Kenya

Can Economics Save The African Rhino?

Gregory Warner — Wed, 15 May 2013 21:32:00 +0000

When Duan Biggs was growing up in the Kruger National Park in South Africa, he used to watch elephants and rhinos walking past his bedroom window. He left home to pursue degrees in biology and economics, and when he returned in 2011 the park looked and sounded "like a pseudo war zone," he says.

"There'd be helicopters flying overhead all the time," he says. "I remember one afternoon coming back to my home from a game drive and the bush was crawling with people with assault rifles, from the army, from the police, and from National Parks.

To Count Elephants In The Forest, Look Down

Gregory Warner — Sat, 11 May 2013 09:30:00 +0000

Imagine you're flying in a two-seater plane over Africa, and, in an effort to see how elephants are faring, your job is to count all the ones you see. Over the savannah, that's easy. But how do you peer into the forests, where all you see is treetops?

For years, the zoologists who tried to do this just guessed. But in the late 1980s, conservationist Richard Barnes devised a method to take an elephant census in the densest of forests.

To do this, he recruited young scientists. Winnie Kiiru had just finished grad school in biology and returned to her native Kenya.

President Obama's Older Half Brother Loses Election In Kenya

Eyder Peralta — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 16:28:00 +0000

There is one bit of news from last week's Kenyan elections that's just now getting international attention: Malik Obama, President Obama's older half brother, suffered a crushing loss in his bid to become governor of Siaya.

Kenya's Daily Nation reports:

"Standing well over six feet, Obama, who describes himself as an economist and a financial analyst, told AFP on the campaign trail that he would use his contacts with Was

How Kenya's High-Tech Voting Nearly Lost The Election

Gregory Warner — Sun, 10 Mar 2013 13:44:12 +0000

It was supposed to be the most modern election in African history. Biometric identification kits with electronic thumb pads, registration rolls on laptops at every polling station, and an SMS-relayed, real-time transmission of the results to the National Tallying Center in Nairobi.

Ambitious? Of course. Only 23 percent of the country has access to electricity.

But Kenyans pride themselves on leapfrogging when it comes to adapting technology.

In Kenyan Election, Kenyatta Holds On To Razor-Thin Margin

Fri, 08 Mar 2013 21:26:00 +0000

Update at 7:04 p.m. ET. All Votes Counted:

With all the votes in, Kenya's election commission says Uhuru Kenyatta appears to have won with the slimmest of margins.