Gregory Warner

Young Kenyans Build Mobile Apps For Local Use

Gregory Warner — Sun, 19 May 2013 21:25:00 +0000

You're out navigating the jammed sidewalks of Kenya's capital city when you suddenly realize you're in desperate need of a toilet. You crane your neck over the crowds, vainly seeking a McDonalds, a Starbucks — no such luck. What next?

There could be an app for that.

Escape From An Eritrean Prison

Gregory Warner — Sun, 19 May 2013 09:50:00 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZoeaVAtEhOc

The Enemy Inside: Rhino's Protectors Sometimes Aid Poachers

Gregory Warner — Tue, 14 May 2013 19:20:00 +0000

It says a lot about the state of the war against poachers in Africa that the Lewa Conservancy, a private sanctuary in Kenya with 12 percent of the country's rhinos, recently appointed a CEO who has never studied zoology or biology. Instead, Mike Watson is an ex-captain in the British army.

His training has already come in handy. Take, for instance, a visit to a crime scene earlier this year: a rhino carcass splayed out in the mud.

Watson holds a black-and-white photo, a kind of rhino mug shot.

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.

With Robocalls, Eritrean Exiles Organize Passive Resistance

Gregory Warner — Thu, 02 May 2013 18:35:00 +0000

Tucked in the northeast corner of Africa, Eritrea is one of the most closed societies in the world, so much so that it's sometimes dubbed the "North Korea of Africa."

President Isaias Afwerki does not tolerate any independent media. The Internet is restricted. Reporters without Borders recently named it 179th out of 179 countries for freedom of expression.

It's illegal to criticize the government — which could mean something as simple as complaining about the city power outage.