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Thousands gather for solar eclipse
As a halo of fire burned in the suddenly-dark sky, Zambians and thousands of tourists from around the world honked horns and set off fire crackers on Thursday to greet the first solar eclipse of the millennium.
As a halo of fire burned in the suddenly-dark sky, Zambians and thousands of tourists from around the world honked horns and set off fire crackers on Thursday to greet the first solar eclipse of the millennium.
``It's so strange to see the darkness in the midst of light,'' said Charles Mjima, standing in a Lusaka shopping center parking lot that was temporarily turned into an observing park.
Mjima, 26, took a four-hour bus ride from his home in Zambia's copper belt to see the eclipse in the capital.
The eclipse lasted three minutes and 14 seconds over Lusaka. The first land where the phenomenon was visible was Angola. It then traveled across Zambia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique before heading out to the Indian Ocean island of Madagascar, getting shorter along the way. Zambia declared a national holiday for the eclipse, with the government expecting more than 20,000 tourists the most ever in the country. Some 2,500 police were deployed to patrol the streets of Lusaka and other tourist areas. Hotels were fully booked in Lusaka, the only capital within the eclipse band. Farmers in the eclipse path rented out land for makeshift campsites for the thousands of tourists who ranged from amateur eclipse watchers, to scientists, to new age mystics. ``This is a big event for Zambia,'' said Agnes Seenka, head of the government's eclipse committee.
More than 4,000 people traveled from as far as Japan, Israel and Ecuador to sway to trance music at a farm about 30 miles north of Lusaka during a 10-day eclipse rave.
Zambians have been bombarded for months with front-page newspaper editorials, television commercials and special eclipse radio programs warning not to look directly at the sun without protective eyeglasses. On Thursday, this devoutly Christian country was given a different warning. The state-owned Times of Zambia newspaper cautioned that a few tourists were deadly ``enchanters'' and ``demon worshippers'' who prayed to the sun and were ``ready to sacrifice humans.''
In Zimbabwe, tribal healers warned the eclipse was a sign the ancestors were unhappy with a nation that had abandoned the traditional African values of peace and harmony. As retribution, they would bring further conflict to a country already suffering from political and economic turmoil and the crushing scourge of AIDS.
In Zambia, members of the Ngoni tribe planned to recreate their 1835 crossing of the Zambezi River during their flight from the warriors of the Zulu king Shaka.
The original crossing coincided with a total eclipse. Mozambique has urged reporters, including community radio stations, to explain the science behind the eclipse to its impoverished people so it ``should not cause fear or panic. Because it is a natural and predictable phenomenon, unlikely to cause any material or personal damage.''
Though the eclipse will be longest in Angola, many tourists shied away from a country still fighting a 25-year-old civil war and opted to come to Zambia instead. In a country where nearly three-quarters of the people were living in poverty, many cannot afford to buy protective glasses or attend the mass barbecues being held in Lusaka.
``We have poor people. Our economy is bad. This is a third-world country,'' said Wedson Simfukwe, 30, who is studying to be a mechanic. Yet the eclipse itself is free entertainment, and many Zambians were relieved to have the diversion.
``It is something remarkable and strange,'' said Winston Mwete, 25, a marketing consultant for a company that sells building materials.
The last total eclipse was in Europe in August 1999. The next one will also hit southern Africa in December 2002, but that will be during the rainy season, when there is a greater chance of cloudy skies.
Chris Holmes, a 20-year-old astrophysics major at Williams College in Massachusetts, is here as part of a Williams team using more than 15 cameras attached to telescopes to take more than 1,000 photos of the eclipse, which will last more than three minutes in Lusaka.
``Who would turn down a chance to see an eclipse in somewhere as interesting as Zambia,'' said Chris Holmes. ``For most people it's a once in a lifetime or less opportunity.''
Bureau Report
The eclipse lasted three minutes and 14 seconds over Lusaka. The first land where the phenomenon was visible was Angola. It then traveled across Zambia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique before heading out to the Indian Ocean island of Madagascar, getting shorter along the way. Zambia declared a national holiday for the eclipse, with the government expecting more than 20,000 tourists the most ever in the country. Some 2,500 police were deployed to patrol the streets of Lusaka and other tourist areas. Hotels were fully booked in Lusaka, the only capital within the eclipse band. Farmers in the eclipse path rented out land for makeshift campsites for the thousands of tourists who ranged from amateur eclipse watchers, to scientists, to new age mystics. ``This is a big event for Zambia,'' said Agnes Seenka, head of the government's eclipse committee.
More than 4,000 people traveled from as far as Japan, Israel and Ecuador to sway to trance music at a farm about 30 miles north of Lusaka during a 10-day eclipse rave.
Zambians have been bombarded for months with front-page newspaper editorials, television commercials and special eclipse radio programs warning not to look directly at the sun without protective eyeglasses. On Thursday, this devoutly Christian country was given a different warning. The state-owned Times of Zambia newspaper cautioned that a few tourists were deadly ``enchanters'' and ``demon worshippers'' who prayed to the sun and were ``ready to sacrifice humans.''
In Zimbabwe, tribal healers warned the eclipse was a sign the ancestors were unhappy with a nation that had abandoned the traditional African values of peace and harmony. As retribution, they would bring further conflict to a country already suffering from political and economic turmoil and the crushing scourge of AIDS.
In Zambia, members of the Ngoni tribe planned to recreate their 1835 crossing of the Zambezi River during their flight from the warriors of the Zulu king Shaka.
The original crossing coincided with a total eclipse. Mozambique has urged reporters, including community radio stations, to explain the science behind the eclipse to its impoverished people so it ``should not cause fear or panic. Because it is a natural and predictable phenomenon, unlikely to cause any material or personal damage.''
Though the eclipse will be longest in Angola, many tourists shied away from a country still fighting a 25-year-old civil war and opted to come to Zambia instead. In a country where nearly three-quarters of the people were living in poverty, many cannot afford to buy protective glasses or attend the mass barbecues being held in Lusaka.
``We have poor people. Our economy is bad. This is a third-world country,'' said Wedson Simfukwe, 30, who is studying to be a mechanic. Yet the eclipse itself is free entertainment, and many Zambians were relieved to have the diversion.
``It is something remarkable and strange,'' said Winston Mwete, 25, a marketing consultant for a company that sells building materials.
The last total eclipse was in Europe in August 1999. The next one will also hit southern Africa in December 2002, but that will be during the rainy season, when there is a greater chance of cloudy skies.
Chris Holmes, a 20-year-old astrophysics major at Williams College in Massachusetts, is here as part of a Williams team using more than 15 cameras attached to telescopes to take more than 1,000 photos of the eclipse, which will last more than three minutes in Lusaka.
``Who would turn down a chance to see an eclipse in somewhere as interesting as Zambia,'' said Chris Holmes. ``For most people it's a once in a lifetime or less opportunity.''
Bureau Report