A member of the same family as the puff adder, but longer (up to 2m) and much heavier, the gaboon viper (Bitis gabonica) lives in thick forest and relies on camouflage to ambush its prey. It has a lethal venom which it injects in large amounts through the longest fangs in the snake world, so it can bring down quite large mammals as well as its normal prey of mice, rats, squirrels and birds. There's a video here.
Habitat destruction has made the gaboon viper increasingly rare. It is popular with snake collectors because of its beauty.
Habitat destruction has made the gaboon viper increasingly rare. It is popular with snake collectors because of its beauty.
CCTV SURVEILLANCE
Modern miniature 'spy' cameras are readily available in all sorts of disguises from toothpaste tubes to deodorant sticks to a lady's shoe. A typical unit, battery or mains operated, costs as little as £150 and transmits a high-quality signal to a 2.4ghz receiver up to 100m distant. A receiver costing £60 converts the signal to audio-visual output which can be connected to a TV via a scart socket, or a dedicated receiver with Hard Disc Drive can be bought for £450. If the camera is battery-operated, it will need to be switched on and off to conserve power: a unit to perform this task costs about £90. More details of how these local systems work, here.
The pictures from those of Ephraim's cameras which had sensitive locations, such as the one Thomas Nindiswayo's bedroom, had to be transmitted over long distance to his office in the Perewa Palace. Mark and Ephraim ovecame this problem by using cheap, Chinese built ccd cameras, costing less than £30, which transmitted a signal to a broadband router. From his office Ephraim could then use the router to access the camera and pick up pictures in real time. In some cases he installed the routers, but he was able to have a specially designed circuit manufactured very cheaply to his own specification which could be fitted inconspicuously and quickly to the subject's router.
Modern miniature 'spy' cameras are readily available in all sorts of disguises from toothpaste tubes to deodorant sticks to a lady's shoe. A typical unit, battery or mains operated, costs as little as £150 and transmits a high-quality signal to a 2.4ghz receiver up to 100m distant. A receiver costing £60 converts the signal to audio-visual output which can be connected to a TV via a scart socket, or a dedicated receiver with Hard Disc Drive can be bought for £450. If the camera is battery-operated, it will need to be switched on and off to conserve power: a unit to perform this task costs about £90. More details of how these local systems work, here.
The pictures from those of Ephraim's cameras which had sensitive locations, such as the one Thomas Nindiswayo's bedroom, had to be transmitted over long distance to his office in the Perewa Palace. Mark and Ephraim ovecame this problem by using cheap, Chinese built ccd cameras, costing less than £30, which transmitted a signal to a broadband router. From his office Ephraim could then use the router to access the camera and pick up pictures in real time. In some cases he installed the routers, but he was able to have a specially designed circuit manufactured very cheaply to his own specification which could be fitted inconspicuously and quickly to the subject's router.
A thin snake, up to 3m in length, the boomslang is black, brown or green in colour, making it extremely difficult to see in the trees and thick scrub where it lives. It is a member of the Colubridae family, most of which are not venomous, but the boomslang’s fangs, located at the back of the jaw, are capable of delivering a lethal, hemotoxous venom – that is, one which affects the clotting process so that the victim suffers acute internal and external bleeding. The boomslang eats birds, lizards, frogs, chameleons and small mammals as well as birds’ eggs. A video is here.
13
Thomas Nindisweyo isn't the only one of God's representatives on earth to be caught fornicating on camera. In 2007 a tiny camera hidden in the ceiling of what the Government-controlled press called "the archbishop's love nest" took these pictures of Zimbabwe's Roman Catholic Archbishop of Bulawayo, Pius Ncube, 'in flagrante'. The Archbishop, the recipient of Scotland's Robert Burns International Humanitarian Award and a fierce critic of President Mugabe's regime, subsequently resigned from his post. More details here.
The market for video surveillance has boomed in the UK. While cameras are visible in public places such as streets, shops, banks, public transport and offices, more and more are being installed in the home, for everything from checking the work of the au pair to spying on a partner's activities.
I am indebted to Geoff McGuire at The Home Camera Shop for describing the sort of system Ephraim might have used.
I am indebted to Geoff McGuire at The Home Camera Shop for describing the sort of system Ephraim might have used.
PHOTOS courtesy of - Boomslang: William Warby; Gaboon Viper: Alice Jacobs; CCTV Camera: Geoff McGuire; Christian Symbols: Gerbilo ('Creative Commons' Licence); Black Mamba: DianesDigitals; Secretary Bird: Zenobiarouse ; Ant: Steve Jurvetson.
Black Mamba
The mamba, Dendroaspis polylepsis, has a fearsome reputation as Africa’s most deadly snake. Growing to over 4m in length, the story that they can travel as fast as a galloping horse isn’t true, but this thin, lithe kiler is the fastest snake across the ground. Usually a brownish-grey colour, their name comes from their mouth, which is almost black. Video here.
Mambas avoid contact with humans but, if cornered and provoked, will rear up almost to the height of a man and hiss. They can strike across a distance of over a metre, delivering a lethal neurotoxin which, unless antivenin is administered, kills a fully grown man in twenty minutes.
Found in eastern Africa, they prefer open, savanna country. They eat small mammals and birds.
But the mamba, like any other form of life, has its predators. The mongoose is one, but the secretary bird, so named because it has writing quills stuck behind its ear, is a fearsome predator of snakes.
The mamba, Dendroaspis polylepsis, has a fearsome reputation as Africa’s most deadly snake. Growing to over 4m in length, the story that they can travel as fast as a galloping horse isn’t true, but this thin, lithe kiler is the fastest snake across the ground. Usually a brownish-grey colour, their name comes from their mouth, which is almost black. Video here.
Mambas avoid contact with humans but, if cornered and provoked, will rear up almost to the height of a man and hiss. They can strike across a distance of over a metre, delivering a lethal neurotoxin which, unless antivenin is administered, kills a fully grown man in twenty minutes.
Found in eastern Africa, they prefer open, savanna country. They eat small mammals and birds.
But the mamba, like any other form of life, has its predators. The mongoose is one, but the secretary bird, so named because it has writing quills stuck behind its ear, is a fearsome predator of snakes.
BURIED IN SAND
Leila died horribly, buried up to her neck in sand. This can kill through suffocation but, more usually, it is what happens to the unprotected head, and what the ants do to the buried body, that kills.
Liberia's Charles Taylor used the torture, and further evidence is found in one of the annual reports of the African Commission on Human and People's Rights. In this link, the torture is mentioned twice, once, on page 97, section 5, in the Gambia, and then on page 143, in Mauritania.
Leila died horribly, buried up to her neck in sand. This can kill through suffocation but, more usually, it is what happens to the unprotected head, and what the ants do to the buried body, that kills.
Liberia's Charles Taylor used the torture, and further evidence is found in one of the annual reports of the African Commission on Human and People's Rights. In this link, the torture is mentioned twice, once, on page 97, section 5, in the Gambia, and then on page 143, in Mauritania.
