to Kenya as nine-eleven was to America. The relative number of people killed and maimed, the heroism of rescuers, the damage to politics, economy and society – it was all comparable. Even the perpetrators’ beliefs, religion and motivations for suicide were the same. What was different?
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Illinois and Iowa friends, please use the following links NOW to organize your vote. Illinois friends in particular, don’t be negligent because our state is historically Democratic. There are other forces unguided by history.
As this and many more apps came on-line last week, I started thinking of the terrifying election experience I lived through in South Africa nearly twenty years ago.
These apps are good. They won’t guarantee your vote but like travel insurance they lower your risks against being uncounted. One addendum: take a picture of your filled-in ballot. Whether you mail it in or actually vote in person, create evidence that no one can ever take from you. From us.
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The enthusiasm bubble is bursting. Tomorrow most of East Africa will be open for business. But… no one’s coming.
My African colleagues shouldn’t be too disheartened. It was always too hopeful to believe that the only thing keeping people back was government restriction. Two things need to be clearly understood: the current reality of the pandemic and how profoundly it will change future travel.
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According to Kenya’s Star Newspaper, “Trump knows that if he loses the election he will spend the rest of his life in court, possibly even in jail. An October Surprise is practically guaranteed.”
The sentiment expressed this week in Nairobi is similar to what’s found throughout Africa. They hate Trump. They know his “bizarre behaviour – the endless, shameless lies, the narcissism, the suggestions that people should inject bleach, etc –“ is crazy and yet, there are still enough Americans who support him to make a reelection feasible.
For my African friends. Well… all my friends, and especially for those who live near Galena, Illinois.
Currently I don’t have potable water. Why I don’t have potable water reflects America today, dysfunctional and imploding. It’s sad and infuriating but for those of us who have lived much of our lives in places like Africa, it’s also very telling.
It will probably be three to four years before the effects of the virus stop impacting travelers to distant lands. Efficacy of the vaccines, mayhem in airline schedules, widely differing and radical airport rules for transfers and most importantly, the hugely damaged vendor communities are all just now being recognized as the travelers’ principle hurdles.
There’s little good evidence yet on the last three hurdles for a good prediction into 2021, although I venture some speculation below. On the vaccine issue, however, some things are coming into focus.
About a month back many sub-Saharan African tourist companies announced with great fanfare plans to restart. No one came to the party. The only tourism that exists today in sub-Saharan Africa is local, and even that’s pitifully little.
Kenya began reopening today, and Kenya had one of the strictest lockdowns in Africa if not the world. Kenya’s lockdown made New York’s lockdown look frivolous.
“You MUST become your brother’s keeper,” the Kenyan president declared in his order, today before listing all the mandates still required and warning that he would “claw back” everything should the virus reemerge.
“Civic responsibility is not a demand that can be enforced. It is a duty you pay to your fellow country-men for coexisting with them.”
“White population(s) used political power and security forces to maintain slavery, segregation, racism, and marginalisation,” all over the world writes Abdi I Samatar in today’s South Africa Daily Maverick.
When the Black Lives Matter demonstrations took off the beginning of this month it wasn’t long before disruptive but peaceful protests occurred in Kenya and South Africa. While they have mostly died away, the buzz continues.