The Nile River

Nile River is the world or one of the longest river in the world, it reaches over 4,258 miles! It also helps farmers to get grow better crops because when the river flood all the "good soil" which is rich in materials so the crops will grow healthy and faster. Most of the peoples live next to the Nile River, nearly 40 million people. Nile River is a river that you will not believe what it can do.

Soccer is Powerful

Soccer is a powerful sport. Soccer can help with teamwork, help with staying in shape, but most of all soccer can unite people together. Soccer is the most important sport in South America because it is one of the things that bind the people of the country together. South America got accepted in FIFA. However, they got suspended because of their segregation policy. Later, they start to let everyone that was good enough, be on the team. The 2010 FIFA World Cup was one of the world's largest sporting events in history and it was hosted by South America. This gave them a chance to show the world their culture.The World Cup gave South Africa many concerns, but it turned out to be more than just a success, it united the country together. What can you do to united you country more together?

The world of African dance

Do you like to dance? Do you want to see how people from other countries dance? Well if you do then this blog will get you interested. We are going to take a peek into the world of African dance. Most dances from Africa is to celebrate events. One dance from Africa is the Coming of Age Dance. This dance celebrates the coming age of a young person. Another dance is the Warrior Dance. This dance is a fusion of warfare movements and artistic movements of the body, and is also an aggressive dance. There is also the Love Dance. This dance celebrates weddings, anniversaries, and tribal rituals. There are many more dances in Africa that have different feelings and different meanings to it. Did this blog make you more interested in dance?




Here is a video of a type of dance in Africa:

http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/exploreorg/ghana-drum-dance-eorg

One of the Rarest gorillas

The Mountain Gorilla is a very endangered species and it is super hard to find  the reason is, The overall population of the Mountain Gorilla is around 880 left. The full name of the mountain Gorilla is Gorilla Beringei Beringei. The Mountain Gorilla is very powerful and strong, but they are usually very gentle and shy. The adult males began to grow gray hair on there back which is why, they are called silver backs. So why do you think this species are endangered and are slowly decreasing each day.

Which is worst? The Nigerian Military or the Boko Haram?

In Africa, there is a terrorist group, Boko Haram (Boko Haram means western education is forbidden in local Hausa dialect), who has been terrorizing Nigeria since its first attack on July 26 2009, that lasted until the 27th. Unfortunately, no one can blame it on the terrorist group. This time, it was the Nigerian military itself! Soldiers in uniforms shouted for the villagers to point out the terrorists among themselves. When none weren't identified, they started to kill the civilians. The military has abused human rights numerous times. For example, in Baga, they shot down civilians and burned their homes. Moreover last month, they accidentally blew up a displaced persons camp, killing at least 90 civilians. FURTHERMORE, a couple days before the massacre in June, the military surrounded the humble farming town of  Ngubdori (This was also victim of many Boko Haram attacks). They rounded up all the residents and forced the men to strip of their shirts. Two men stepped out of their houses at one point, and in result, they were shot. Seven others did the same, and they too were shot. THEN, the military fired upon the crowd, resulting with 13 more victims. The military burned down the grass houses before leaving. In other words, I really really really really really despise the Nigerian military's way of destroying any stowaway terrorists, but I loathe terrorists too. Do you agree with the Nigerian military's methods?

Edgar rice burroughs wrote the book tarzan and the apes in the year 1912 and wrote many other books. But his most famous series tarzan is based of a man who lives in the congo of africa in the eighteen hundreds. This series became so popular that there have been multiple movies for the series good and bad, and almost anyone you ask would know of the legend of tarzan. While not directly this article is related to africa.

Blood, Sweat, Tears, Gymnastics

I hadn’t realized that gymnastics started so long ago in South Africa. I didn’t realize that at some point that they were interested in the sport. Surprisingly, the first gymnastic club in South Africa was was the Port Elizabeth gymnastics club founded in 1876. The formation of this gymnastics club was followed by the formation of Cape Town gymnastics in 1880, and the YMCA gymnastics academy which is also in Cape Town. I personally didn’t think that they would have equipment for the sport so they probably used leftover objects to make it. In addition British soldiers used the sport for training. I bet that this intense training helped them as a soldier. Gymnastics in South Africa started off pretty small then the sport gained momentum in the Kimberley region. During this momentum Kimberley gymnasium was formed in 1884 and also the Pirates gymnastics club in 1886. This is when gymnastics in South Africa started to be seen. The first provincial gymnastics body was the Transvaalse Gimnastiek Verbond (Transvaal gymnastics Association, which was proclaimed in December 1898 in Johannesburg. Later there was a death of this association they think that this is because the lack of interest and the outbreak of the first world war. At a time South Africa competed in the Olympics and world championships. The competed in the Olympics from 1952-1960 and the world championships from 1954-1966. The reason that they stopped is because of boycotts which were for racial policies. Even though they stopped competing in these competitions the FIG was never suspended and the FIG is the Federation of International Gymnastics. After a while South Africa started to go national again in 1991, and competed for the first time in a while at the Artistic World Championship. South Africa was gone for 44 years from the sport of gymnastics! They decided to compete in the 2004 Olympic games in Athens. Sadly, this country didn’t win any medals in gymnastics. Why do you think that South Africa stepped away from being competitive in gymnastics for so long?

 http://www.sagf.co.za/about-us/organogram/

Stories of Life : Africa

You probably have read or watched the news at least once in your life, maybe on CNN or maybe on ABC. Chances are, you heard a few stories concerning Africa. For example, you may have heard about the car-bombing in Mogadishu, heard stories of everything that is going on in this continent.

But those are not the kind of stories I am talking about today.

“What do you mean? They’re stories, right?”

Yes they are, but I'm talking about African folktales. The ones that a parent might tell their child. Many of Africa’s folktales, I found, consisted of animals. Most of them actually told  a story with a tortoise involved. For instance, “The Tortoise and the Lizard” is a story about a greedy tortoise, a lizard, a farmer, and a cave full of yams. The tortoise later ended up with a broken shell because of his greed. Kind of crazy sounding, I know.

Another tale I read is called “Why the Bat flies at Night” This one is about (surprise!) how the bat came to fly only when it’s night. According to the story, there was a war between the animals of the sky and the animals of the ground. The bat had been killed, but the sky animals and the ground animals all refused to give it a proper funeral because it was different from them.

It kind of sound familiar, doesn’t it. That may be because events that happened in both of these stories do happen in real life. Karma pays you back in life and many people are not accepted because they are different.

African folktales, they teach quite the lesson, would you agree?

What if Your Home Became Uninhabitable!

Climate change is a ongoing issue, but can you believe it got to the point where a home to many is now not safe to live in? As you would know Africa is a very dry and hot region, but Sudan takes it to a whole other leave. For instance in Sudan temperature are constantly rising, water supplies are running very low, soil is dry because several droughts are occurring. Dust storms are a increasing issue, the dust is thick and buries homes in thick dust.  In effect to these dust storms crops are also becoming ruined. Haboob is what they call dust storms in Sudan. When you see this video of a dust storm you will be shocked https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKsF1Vto5Pw. Sudan is not very suitable for agriculture, and villages anymore it has very little rain and incredibly hot temperatures. In Sudan food is said to become very scarce. Climate change is a issue to many, but do you think that Sudan will be one of the first country's to become completely uninhabitable?

The Great Pyramids

As evidence shows, there have been *gasp* more anomalies and corridors discovered in the Great Pyramids of Giza. Archaeologists have recently equipped a technology called muography. This technology is used in scanning devices and allows people to see the structural makeup of a building or structure. These new discoveries are in the Great Pyramid or Khufu. This pyramid has been searched many times but still researchers are yet to discover every tomb and room of this massive structure. This new technology could allow us to fully see the inside of a pyramid, which has yet to be discovered for over 5,000 years! In other words, more treasure and mummies! Now before you go off blaming me for your future nightmares about mummies, let's learn a few facts about the pyramids to help you get a better understanding of how important these discoveries are to Africa. The pyramids are the only one of the seven ancient wonders still standing today. They are one of the only remaining artifacts of Africa's earliest civilizations. They are one of the proud tourist traps of Africa too. So as you can see, the pyramids are one of the important keys to unlock the civilizations of the past. If you were to go back in time and see the pyramids being built, what would you be most interested in during the building of the pyramids?

Giraffes

Giraffes are one of the most amazing things about Africa. Sadly their population is much less than it was 50 years ago. There are only 90 thousand left with 1,000 of them in captivity. They are mainly found in Southern Africa and in Eastern Africa. The population has declined in the past few decades because people have either build roads and civilization where they live or people killed them. Before humans started killing them there were hundreds of thousands. Now there are less than 100 thousand.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/12/08/504810338/giraffe-now-listed-as-vulnerable-to-extinction-as-population-plummets

Africa's Amazing and Astonishing Tribes

Africa is a very interesting place… they have many different tribes that all have very unique characteristics. Zulu is one of the interesting ones that I have noticed. They are one of the many tribes that make many things, they create brightly colored beads and baskets (left picture) as well as small carvings. Another tribe that caught my attention was Fang. They are known for their guardian figures which they attach to wooden boxes, they contain bones of the ancestors. The bones are said to contain the power of the dead person, in fact, the same amount of power that the person had while alive. In addition to those other awesome tribes there is one more that I want to tell you about, Bobo. This tribe made me interested first by its name, but then I read about them. They are known for the masks that they wear with elaborate outfits for celebration (right picture). There are many astonishing different tribes, more than I could tell you about. I challenge you to find one more different tribe and tell me about their interesting culture, or you could tell me your favorite thing about that tribe. I won't be that hard since there are over three thousand tribes in Africa.

Here are a few of the tribes for some help :)

https://www.africaguide.com/culture/tribes.htm

Cricket and no, this is not the bug

In Africa, cricket is a sport... as well as a bug. Similarly to baseball, cricket is a bat and ball game. Each team has 11 players, and there are two teams. The goal of the game is to get the most runs. This sport is basically the same game as American baseball. The biggest difference is that some games can last 3 or 4 days. You may be thinking "Well there are baseball tournaments" but you're wrong. This game is just straight days of playing only 4 innings. YES! Only 4! This kind of tournament leads to  bigger games and soon the Cricket World Cup. So, will you go home today and play some Cricket?

Music Of Africa

African music is  a interesting in the way of how it is made. The music relies on  percussion instruments of every variety. African music is all about historical ancient.Traditional music in much of the continent is passed down orally and is not written. African has many genera such as soca, calypso and zouk.

Africa Is More Modern Than You Think

When you think of Africa, you probably don't think of modern architecture. For instance, Africa's cities are growing fast, and with growing cities, you usually get bigger, more modern buildings. They call this type of architecture "Architecture of Independence". These buildings include Foire Internationale de Dakar, which is a convention center, The Kenyatta International Conference Center, which is twenty-eight stories tall, and  La Pyramide which was designed by an Italian architect by the name of Rinaldo Olivieri. Also, pictures of these buildings are in the link above. I had no idea that Africa was modernizing like this. Did you know that Africa was becoming more modern?

African bush Elephants are saying bye bye.

African bush elephants are getting close to extinct. One major factor to their extinction is poaching. People kill the elephants for their tusk. Is a peaceful animals life worth some money. The answer is no. Although you might be thinking that they are just some animal and in this world money might be more important to some people. The thing is these Bush Elephants are unique. They have longer, larger ears they use to cool them self. Also, they can grow up to 13 feet tall. We shouldn't want to kill of the tallest land animal in the world. Not one animal on this earth deserves to be murdered for money. It is sad such an elegant animal is getting smaller and smaller in numbers. African Bush Elephants are innocent.

Dancing to the Drums.

There is so much to be interested in when it comes to Africa but one thing that I find really interesting, is there dances.  Some of the dances that are really cool are Kpanlogo, Zulu, and Indlamu.  They all express different things.  For example Indlamu dancing is mostly associated with Zulu culture.  Zulu and Indlamu are pretty similar.  Those styles represent the Zulu warrior class.  People usually wear zegalia, headpieces, belts, they even have swords and shields.  Now, most people dance with the common Kpanlogo.  Kpanlogo consists of regular common African dance moves.  It started in Accra, which is a capital city but now it is dance and loved all of the country.  Most of African dancing is played with an amazing line of drums.  Bongos, jembes, there are all sorts of different drums.  Most beats in anything you can trace back to the rhythms.  Drum beats can be broken into polyrhythms.  Something that is really cool about the African dance style is that they dance to the polyrhythm beats.  I have had so much fun researching the dances and music of Africa.  Have you ever seen an ethnic dance?

Nile River In Africa!!

   The Nile is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. Also, the Nile is the primary water source of Egypt and Sudan. The Nile, which is 6,853 km (4,258 miles) long, is an "international" river as its drainage basin covers eleven countries. For example, Uganda, Egypt, and Sudan. The Nile has two major tributaries, the White Nile and Blue Nile. The White Nile is considered to be the headwaters and primary stream of the Nile itself. The Blue Nile, however, is the source of most of the water and silt.

 

   The Nile is generally regarded as the longest river in the world. But recently a new origin of the Amazon River was found so that the Amazon River might be longer than the Nile. Which river do you think is longer?

39 million stolen from tax company

A man steals 39 million dollars from a tax company. He has been accused of setting up a website that will steal money from a tax companies in different states . He said he did not do it but the evidence stacks up against him. He could go to jail for a very long time. This took place NOW in Africa. HOWEVER he has recently gone to jail because they stacked the evidence to high and he was caught. Would you take the chances of getting caught to stel 39 million dollars?

Pirates

Piracy in Africa is a real epidemic. Where is really is bad is in Somalia. Even though it has decreased in the few years that doesn't mean it has disappeared. Most of the Pirates are Fishermen who are mad at the economy and other country coming in a fishing all of there fish. The reason how they got their weapons was that the Russians used Somalia as a arms dumping ground. I hope from reading this you have a better understanding of Pirates in Somalia.

The Living Dinosaur

What has horns, a small brain, and has been around for 50 million years?  The white rhinoceros.  The white rhinoceros “rhino for short” lives in South and East Africa.  They roam in groups called a crash in grasslands and floodplains.  These 5,000 pound animals are herbivores meaning they are plant eaters.  There diet is eating leaves, and fruit off branches.  Sadly these 6 foot tall dinosaurs are going extinct!  Poachers are what you call them.  They kill the rhinos for their horns.  From my point of view it’s a terrible thing to kill a whole animal just for their horns.  It is made of a substance called keratin that is found in our nails and hair.  People grind up the horn to use it in powder for medicine, brewed in tea, and are even used as trophies.  As I have noted killing an animal for these things is not worth it.  What do you think about these dinosaurs?

Nothing But Net

In Africa there is a wide spread of malaria, One way to cut down on the number of people being infected with this disease is the use of  insecticide-treated bed nets, What better way to raise money to buy these nets than to strike a deal with one of the best basketball players in the NBA, Steph Curry,  That is exactly what a charity organization by the name of “Nothing but Net” did. This organization made an agreement with Curry to have him send three malaria-preventing mosquito nets to Africa for every 3-pointer he made. And nets is exactly what he provided,he had 402 3-pointers sending 1,206 more families in Africa insecticide-treated bed nets. Furthermore, he flew to Tanzania to personally hang nets at refugee camp where there were 62,000 cases of malaria amid a population of 68,000. This visit was not only a life changing event for the people in Africa who got to meet Curry but was life changing for Curry himself. As you can see Curry is making a difference in Africa. What do you think he will do next?

Attack and Murder at own home.

British women and farmer Susan Howarth and her husband Robert Lynn were attacked by being tied up, stabbed and tortured by a blow torch for hours by three masked men. Also the men attempted to strangle Mr.Lynn with a bag. In addition to the tortureThey were bundled into there own truck and taken to the roadside and were shot. Mrs.Howarth (64) was shot twice in the head and Mr.Lynn (66) was shot in the neck. He miraculously survived and managed to flag down a passer-by. Mrs.Howarth was later found in a ditch with brutal and serious injuries and she was as the police said "unrecognizable". She was taken to a hospital and was put on life support but due to her severe injuries  she sadly passed away two days later. Farm attacks like what happened to Mr.Lynn and Mrs.Howarth happen almost everyday. What do you think should be done about the farm attacks?

Largest Mammal On the Planet

You have probably heard of the African Elephant, or it’s scientific name Loxodonta africana, and if you haven’t here are some facts. The African Elephant is an endangered species and there are only 450,000 left on this planet, and that was recorded about five years ago.  The average lifespan for this 6000 kilograms is 70 years old. Elephants have a trunk and they use it for  smelling, breathing, detecting vibrations, caressing their young, sucking up water, and grasping objects. Another characteristic of an elephant are tusks. In fact tusks are one of the main reasons that elephants are now an endangered species. You see a while back people used to kill elephants just for their tusks and killed many elephants. Now it is illegal for people to kill elephants just for their tusks.  Elephant tusks are utilized in a wide range of activities. They are used for digging, foraging, and fighting. At times, they also act as a resting place for the elephant’s very heavy trunk. How tall do you think this beast is? I will give you a hint it is a double digit under 20 and measured in feet.  

Riverine Rabbits - South Africa's most Endangered Animal

In South Africa, a species of rabbits are estimated to have only 400 individuals and 250 mature rabbits left in the wild. The Riverine rabbits are currently in the 'critically endangered' listing from the IUCN. The riverine rabbit qualifies as one of the rarest mammals in southern Africa. Over the past 70 years, more than two-thirds of the rabbits' habitat has been swallowed up by agriculture or ruined by overgrazing. The riverine rabbit's favored hangouts are the fertile flood plains of the Karoo's seasonal rivers, the very same areas that have historically been most in demand for agriculture. With its riverine habitat plowed over, the rabbit's numbers plummeted, an estimated decline of about 60% over the decades. Remaining populations clung to survival mostly on fragments of farmland, outside of protected areas and are therefore vulnerable and difficult for conservationists to monitor. Even though the mammal is slowly coming to extinction, Karoo's plains are still being developed on. The riverine rabbit conservation program along with many others are trying to save the habitat which will hopefully make the rabbit population stop going down as much. I think the developers should leave more land for the rabbits and develop land somewhere else, but all that would do is ruin a habitat of another species. What do you think should happen?

Pirates in Africa!!!!

                The topic I have picked is pirate attacks in Africa. Something crazy that happened is in 2013 when attacks went up by 33% in the country of Guinea and that is only one country in Africa. The thing is it went up higher in 2014. What the pirates want is to raid and steal ships but they are not just regular ships. These ships have petroleum on them so when the pirates steal them they end up selling the petroleum. The majority of the people that make these attacks are Nigerian pirates. The Nigerian navy estimates that these pirates steal about 200,000 barrels a year which is equal to about 200 billion annually .That is what I know about the pirate attacks in Africa.

Why Ignore the Giraffes?

So you probably already know that giraffes are pretty fantastic animals. They're the tallest mammals on Earth, they run, they eat, they play and all the other things that animals do in their lives. But recently, they've come into more danger then ever before, and the threat of extinction looms on the horizon. Yes, even giraffes get hunted and killed for meat and hide. That's not the only reason they're dying though, their habitat is getting destroyed by us. We're building roads,expanding settlements and taking land for agricultural reasons. It seems to me that nobody is doing anything about the problem and that makes me sad. Giraffes are wonderful animals that should be protected. As you can see, I care about giraffes and you should too. Lets all work together to preserve this incredible species. How can you do your part?
To learn more go to this link-
http://www.awf.org/wildlife-conservation/giraffe

Snowboarding In Africa?

Afri-Ski is one of the only places where you can snowboard and ski in Africa however it is only open part time due to weather. The times that it is open are usually during their winter times. During the on the season like August through July, you can get a lift ticket for around  $250 dollars. As you can see it is kind of expensive, but it is worth the experience. In conclusion, the whole trip is a time that you will never forget. Would you want to go?

Pirate attacks in Africa

It is really sad but there are pirate attacks in Africa. There was not many in 2016 but earlier in the years they recorded a lot. They have been very terrorizing attacks from them so can get money and steal other things too. There was a movie on one actually. "Captain Phillips" which was a groundbreaking movie from one of the attacks is 2009. Although it happened in 2009, it came out in 2013. Now, there are not as many attacks but when there are they are violent. Besides, thank you for reading my blog.

A baby born in Africa with four legs and two spines

A baby born with four legs and two spines, but to be more specific the two extra legs were on the baby's neck and back. After the risky surgery, the baby is expected to live a normal life. In Dominique's case, the bottom half of her twin's body stuck out from the base of her neck and back, leaving her with two extra legs near her shoulders. The legs and spines were too much mass for her and that caused her to not be able to do the things normal babies can do. Like, turn over and sit up and all those types of things. When the baby was transported to the U.S, a nice family offered to care for her. Dominque will go through rehab and will be sent back to her family in Africa next month. In my opinion, they should've transported her with her family. What do you think?

Recreational African Dancing

If you know me you'd know I love dance. I love going to competition, dancing for fun, and learning from different instructors. As for the article, I focused on the recreational dance portion. It interests me that dance is the largest form of recreation in Africa! Almost everyone dances. How awesome is that? However, sexes are kept controlled and separate when dancing.



In the 1950s, Highlife was a popular, urban recreational style of dance, and it all started in Ghana with instruments. It expresses independence. I, too, express independence when I dance. Now there are different styles and music in the four regions. If you are interested, there are many included in the article provided. In my opinion, the cha-cha is the best of course. What's your favorite style?

706 CARAT DIAMOND UNEARTHED?!

In Sierra Leone, Pastor Emmanuel Momoh, who is also a miner found a 706 carat diamond. He gave it to President Earnest Bai Koroma. The President thanked the Pastor for not smuggling the diamond, thus this led to him saying he would reward him with some of the money that the diamond would be sold for. The government plans to sell the diamond in a auction to the highest bidder. However, the 706 carat diamond is not the largest, but it is very close. If you were the Pastor, what would you have done?

Stop Trophy Hunting

  Africa is home to incredible wildlife, but it also has many trophy hunters killing off its wildflife.

Trophy hunting is cruel. Due to humans killing animals for sport, animal population has

decreased. Nowadays, only about 30,000 lions survive in Africa, when there used to be 200,000.

The Black Rhino's population is down 97.6% since 1960. Less than 900 mountain gorillas remain.

We're killing off amazing creatures for sport, and it needs to stop.

  Animals in Africa are being killed for their body parts. People kill them for their tusks, pelts, and

bones, which can be sold illegally for large amounts of money. Zebras are killed for their skin. There

has been an increase in trafficking infant gorillas. If we keep on killing animals for our

needs or intrests, elephants, rhinos, and other wildlife may be gone within our lifetime.

  In my opinion, animal hunting for "sport" needs to stop. These magnificent creatures could become

extinct thanks to humans, so we need to put an end to this cruel "sport." What do you think of trophy

hunting?

Hermanious Whale festival In South Africa

Watching The Whales

The Hermanus Whale festival  is the only eco-marine Festival in South Africa.the Hermanus Whale Festival started 26 years ago in the town of Hermanus. Visitors and the people there celebrate the migration of Southern Right Whales and other marine wildlife.They have ocean-themed activities and exhibitions,education, environmentally responsible adventures and activities.people from all over come to this festival and the town of Hermanus to watch the whales and other marine life by the coastal town.The festival combines whale watching from shore and sea with live shows, family fun,  parades, film, music, seafood, and local produce. As you can see, this festival watches whales in their nature habitat.There is no doubt that I would go to the Hermanus Whale festival, would you?

The Modern Woolly Mammoth

There is no doubt that there are threatened animals in Africa. One of them is the African bush elephant. The African bush elephant is the largest land mammal in the world. They can weigh up to six tons(12,000 lbs.) and can be from 3 meters to 3.5 meters tall. Finally, their tusks can grow up to 2.5 meters in length.
There are around 300,000 of these magnificent beasts left. Most die from starvation. elephants lose their teeth when they are 40 years or older and most starve to death. Poachers also kill elephants for their ivory tusks.
The African bush elephant in a descendant of the Woolly Mammoth. The Woolly Mammoth went extinct in the last ice age, as did the giant sloth, Milodon. We need to keep theses amazing African bush elephants safe so they don't end up in the same place.

DONILD TRUUUMP DID IT WAHT HAPPEN NEXT!!!! PIE RATS TERRORZES TOWN WIUTH GOONS AND BBAAOOTT IN SOMALLIAA YOU WONNT BELIBE WHAET THEY FIND NEXT!!!! XDDDDDDDDD

SOMALI PIE RATS IN UNIFORM WITH GOONS ON A BOOT

     From 2005-2010 the Somali piracy epidemic has grown by a lot. Many ships have been pirated from 2005 to 2011. In fact, in the last 5-6 years the piracy rate has decreased drastically. In the recent years new technology and defenses have been produced. The piracy rate has gone from 160 attacks in 2011, to 1 in 2016. In order to bring awareness and also to tell a story a movie was made called captain phillips. The movie brought a little more knowing on the subject. Now piracy in somalia is lower than ever thanks to knowing about the problem. Concluding my post I ask you to be a pirates and steal some food from a sibling. Thanks.

PIRATES ATTACK SEVERAL VILLAGES, YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT HAPPENS NEXT... 1000 DEGREE KNIFE, PRANKED, HE DID WHAT!, LIQUID NITROGEN,

As a result of increased defenses in Africa, there was only 1 recorded Somali pirate attack in 2016. But, in 2011 there were 160 recorded Somali pirate attacks. There was a record low of zero pirate attacks in 2015. The most popular story of Somali pirate attacks was made into a movie called "Captain Phillips" which took place in 2009 where there were 80 known Somali pirate attacks. The Somali pirates that attacked were left to all but one remaining pirate. Anyhow, thank you for reading about Somali pirates. What can you do to make Africa have less bad pirates and more good ones?

the congo river

The Congo River (also known as the Zaire River; French: (le) fleuve Congo/Zaïre; Portugese
: rio Congo/Zaire; Kongo: Nzâdi Kôngo) is a river in Africa. It is the second largest river in the world by discharge (after the Amazon), and the world's deepest river with measured depths in excess of 220 m (720 ft). The Congo-Chambeshi river has an overall length of 4,700 km (2,920 mi), which makes it the ninth-longest river (in terms of discharge, the Chambeshi is a tributary of the Lualaba River, Lualaba being the name of the Congo River upstream of the Boyoma Falls, extending for 1,800 km). Measured along the Lualaba, the Congo River has a total length of 4,370 km (2,715 mi). It crosses the equator twice.The Congo Basin has a total area of about 4 million km², or 13% of the entire African landmass.

A Covered Up Hope

Whenever someone says "movie sets", you generally would think of green screens, props, lights, and cameras in Hollywood, but many movie are filmed out of the Americas and in other more diverse countries. For example one of the best franchises, if not the best franchise of films, Simply known as... Star Wars. Produced by George Lucas, this film obviously had many special effects, such as light-sabers, outer-space species, and the ships in space. But some special effects cant just be made, and for almost every Star Wars film, (including the prequels) has a scene on a sand planet, whether it is the planet of Jakku in The Force Awakens, or on Tatooine in all of the Star Wars films I, II, III, IV, V, and VI. The set of these films included villages, such as the Tuskan raider village or The slave homes on Tatooine. So people built temporary buildings for Star Wars and when they were done, the producers left the props and homes there. There are still items there such as a large sand snake skeleton, (say that ten times fast) a few homes, and Luke Skywalkers home from "A New Hope". People used to visit this place regularly but now, because of sandstorms, some of these cool buildings and props are buried. Remember that sand snake I hinted at? well, That thing was found by a paleontologist and claimed a new species, until... he got busted by Lucas co.

Money for kills.

Would you pay $350,000 to kill Rhinos? Recently a hunter from Texas paid $350,000 for the right to kill a Black Rhino. Corey Knowlton won an auction in January for the right to kill a Black Rhino weighing about 3,000 pounds. Also their are within 4,000 to 5,000 Rhinos and Namibia's Ministry of Environment and Tourism they target older rhinos that are closer to death. The New Era newspaper said 60 Rhinos have been poached since 2015. Besides that Black Rhinos can be found in the  flood plains of eastern and southern Africa. Would you kill Rhinos for money because I know I wouldn't.

Chocolate Chocolate Chocolate

Most people love chocolate. But most people also don't know that some companies make chocolate in ways that aren't so delicious. When you open a chocolate wrapper, you look at the outcome of the labor: the chocolate. What you don't know (or may care to think about) is thousands of people have put in hard work into that chocolate that you're eating. The problem is, some of these workers are slaves. They are being against their will to make that chocolate bar you're eating. You can help these people by raising awareness and only consuming chocolate from companies that don't use slaves. The companies will clearly state this fact with a logo on their wrapper. What will you do to help these people?
 

Money Makes Up For Endangerment?

         Rhino hunting. Obviously it shouldn’t be legal because rhinos are endangered, right? Not according to the Dallas Safari Club (DSC). This past weekend, the club auctioned off a permit to shoot a black rhino in Namibia, which are highly endangered. The permit was sold to Corey Knowlton for a whopping $350,000! And that’s not even the worst part. The club says that they will be donating the proceeds to the conservation of the elusive black rhino. The DSC also claims that the hunt will “help the wildlife officials manage the endangered animals and bring in much needed funds for conservation efforts”. In my opinion, “managing” the already low numbers of an endangered animal means just killing them off. Furthermore, it seems very hypocritical of them to kill an animal and compensate by donating to the charity that saves them. It’s not like the rhino that they killed will come back after that large sum of money is given to the organization. Why do you think that the DSC even auctioned off the permit in the first place

Here is the link to the website I used in this writing.

African Airlines

Some African countries have banned big devices on planes, that are usually bigger than a smart phone. The African country Egypt has a ban on some electronics, if bigger than a smart phone then it will have to be put in the cargo hold for safety reasons enforced by the Trump administration. Homeland security for The United States states that "We have no comment on potential security precautions, but will provide any updates as appropriate." However US Airlines will not be affected by the ban, but I don't know exactly why. The ban will be put in effect on March 22, to June 23. An unnamed government official says that the reason for the ban is to increase security for a period of time. Do you agree or disagree with the ban on flights?

A "Silent Extinction" is Still an Extinction

Giraffes in Africa are currently suffering from silent extinction. In addition to drought, this is due to illegal hunting and expansion of farmland.The giraffes population has dropped 40% since the 1980s. If they continue at this rate giraffes will be extinct by 2024. Most people including zoo keepers do not know that our world's tallest land mammal could go extinct. Africa's population is growing which may lead to more poaching. I don’t know about you but when I think of Africa I think of the wildlife and giraffes. Imagine what it would be like without them. What can you do to help save these beautiful creatures?