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WAITING FOR THE
SHADOW
SOLAR AND LUNAR ECLIPSE OBSERVINGREPORTS AND OBSERVATIONS - ZAMBIA 2001 |
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Scandalous neglect
Back in Lusaka, I learned
that the Zambian government had made a statement that it would
spend US$250, 000. This represented only a fraction of the budgets
in neighbouring countries for the same task. In Lusaka, you could
be forgiven for thinking that an extensive education campaign
was in place. Frequent TV commercials and posters in shop windows
were commonplace. In most villages, there was no power for TV.
No educational materials were prepared for the schools, no glasses
supplied and no form of education was conducted. Why? The ministry
of finance delayed releasing the funds until it was much too late
to use the funds for any meaningful eye damage prevention measures.
Their inaction and neglect may have resulted in widespread eye
damage. I realised that we could prevent any cases of eye damage
occurring in Kapini village even if we could do nothing in the
rest of the country. Plans to visit Victoria falls before the
eclipse went out the door and I concentrated on this new project.
I e-mailed Bengt and Christian to tell them what was going on.
Both were keen to join in. I met another English eclipse chaser,
Jeffrey Eccleston, at ZASTI college. Jeffrey had an existing interest
in this type of work and asked to join us. Suddenly, I wasn't
feeling so overwhelmed. Some other eclipsi's staying at Cha Cha
Cha backpackers hostel gave me extra eclipse glasses they had
brought to give away. In particular Udo Hoffmann gave me about
twenty five pairs he had collected in Germany two years ago. I
spent a day and a half assembling adjusting and testing my new
equatorial mount. Miraculously, it came together without any major
drama.
Those Magnificent Men.
The atmosphere at Cha Cha
Cha backpackers hostel reminded me of the opening scenes of an
old movie. Early in " Those magnificent men in their flying
machines" there is a scene where all the teams arrive for
the air race. There are a couple of people from many different
countries each with a plan. There was the Italian who was going
to cycle to the eclipse. There were German's, Belgians, Danes,
English, American's, Swedes, Dutch, French, Irish and so on.
I must give special mention to two American eclipse chasers from Texas who took out the "All Africa Eclipse Chasers Wooden Spoon Award". Their plan was to travel to Zambesi town near the Angolan border in north-west Zambia. The 3m40s of totality visible near Lusaka wasn't good enough for them. They wanted to see a full 4 mins near the Angolan border. To reach the north west you must leave the zone of totality and travel a long way south to Livingston then follow the south border west then follow the western border north. Despite the owner of Cha Cha Cha backpackers hostel strongly advising them that they would need five days to reach Zambesi, they left just two days before the eclipse and enjoyed a spectacular 95% partial eclipse from south-west Zambia. They receive the order of the wooden spoon for making the greatest effort to travel the farthest out of the path of totality.
Clear Weather for sure
Just before each eclipse I've attempted, I've had my hair cut
in the country of the eclipse. I'm yet to be clouded out. I even
saw totality in Bucharesti, Romania where there was just one small
clear patch in a totally overcast sky. With my masses of curly
hair it's a sort of reverse Samson and Delilah thing. Do you think
it sounds like rubbish? It certainly is. It's become a bit of
a ritual and it's a good laugh. It was the worst haircut I've
had in a long time. This same day we checked the satellite photo's,
weather reports and latest solar activity reports courtesy of
the good grace of Eric Pauer. All was looking good!
Photos: Joe Cali making sure
the skies were clear on eclipse day at Kapini. Photo's by Bengt
Alfredson.
(scientific results) |
eclipse photographs |
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