Isak Dinesen, plus connue sous le nom de Karen Blixen (1885-1962).

Des premiers poemes de l'adolescente, composés peu apres le déces de son pere, aux évocations de l'Afrique, où elle vécut une quinzaine d'années, le lecteur saisit le profond désir de liberté de cette femme à la destinée hors du commun. L'oiseau, signe de son envie d'ailleurs, est présent des les premiers écrits et prend réellement son envol dans La Ferme africaine, roman autobiographique qui relate la découverte émerveillée des grands espaces – roman adapté au cinéma en 1985 par Sydney Pollack sous le titre out of africa, avec Robert Redford et Meryl Streep. Cependant, le bonheur que semblait lui promettre l'Afrique est contrarié de toutes parts : bridée par le rôle de patronne qu'elle doit assumer, affaiblie par la syphilis qui sonne le glas de son désir de maternité, perturbée par le divorce d'avec son mari Bror, Karen Blixen connaît un court moment d'apaisement lors de sa liaison avec Denys Finch-Hatton, mais ce dernier meurt lors d'un accident d'avion. Seule et ruinée par l'engloutissement de son capital dans l'achat puis la gestion hasardeuse de sa ferme, elle doit regagner le Danemark. De retour dans le domaine familial, Karen Blixen participe activement aux débats d'idées qui agitent le pays à travers la revue Heretica, dirigée par Ole Wivel.
Son éditeur et ami Ole Wivel apporte un éclairage nouveau sur le caractere partagé de l'œuvre de la nouvelliste. Il dévoile la richesse et la complexité des “personnages marionnettes” de l'univers romanesque de Karen Blixen et met en lumiere ses œuvres moins connues pourtant détentrices d'importantes clés de lecture pour les Contes gothiques ou les Contes d'hiver

Can Kenya truly benefit from trophy hunting?

Story by MWENDE MWINZI
Publication Date: 3/4/2007

She straddles the equator, is largely regarded the birthplace of man, and she lays claim to the most exotic of animals. Vast grasslands and acacia trees whistle her wind; millions flock her annually to dance with her; to enjoy her beauty and beasts.

Here in Africa, citizenship, Thabo Mbeki concedes, is equal. Man, “the leopard and the lion, the elephant and the springbok, the hyena, the black mamba and the pestilential mosquito,” each pull cords from the rhythm of life. They each play games; equal predators on great land.

Today and on one of her parks, a trio of lions rests. They are male, about five or so; their manes and stomachs both full, their eyes droopy from the afternoon heat. They’ve known this park all their life. They’ve called the Selous home since birth.

Doubling Denmark in size and equalling four times the world-famous Serengeti, the reserve is grand, its low tourist numbers attractive to any wild beast. And so they lick their chops lazily. With contentment. Completely oblivious to the gun-filled Land-Rover.

For its grandeur, the Selous is packed; it does not disappoint. Once home to Africa’s largest concentration of elephants (over 110,000) and a black rhino population of over 3,000, it now houses plenty of lion, an approximate 120,000 buffalo, 50,000 elephants, 150,000 wildebeest, 5,000 zebra and an estimated half of all Africa’s wild dogs.

Then it offers more of some intrigue; a struggle between man and beast; dominion to those seeking “rule over the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky and every living thing that moves on earth’’. A thrill that only money buys. Merging the three and for a price tag as high as $100,000, the Selous is paradise for trophy hunters; its experiences of interest to Kenya.

Legal and earning 23 sub-Saharan African countries in excess of $200 million annually, trophy hunting steeps back (according to my friend Edward Steinhart in ‘‘Black Poachers, White Hunters: A Social History of Hunting in Colonial Kenya’’), both to a European hunting heritage where the upper class expressed mastery over nature and to more modern times when it was used to popularise the safari. With great success.

Having lured Theodore Roosevelt to visit the Serengeti in 1909 for it, the sport is reported to have secured the man 500 animals as tokens. Today, over 18,500 trophy hunters visit Africa annually, with 8,530 venturing South Africa’s way where they generate an estimated $50 million a year, much to the country’s glee.

Kenya, on the other hand, has been more cautious on this, placing more concern on reconciling its expanding human population with the territorial requirements of its predators. It indeed banned trophy hunting in as far back as 1977. Yet of late, there has been talk ? the possible reversal of this law.

Expectedly, the arguments are drenched with emotion. If not a little science. Those in support of trophy hunting convincingly point to some key facts which, when articulated, are hard to ignore. In Kenya, as with most African countries, lions, though majestic (and generally harmless to man), are considered pests and a threat to the livestock heavily relied upon for survival.

When these big cats (or elephants) roam out of their reserves, they find themselves on turf belonging to farmers, herders and a booming human population. Trespassers, they stare down gun barrels or take poison arrows, whichever comes first. So why not “accept some limited and tightly controlled hunts when they generate revenue for locals who might otherwise kill off the predators?” it’s been asked.

In a study published in the journal Biological Conservation, it is believed that when game zones are well protected and controlled, the death toll from hunters is outweighed by leaps in animal population because, as Time Magazine reports, “trophy hunting provides jobs and encourages people to preserve landscape rather than turn it into farmland.”

In short, there is less of a struggle saving these animals from the crowded world where man, agriculture and wildlife co-exist. By redirecting a percentage of the revenues from trophy hunting, it is claimed that farmers are more understanding and tolerant of these animals, leading to them to promote wildlife and protect the natural habitat.

“Hunting money was directly responsible for the recovery of at least three rare species in South Africa – the bontebok (Damaliscus Dorcas), black wildebeest (Connochaetes Gnu) and Cape Mountain Zebra (Equus Zebra) -- and assisted the recovery of the southern white rhino.”

With Kenya relying heavily on a tourism sector crucial to its economy and with its lion populations dramatically declining outside its megazoos, such efforts sound enticing. But are they necessary or worthwhile? And how can we regulate it?

Trophy hunting and the success of it relies heavily on an effective regulatory framework with imposed bag limits or quotas based on animal populations. Can Kenya truly benefit from this with our current allocations towards wildlife conservation and the fact that rangers themselves engage in poaching? With limited policing, it is more likely than not that quotas, easily raised for increased profitability, would reach damaging levels.

Further and owing to the endemic corruption in most systems, “there is very little evidence that [where it is practised] the funds raised are ploughed back into conservation,” says the International Fund for Animal Welfare.

With poaching having wrought a devastating effect on animal populations and with tourism profitable yet not maximised, it is understandable why any government would explore this option even if it is wrong. But Kenya? Why change now, not least when we’re better off?

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Mesures du gouvernement pour sauver les lacs menacés

KENYA - 27 février 2007 - PANAPRESS

Les autorités kenyanes ont annoncé plusieurs mesures radicales pour sauver trois grands lacs de la province de la Vallée du Rift, menacés d'extinction.

Les lacs Nakuru, Elementaita et Bogoria enregistrent une baisse alarmante du niveau de leurs eaux en raison de la destruction, de l'envasement et de l'empiètement sur les bassins hydrographiques ainsi que de la destruction des affluents.

Les mesures, annoncées par voie de presse lundi, comprennent l'élaboration d'une stratégie de gestion des bassins hydrographiques, afin d'aider à la mise en place de plans de gestion réalisables pour les bassins menacés.

Les autorités prévoient également la formulation de stratégies de gestion des sous-zones de captage des eaux afin de participer à la surveillance, à la réhabilitation et à la conservation des masses d'eau.

Le gouvernement prévoit également de mettre en place des Association des usagers des ressources hydriques pour tous les fleuves dont les eaux s'écoulent dans les lacs menacés, afin d'améliorer la gestion des ressources hydriques.

Les autorités comptent aussi organiser plusieurs fora sur les techniques de gestion et de conservation de l'environnement pour les membres des Association des usagers des ressources hydriques, tandis que des plans prioritaires de distribution de l'eau sont élaborés.

Le ministère de l'Hydraulique et de l'Irrigation a pour objectif de réhabiliter les stations d'évaluation du débit de l'eau, alors que l'élaboration de plusieurs protocoles d'accord entre les instances chargées de la gestion des lacs Nakuru et Bogoria est en bonne voie.

Et conformément à la stratégie de gestion des zones de captage de l'eau nouvellement proposée, le gouvernement a "délimité et dé-catégorisé" diverses unités de gestion des ressources hydriques "afin d'aider à déterminer les zones d'exploitation des terres et les priorités en matière de gestion des ressources hydriques".

"Les problèmes des trois lacs sont tous les mêmes, à savoir la destruction des zones de captage, l'envasement, l'eutrophication, le changement de régime hydrologique ainsi que l'empiétement et la destruction des lignes d'affluents", indique l'annonce.

Les autres mesures de redressement prises sont la sensibilisation du public sur la nécessité de réhabiliter, de conserver et de protéger les bassins hydrographiques de Mau et d'Aberdare et de procéder à une "surveillance régulière" de la qualité et de la quantité de l'eau qui s'écoule dans les lacs menacés.

Par ailleurs, le gouvernement a aussi annoncé l'arrestation et la poursuite en justice des personnes trouvées en train de détruire les zones de captation et les lignes de partage des eaux de ces lacs dans le cadre des mesures de répression qui détournent illégalement l'eau des fleuves qui alimentent les lacs menacés.

Selon les autorités, 33 personnes ont été arrêtés, 24 poursuivies et deux condamnées à trois mois de prison chacune, tandis que 38 pompes à eau ont été confisquées et cinq canalisations à circulation naturelle illégales ont été enlevées, dans le cadre de la repression.

Photo jointe ; Lac Nakuru

Le Kenya élabore un plan sur l'alerte anticipée sur le tsunami

KENYA - 1 mars 2007 - XINHUA

Le Kenya a élaboré un Plan d'action national contre le tsunami en vue d'améliorer sa capacité d'anticiper le tsunami et de mieux réagir, a indiqué mercredi le vice-président Moody Awori.
Le plan d'action à appliquer en collaboration avec les partenaires du développement permettra d'avoir un système d'alerte approprié en faveur des communautés vulnérables et des personnes touchées en cas de tsunami, a expliqué le vice-président, lors de la 4ème session du Groupe de coordination intergouvernementale de l'alerte sur le tsunami en océan Indien et du système d'atténuation, organisée dans la ville portuaire de Mombasa (sud du Kenya).

A cette occasion, M. Awori a souligné la nécessité de renforcer la préservation de l'écosystème côtier et la biodiversité, relevant que les végétations côtières et les récifs de corail aident à protéger les zones côtières contre les raz-de- marée et les inondations.

La réunion de trois jours est organisée par la Commission de l'océanographie intergouvernementale de l'Organisation des Nations unies de l'éducation, des sciences et de la culture (IOC/unesco), en collaboration avec le gouvernement kenyan.

La rencontre qui a lieu pour la première fois en Afrique attire des participants de plus de 40 pays dans le monde.


Photo jointe : Tsunami du 26/12/2004 en Asie

Low-Cost Antimalaria Pill Available

Joao Silva for The New York Times

In Africa, the disease kills 3,000 children each day.

Article Tools Sponsored By
By DONALD G. McNEIL Jr.
Published: March 1, 2007

A new, cheap, easy-to-take pill to treat malaria is being introduced today, the first product of an innovative partnership between an international drug company and a medical charity.

The medicine, called ASAQ, is a pill combining artemisinin, invented in China using sweet wormwood and hailed as a miracle malaria drug, with amodiaquine, an older drug that still works in many malarial areas.

A treatment will cost less than $1 for adults and less than 50 cents for children. Adults with malaria will take only two pills a day for three days, and the pill will come in three smaller once-a-day sizes for infants, toddlers and youngsters.

In Africa, malaria kills 3,000 babies and children each day, but combination drugs like this are not available for children under 11 pounds, and they require taking a larger number of pills each day, as many as 24 for some adult versions.

“This is a good thing,” said Dr. Arata Kochi, chief of the World Health Organization’s global malaria program, who has publicly demanded that drug companies stop making pills that contain artemisinin alone because they will lead to resistant strains of malaria. “They’re responding to the kind of drug profile we’ve been promoting.”

Doctors like to treat diseases with multidrug cocktails because it cuts down the chance that resistance to any one drug will develop.

Adm. R. Timothy Ziemer, coordinator of President Bush’s $1.2 billion Malaria Initiative, said the program would be willing to buy the new pill, assuming it meets international safety standards and is requested by countries the initiative supports.

Sanofi-Aventis, the world’s fourth-largest drug company, based in Paris, will sell the pill at cost to international health agencies like the W.H.O., Unicef and the Global Fund for AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

The rollout of the drug is the result of a two-year partnership between Sanofi and the Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative, a campaign started by the medical charity Doctors Without Borders to find new drugs for tropical diseases.

Doctors Without Borders, better known by its French name, Médecins Sans Frontières, has long been one of the harshest critics of the pharmaceutical industry, charging that it spent billions on drugs like Viagra, Ambien and Prozac for rich countries and almost nothing on diseases killing millions of poor people.

But, recognizing that new drugs would have to come from the industry’s major players, Doctors Without Borders founded the initiative in 2003 and began seeking partnerships. This is the first to come to fruition.

“This was not a love wedding, it was a reasonable wedding,” said Dr. Robert Sebbag, Sanofi’s vice president for access to medicines. “But reasonableness is often more important for a long marriage. They’ve seen we are not nasty people working against poor countries and seeking only profits.”

In an unusual move, Sanofi has decided not to seek any patents so the pills can be freely copied by generic companies like those in India. The drugs themselves are too old to patent, but the one-pill formulation could have been.

Sanofi will also produce a branded version, called Coarsucam, for the private market, to be sold at three or four times the public price. It will be sold only in Africa, Indonesia and the Philippines, the company said, not in the United States or Europe.

In another innovation, Sanofi will meet with pharmacists’ organizations in poor countries and give them incentives to sell Coarsucam at two different prices — at less than $1 to very poor customers and $3 to $4 to wealthier ones.

It will leave it to the pharmacists to estimate which of their customers lived on less than the cutoff income, which is about $40 a month, Dr. Sebbag said.

“Even in these countries, you always have some people who can pay,” he said.

The company has already experimented with the idea in six African countries, from Mali to Kenya to Madagascar, when selling its previous version of the drug combination, which was separate pills of each drug in a blister pack.

The company will package the cheaper Coarsucam differently and have its sales staff check to make sure that pharmacies are not selling the cheap product at the high price.

Neither version, at either price, will bring Sanofi much profit, “but in terms of symbolism, it means a lot,” Dr. Sebbag said.

One reason for keeping the price low, he said, was to remove the incentive for counterfeiters to produce fakes, which is a serious problem in Asia and a growing one across Africa. Fake malaria drugs — most offered as artemisinin — may be involved in up to 200,000 deaths from malaria each year.

ASAQ and Coarsucam will not replace a rival drug, Coartem from Novartis, a Swiss pharmaceutical company, that has been sold cheaply to the W.H.O. since 2001. Coartem combines another form of artemisinin with lumefantrine, another Chinese drug, and in East Africa, it works better than ASAQ because resistance to amodiaquine is common.

“But ASAQ is much more easy to use,” said Dr. Bernard Pecoul, director of the Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative. “And it is nearly half as expensive.”

Novartis used to sell Coartem to public health agencies at close to $3 per adult treatment; its price has dropped recently to about $1.70 as Indian companies announced the development of generic versions. Dr. Kochi said he expected prices to fall further with the competition from ASAQ.

“It’s the chain reaction of market competition,” he said. “This is exactly what we wanted.”

Exodus to lake with healing powers and mystic wildlife

Story by JAMES KARIUKI
Publication Date: 03/01/2007

Local and foreign tourists are increasingly heading to Lake Bogoria in Nakuru District to sample its hot saunas, among other attractions.

The saunas, reputed to be rich in minerals and detoxifiers, are virtually free of charge. All that one has to do is stand close to a geyser and face the wind in minimal clothing.


Local resorts are also offering warm baths — said to be replete with healing qualities. These are in vogue lately, pulling in tourists by the dozen. The spas soothe the skin and help it attain a smooth and spotless sheen.

Other tourists are seeking more holistic attributes — mind-body healing and relaxation sessions.

Recently, when a United Kingdom-based refrigeration engineer came to Kenya for a week-long pilgrimage, he did not part with a cent at Lake Bogoria. He needed only a folding seat and a group of friends to chat with as he sat near geysers off Lake Bogoria.



Mr Zubair Khokhar and friends from the Gilani family (resident in Nakuru) kept moving round the geysers to be on the leeward side of the wind, thereby inhaling the healing vapours. Their bodies were drenched in condensed vapours.

Mr Khokhar has regularly visited Kenya over the past three years.

Geysers at Lake Bogoria National Park have pungent vapours. They spring from water fissures deep in the bowels of the earth, and have temperatures of 100 degrees centigrade and above.

School parties usually carry raw eggs to the park for super-boiled snacks. Accessories needed for this include polythene bags that are tied on long strings as the eggs boil.

Importance of geysers

Increased information on the importance of geysers — medically and economically — has led to the current exodus.

The park was established in 1974 and is managed by Baringo county council. It is the only one in Kenya with well-tarmacked roads. Visitors pay Sh100 entrance fee.

Lake Bogoria is in the North Rift tourist circuit, which has some of the world’s most popular attractions. But unlike most of these, the park is relatively unknown, due to ineffective marketing and poor infrastructure.

Many hotels have invested millions of shillings in spas and saunas to woo customers. They have posted promotional material on their websites and at selected tourist spots, alongside details on the traditional Big Five (elephant, rhino, buffalo, lion and giraffe).

Kenya and Ethiopia are so far the only African countries with geyser

Mrs Yasmine Gilani says she is less stressed now and her skin healthier after several visits to the spas.

The Kenya Tourism Board says increasing interest in spas could boost the local economy and create jobs for the youth, especially on the road to Lake Bogoria.

Currently, a mud bath pool is under construction. It will have naturally heated mineral rich water from springs emanating from nearby hills.

The circuit also boasts of Lake Baringo, the home of many hippos, crocodiles, islands and world class resorts.

But access to this lake is hampered by poor roads. For instance, the key Marigat-Lake Baringo Road is impassable in rainy seasons.

Half a kilometre stretch of the road was washed away last year and is yet to be repaired. A new high bridge should be built to accommodate storm waters. Sections of the road are currently submerged in rainwater, making the trip impossible.

On arrival at the lake’s shores, motorised boats are at hand to carry visitors to the tented Island Camp on Ol Kokwa Island. It is a popular hideout for honeymooners. Last year, the camp was voted variously as the country’s best kept secret.

Wear life jackets

All travellers must wear life jackets and receive safety instructions in case of a mishap on the lake.

Fishermen, however, use ancient dugout canoes made of light wood in their night expeditions. The lake is infested with hippos and crocodiles.

The Njemps community lives around Lake Baringo and on the island. Over the years, it has sought help from the Government to ease local hardships. The efforts are yet to bear fruits.

Jibrota rock is popular with mountaineers, who can regularly be seen on its peak sitting by a campfire. But the island is not popular with locals, many of whom believe it is haunted. Strange voices are allegedly heard at night near the rocks.

The drive from Lake Baringo’s shores to the Marigat turn-off towards Kabarnet Town is enjoyable, as the road is tarmacked and the scenery beautiful.

Public transport between lakes Bogoria and Baringo is adequate.

The North Rift circuit enjoys a smooth drive to Kabarnet and onwards to Rimoi Game Reserve, managed by Kenya Wildlife Service. These are famous for a wide variety of wild animals and more than 330 bird species.

The little known Rimoi reserve has some of the largest elephants in Kenya, but it is barely accessible by road. All the key routes have been cut off by floods.

Agrotourism is yet another attraction, what with the vast wheat farms of Uasin Gichu District and the lush tea bushes of Nandi district. The entire route is accessible by matatu.

Nandi Tea Estates managing director Titus Kipyab says: “Agro-tourism is welcome. Locals have lately been visiting our factory to see how tea is processed.”

Danse traditionnelle Samburu, executee lors des mariages

Poverty, unemployment the cause of rising crime


Publication Date: 2/25/2007

A student trains in carpentry: ‘‘Building schools will not help us if our children are unable to continue their education at the secondary level.’’

I was very happy to read Mutuma Mathiu’s column in last week’s Sunday Nation on the rising crime wave in our country. What impressed me is that he touched on the issues of poverty and unemployment, which remain a major factor in propagating crime among young people. I fully agree with his sentiment that “as a country, we have serious problems which we need to stand up to”.

In the same paper on the opposite page, columnist Gitau Warigi narrated his ordeal in the hands of a gang of sheng-speaking teenage robbers who infiltrated the very core of his home and stole his valuables after locking up members of his household in the bedroom.

I thank the Nation Media Group for continuously addressing the problems facing our society and, lately, the issue of crime. What is pathetic and shameful is that very few organisations give this problem serious attention. Not the civil society, not religious leaders, not the police or the government and, worst of all, not our politicians.

The most affected are the young people who are left frustrated and without the hope of a better future. This hopelessness has resulted in suicidal tendencies including involvement in consumption of illicit drinks and drugs, violent crime (to kill or get killed) and careless sexual escapades leading to rampant spread of HIV-Aids. Our refusal to address the root cause of the problem of crime is now haunting us right into our bedrooms.

Our grandmothers, mothers, sisters, wives and aunties will continue to be raped, robbed and maybe killed together with the rest of us if we continue to bury our heads in the sand. As for me and other young people, it is simply a matter of priorities.

Building that road will not and cannot be an urgent issue if young people cannot see it in their future to own cars that will use that road. Building schools, or better still, free primary education will not help us if our children will be unable to continue their education at the secondary level.

Even if they do continue, what will they gain at the end of the road? With the majority being locked out of public universities due to limited facilities, the problems continue to add up.

OMONDI KIAYE,
Nairobi.