Saturday, August 25, 2012
Educational, Entertaining, Real Issues about Real Life: Kenya's Road infrastucture: The Thika Superhighway...
Educational, Entertaining, Real Issues about Real Life: Kenya's Road infrastucture: The Thika Superhighway...: The Kenyan road infrastructure is rapidly improving and one of the landmark projects that has been undertaken is the construction of a 12-la...
KENYA-UGANDA RAILWAY
The Kenya-Uganda railway is one of the most popular railway lines in Africa. The railway construction began in 1896 at the Port of Mombasa. The construction work was mainly done by the African and Asian, specifically Indians laborers. The construction work encountered a number of challenges with the Man-Eater lions of the Tsavo the most popular.
These lions were called Man-eater because of their frequent attacks on the construction workers. They killed a number of workers and held the construction work up for several months. The working conditions were also not very conducive and many laborers died because of diseases and attacks by wild animals.
The man-eater lions were hunted down and killed by J.H. Patterson who was supervising the construction of a bridge to cross the railway line over Tsavo River. This was not the last time the construction work was to be hampered by lions as scores of other people were also killed by lions as the construction work continued, among the Police Superintendent Ryall who was killed at Kima Police Station.
The Line reached Nyrobi (maasai name for "a place of cool waters") in 1899. This was to be made the administrative centre mainly because of its cool weather and centrality. In 1900 the name was changed to Nairobi which is currently the capital city of Kenya.
The constructors were to encounter another obstacle in the Rift Valley because of a sharp descent of 450 metres from the escarpment to the floor of the Rift Valley.
The engineers overcame this by building an inclined railway with the sharpest incline being at gradient of 50 degrees for 210 metres.
The line finally reached Lake Victoria in 1901 and the construction of a 930 km landmark was complete for the first phase. The construction of the railway line was continued later after the first world war to Kampala where it reached in the year 1931.
The railway line opened up East Africa to the rest of the world and ensured that the agricultural produce for the rich Kenyan Highlands and Uganda were transported for exportation.
However, ever since the original line was constructed, it has been neglected a lot and the trains that serve the line are still the old locomotives which are very slow and therefore nonviable for the needs of the East African economy at the moment.
Let us now take a look at some of the photos of this landmark as seen at the Nairobi station.
A view of the railway lines at the Nairobi station. They have been constructed at the range of 1 metre.
These lions were called Man-eater because of their frequent attacks on the construction workers. They killed a number of workers and held the construction work up for several months. The working conditions were also not very conducive and many laborers died because of diseases and attacks by wild animals.
The man-eater lions were hunted down and killed by J.H. Patterson who was supervising the construction of a bridge to cross the railway line over Tsavo River. This was not the last time the construction work was to be hampered by lions as scores of other people were also killed by lions as the construction work continued, among the Police Superintendent Ryall who was killed at Kima Police Station.
The Line reached Nyrobi (maasai name for "a place of cool waters") in 1899. This was to be made the administrative centre mainly because of its cool weather and centrality. In 1900 the name was changed to Nairobi which is currently the capital city of Kenya.
The constructors were to encounter another obstacle in the Rift Valley because of a sharp descent of 450 metres from the escarpment to the floor of the Rift Valley.
The engineers overcame this by building an inclined railway with the sharpest incline being at gradient of 50 degrees for 210 metres.
The line finally reached Lake Victoria in 1901 and the construction of a 930 km landmark was complete for the first phase. The construction of the railway line was continued later after the first world war to Kampala where it reached in the year 1931.
The railway line opened up East Africa to the rest of the world and ensured that the agricultural produce for the rich Kenyan Highlands and Uganda were transported for exportation.
However, ever since the original line was constructed, it has been neglected a lot and the trains that serve the line are still the old locomotives which are very slow and therefore nonviable for the needs of the East African economy at the moment.
Let us now take a look at some of the photos of this landmark as seen at the Nairobi station.
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| Passenger and luggage wagons |
 | ||
| Tanker wagons that have been serving the line are just rusting | . |
A view of the railway lines at the Nairobi station. They have been constructed at the range of 1 metre.
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
Diaries of a college student
So you are in College? Right?
Your parents must be very proud of you I must say, so are mine.
However, what actually makes up the biggest percentage of your life in college or university. Is is your education, social life, co curricular activities, sleeping? Just how exactly do you manage your time?
Ladies and gentlemen welcome to the diaries of a college student.
When we enter campus, we are exposed to a whole new world of freedom, different kinds of people, higher education, among other things. We perceive it as the gateway to success and are determined to do our education work diligently so as to succeed in our lives.
"Hawk-eyed" students, who I think could qualify for secret service, usher us into our new lives. These are the keen students, especially men, who are "kind enough" to welcome us into an institution of higher learning. We get the impression that the students are after all very hospitable.
Things start to go a little haywire when the "kind" students start asking for some "payment in kind" for their efforts. At this stage, as freshmen, we have already tasted a bit of campus life and noticed that it is after all not that bad.
At this stage we already started our higher education and we learn of infamous techniques of doing assignments such as "copy and paste". We therefore recognize that we can after all do manage our books with a little bit of fun and still get good grades.
Your folks from home are constantly calling concerned about how their child has adapted to the campus life and whether the units are difficult, among other issues. Here you give them an assurance that you are studying really hard and though some units are difficult ( you may even apportion some blame to the lecturer) you are really putting good effort.
Fast track to second year in campus and you have learnt all the tricks in this life setting. You know where to hang out, what to buy, who to hang out with, and the best joints in town. You are eagerly anticipating the freshmen so as to "audit" them.
In second year life is basically about having fun and having lots of fun!!!
It does not matter whether you have the money or not, what matters is how you many bashes you are going to attend, how many ladies you are planning to "hang with", how many liters of alcohol you are going to take, and any other new adventure that you have never tried before.
The books play second fiddle and you just keep praying that the lecturer does not set difficult exams.
As for the third year and fourth year, it is now about building your life and the bitter reality that you are about to graduate hits you. Books become more important but the social life is still a major actor more so, when there are freshmen coming.
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN I INTRODUCE YOU THE LIFE OF A CAMPUS STUDENT....
Lets share our experiences in college and how we spent/ spend our time..
Sunday, August 19, 2012
The Great Rift Valley: Kenya Section
The Great Rift Valley refers to the huge geographical trench that was discovered by Scottish explorer John Walter Gregory which runs from Syria all the way to Mozambique in Africa for approximately 6000 km.
This geographical phenomenon is characterized by some awesome sites which attract thousands of tourists in the countries through which it runs. For instance in Kenya, some of the features found in the rift valley include hot water jets and geysers, lakes (among them lake Nakuru which is famous for its flamingos), volcanic mountains, escarpments, among others. These features provide lovely scenarios which are just amazing to see.
In here, you are going to see some of these features and then you will understand the reason as to why it is surely a site worth visiting.
Attractive geographical features on the rift valley
Hiking is a main activity for those who love adventure. Right is a group of young people trying to reach the summit of Mt Longonot, which is shown on the left panel.
This geographical phenomenon is characterized by some awesome sites which attract thousands of tourists in the countries through which it runs. For instance in Kenya, some of the features found in the rift valley include hot water jets and geysers, lakes (among them lake Nakuru which is famous for its flamingos), volcanic mountains, escarpments, among others. These features provide lovely scenarios which are just amazing to see.
In here, you are going to see some of these features and then you will understand the reason as to why it is surely a site worth visiting.
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| The Escarpments with a road built on it |
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| The Mt Longonot Crater |
Attractive geographical features on the rift valley
Hiking is a main activity for those who love adventure. Right is a group of young people trying to reach the summit of Mt Longonot, which is shown on the left panel.
Thursday, August 16, 2012
Kenya's Road infrastucture: The Thika Superhighway
The Kenyan road infrastructure is rapidly improving and one of the landmark projects that has been undertaken is the construction of a 12-lane superhighway which is the first of its kind in the East African region. This road goes a long way to enhance Kenya's position as the region's economic power house and the ultimate investor destination point in the region.
This is an aerial view of the Globe Cinema roundabout which was notorious for its heavy traffic congestion. Traffic flow to and from the Central Business District is now flowing smoothly courtesy of the overpass .
The Overpasses have been constructed to eliminate roundabouts which bring about heavy traffic
Drilling through rocks in order to come up with a magnificent road is one of the challenges that the contractor had to go through.
A view of the superhighway showing how traffic flow has been eased
It is the hope of every Kenyan that with the construction of the new superhighway, traffic flow, which results in massive losses for the economy will be eased. The project is just one of the flagship projects that the government had highlighted for the vision 2030 (making Kenya a middle income earner by the year 2030).
This is an aerial view of the Globe Cinema roundabout which was notorious for its heavy traffic congestion. Traffic flow to and from the Central Business District is now flowing smoothly courtesy of the overpass .
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Drilling through rocks in order to come up with a magnificent road is one of the challenges that the contractor had to go through.
A view of the superhighway showing how traffic flow has been eased
It is the hope of every Kenyan that with the construction of the new superhighway, traffic flow, which results in massive losses for the economy will be eased. The project is just one of the flagship projects that the government had highlighted for the vision 2030 (making Kenya a middle income earner by the year 2030).
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