Africa 2001
Eclipse
On Thursday morning, we travelled north-east from Harare, past Mount Darwin, through
varied scenery. The agriculture was initially large-scale intensive agriculture with many
orchards and cotton fields, as well as some cattle, but as our journey continued, became
increasingly small-scale local farms, but with a high proportion cotton.
A few clouds building gave slight cause for worry, but they cleared within a couple of
hours.
As we travelled further towards the central line of the eclipse, there
were increasingly frequent sites where westerners were clustered around telephoto lenses
and telescopes. We passed one large group as we ran out of tarmac road, and I did wonder
why we needed to go further, but the site that had been chosen for our group was
delightful, and well worth the extra few kilometres.
As we drove along the road, every hundred metres were groups, mainly children but with
some of every age, waved to us, often ecstatically
The primary school which was our host for the day. They take children up to year 7 - most
don't go on to secondary school, not least because it is a 12 kilometre walk each way.
A new classroom under construction - our tour operator made a substantial donation to
enable this to be completed, and most of us had taken books, pens etc. to help the
children in their studies.
Our eclipse viewing site was this river bed. Being the dry season, the river was metres
below its peak level, but still flowing very pleasantly unlike the stagnant pools in many
"dry" rivers. A barbecue lunch was provided, though without plates or cutlery!
Lucy checks on the partial eclipse through her protective glasses, as the experts set up
their equipment.
Projecting the partial eclipse through binoculars (onto the side of a salad tray)
Kathleen and Lucy making pinhole cameras with their fingers...
...projecting images of the now much reduced crescent sun. By this time the light was
noticeably dimmer.
The crowds await the full drama of the afternoon
The total eclipse nears, and the photographers are poised...
Total eclipse. Using an automatic camera doesn't do justice to the magnificence of the
spectacle.
A few pictures from Reuters give a better idea of how it looked, but no photo can really
capture the sudden change from light to dark in the middle of the day, and this black eye
staring down where the sun should be.
Another over-exposed picture, but it perhaps gives some feeling for the atmosphere - this
"twilight" scene is at three o'clock in the afternoon.
The totality lasted about 3 minutes 13 seconds, and concluded with a
stunning and prolonged "diamond ring", longer than usual because a deep valley
on the bottom left corner of the moon allowed the sun to penetrate for several seconds
before it appeared from behind the main disc of the moon.
The celebrations and dancing begin as the sun returns - after only a few seconds, twilight
is gone and daylight has returned.
The experts pack away their equipment
Kathleen and Lucy take a last look at the growing sun before boarding the coaches for the
return journey to Harare, after a truly memorable day.
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