The 1986 Lake Nyos Disaster occurred when volcanic carbon dioxide (CO2) gas erupted from beneath an African lake in Cameroon, bubbling to the surface, forming a deadly cloud. There was no huge eruption, no great boom or blast that evening. What resulted was like a scene from a horror movie. The deadly gas flowed downContinue reading “The Ignored and Forgotten Lake Nyos Disaster”
Tag Archives: Africa
King Shaka Zulu – the Napoleon of Africa
In the early 1800’s, in what is now KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa, a powerful kingdom arose. Its leader was the cruel yet clever King Shaka. Under his rule, the small Zulu tribe grew and conquered all other tribes in the region. During his reign, more than a hundred chiefdoms were brought together in a unifiedContinue reading “King Shaka Zulu – the Napoleon of Africa”
The Rwanda Genocide – an African Holocaust
In 1994, in just one hundred gruesome days, nearly 1 million Rwandan Tutsis and moderates were slaughtered by ethnic Hutu extremists in the Rwanda Genocide.
The Exotic and Unreachable Timbuktu
The name “Timbuktu” in popular culture usually refers to some remote, far-away place. “Crikey, you live way out in Timbuktu!” For others, it may conjure up exotic images of a desert oasis full of camels, palm trees, and turbans. Timbuktu is actually a city in west Africa, located in the center of the nation of Mali.