Canada Day & the Maple Leaf Flies Abroad

I started a series on my Kenyan travels several months ago but for various reasons have taken a hiatus.  One of the reasons included having to continue the recovery process of most of the photos I took on my trip.  Recently, I made some time to complete the photo recovery process for the trip I took to Kenya in November/December 2010.  I hope now to re-start my travel series on Kenya.

I thought this particular post was fitting given that it relates to Canada's flag abroad and the fact that Canada just celebrated it's birthday on Canada Day, July 1st. I hope you enjoy it.

One of the delights of travelling in Kenya is crossing the equatorial line.

The latitude of the Equator is 0° (zero degrees). The length of Earth's equator is about 40,030.2 kilometres (24,873.6 mi). To calculate the actual length of the Equator would require taking into consideration that the Equator goes up and down various mountains and hills in South America, in Africa, and on various islands. The Equator is one of the five notable circles of latitude on Earth, with the others being the two Polar Circles and the two Tropical Circles: the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn. The Equator is the only line of latitude which is also a great circle. The imaginary circle obtained when the Earth's equator is projected onto the sky is called the celestial equator.

The sun passes directly over the Equator twice each year, at the March and September equinoxes. At the Equator, the rays of the sun are perpendicular to the surface of the earth on these dates.

Places on the Equator experience the quickest rates of sunrise and sunset in the world. They are also the only places in the world where the sun can go directly from the zenith to the nadir and from the nadir to the zenith.  Such places also have a theoretical constant 12 hours of day and night throughout the year, though in practice there are variations of a few minutes due to the effects of atmospheric refraction and because sunrise and sunset are measured from the time that the edge of the Sun's disk is on the horizon, rather than the center of the disk.  (source: Wikepedia)

A new tourist centre has opened up at the Equator. Jointly sponsored and funded by the Government of Kenya and the European Union it is a wonderful addition to Kenya's growing efforts in supporting tourism in the country.

It is a beautiful site with many flags of various countries flying there in the stiff wind.  There is a stylized metal globe standing next to the flags.

I found the Canadian flag was hanging upside down and I let the tourist official know that.  He was good enough to promptly correct the problem and we shared a laugh about it.

Here is a scene of the premises and the buildings on the site.

 

You can see our van as we were the only tourists stopped there at that moment. The Kenyan flag is waving in the background.

The grounds are quite lovely considering that this is a dry area. These fields lay just beyond the tourist centre.

On the other side of the highway you will see the original site marking the Equator. This is where I stopped several years ago to take photos on my first trip across the Equatorial line.

Here is the tourist official re-hoisting the flag.

While I visited the site the young man called his superior on the cell phone and asked me to speak with him which I promptly did. The boss was very engaging and had no problem speaking to a complete stranger. He asked me if I would be so good as to find a new Canadian flag for their centre as the one they had was getting a little worn. I promised to see what I could do and I haven't forgotten my promise. I need to get on this and see if one of the government offices could send our flag abroad.

Here is a map I found in the centre. I wanted to study it as we were on our way to Lake Baringo and Lake Bogoria.

July 1st, is the national holiday of Canada on which we celebrate the anniversary of the July 1, 1867 anniversary of the enactment of the British North America Act (today called the Constitution Act, 1867).  This year the celebrations were extra special in our nation's capital city, Ottawa.  The reason is  because the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are here on their first royal tour together. I couldn't be there because Ottawa is a 5 hour flight to the east, but I did manage to catch the festivities on television. I also managed to enjoy some of the fireworks in our city. This latter part was a huge and pleasant surprise for me.

Canada Day 2011, fireworks from my patio. I wasn't aware that I could even see the fireworks from my home until after they began. It's too bad I didn't have a proper video camera for taking night shots.

To read earlier installments of my Kenyan travel series you can go to this post where you will find links to most of my Kenyan travel posts. I'd love to hear your thoughts about this series or any of my other posts. It's great to hear from readers!

Click here to see more beautiful scenery from around the world.