My favourite breakfast is of a simple kind… A glass of juice, some fresh fruit of the season (in this case, oranges and guavas), …a bowl of home-made yogurt and wonderfully tasty West African bananas (if you need to learn how to make your own yogurt – it’s very simple – click here). If there [...]

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Our lovely little Rhodesian Ridgeback is growing like a weed (which by the way seems to be the tendency of Isthar’s Ark) and now weights 20 kg, which is only eight kilos less than Dennis Mugu! Here are some Sheba cuddles and kisses pictures! Hope you’re all enjoying your weekend!

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The sun sets over the Zinder bush – Copyright Anette Bengtsson For more SkyWatch Friday pictures, visit: Happy skywatch!

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The Famine Scam (2008) – as the outside world remembers Niger in 2005 A documentary broadcast on Swedish public television on Tuesday called into question the reputation of Britain’s public broadcaster, the BBC, for filing misleading and inaccurate reports about the severity of a food shortage in Niger in 2005. The SVT report showcased efforts [...]

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It is no secret by now that one of my favourite places to go to in Zinder is the local market place. Not only is it good for a tissue hunt, but it’s a busy place to enjoy with a unique merge of colours and smells. It goes without saying then that it is a [...]

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Last month, I turned a year older. My family came over to celebrate and Tabita was in for her first official ride on the new pony saddle that I had brought with me from Sweden. Last time she rode it was on my saddle and on my horse (Arwen), but this time, she got to [...]

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As much as we love our animals, there are a few times a year where pain in necessary… Vaccination time! The goats were first up – that is, Ilona and Esmeralda got a dose of some very stingy goat vaccine. I have no idea what it was for (couldn’t remember the name of the goat [...]

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If it weren’t for the fact that Niger is so temperate and that there is no excuse to have animals indoors, I am pretty sure that I would have fallen for Sheba’s claims of sharing my couch in the evenings while Anette would enjoyed having Allis trip around her feet… As it is however, the [...]

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Earlier this week, our two vets came back and took new blood samples of Arwen and Sahara, to see how the equine piroplasmosis treatment had turned out. We felt a change this past weekend, when Ali told us that the girls had given him a hard time earlier in the morning because they were so [...]

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It’s been exactly two months now since I headed up to Jönköping with my father, in order to attend my sister’s final PhD ceremony, where she was to receive her own hat (the one she was given when her dissertation was admitted was not hers to keep) and official PhD diploma. It was a grand [...]

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August 18th, 2008: Eden Street during Rainy Season Exactly three months ago, Anette had recently come back to Niger and took this sky picture on her way back from the Eden office. I was in Sweden that day hugging a wooden ram, having just made my first underground excursion down the Falu Mines. It’s amazing [...]

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Although the baboons at the Eden office have always been beloved pets, they serve a purpose as they know intuitively what is edible and what isn’t. With so many unknown species in the Sahel, the baboons give us a good inclination on whether or not a species (or a particular part of a plant) is [...]

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Although our horses have had their periods of ups and downs ever since we bought them from the bush, I have always considered us to be so lucky for never having had any serious diseases. As long as they eat well and act according to their individual characters, all is well. Some two weeks ago, [...]

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