Category: Our People
Our Stories:
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From Haggling at West African Markets to Global Food Innovations
Dear members, you haven’t heard from me for some time — and that was because I was absent and overwhelmed! I did not expect to be going to West Africa abruptly, but that is what happened! When I presented my life story to you, I noted my stint at the Sheraton Hotel in Conakry, Guinea.…
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The Charm
200mm, f/2,8, 1/400s, ISO1600 Though gorillas and chimpanzees understandably receive most of the spotlight, the Virungas have some other interesting primate inhabitants too. Among these is the golden monkey (Cercopithecus kandti), found in all three countries. They are endemic to the Gorilla Highlands region, living in the bamboo forests found along the mountains. Because of…
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1,000 More
After two weeks of rest and reflection we are returning to our good old publishing rhythm! The Daily Dose will be with you from Monday to Friday, but that is just a fraction of what we are up to for the rest of 2021! Allow me to pull you into the second chapter of Gorilla…
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Tracking Time
38mm, 1/250s, f/5,6, ISO400 The Batwa are in many ways the Gorilla Highlands region’s forgotten people. The original inhabitants of this part of Africa, the Batwa are — or at least were — traditional hunter-gatherers, living in and off what used to be extensive forests. Marginalised by later arrivals, they were ousted from their final…
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Misty Mornings
63mm, 1/160s, f/8, ISO400 What Rwanda lacks in size, it makes up for in variety. Of the country’s three main national parks — there are actually four, but not even the Wikipedia entry for Rwanda’s national parks remembers the existence of Gishwati Mukura National Park — Nyungwe Forest was the last I would visit, in 2019.…
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Last Survivor of Lake Bunyonyi’s Punishment Island
The ancient people of the Gorillas Highlands region came up with several horrible ways to discourage girls from getting pregnant prematurely. On Uganda’s Lake Bunyonyi, this role was played by Akampene or Punishment Island. Maudah Kyitaragabiirwe, 86, is the last person saved from this tiny island. What was the purpose of Punishment Island? If you were a girl…
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Two Brothers, One Gorgeous Congolese City
Bukavu is a city of fabled beauty, spread around finger-like peninsulas on the southern shores of Lake Kivu. Luckily for all of us, two brothers duly record the special moments in time of this marvel of eastern DR Congo … Bukavu Explorer is what Francis Mweze, 28, calls the innovative project that his younger sibling…
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Four-Legged Guardians
31mm, 1/250s, f/8, ISO250 My conservation and travel photography don’t always mix quite so readily as at Akagera National Park. Miha had asked me to spend some time here when the Gorilla Highlands region expanded to include all of Rwanda, and African Parks — the NGO in charge of the park — wondered if I…
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Specialty Coffee: A Win-Win Situation?
If you are reading this, chances are you’ve had your daily dose of coffee already. Coffee is one of the most popular agricultural commodities in the entire world, and its consumption only seems to be increasing — as incomes rise around the world, people are more interested in drinking the liquid gold. While production mainly…
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