Well, Blot My Sun!
Thousands of Zambians and foreign tourists danced and sang in a corner of southern Africa on Thursday awaiting the first solar eclipse of the new millennium.
When the time came, just after 9 a.m. EDT, the sun and moon did not disappoint. When the moon's shadow passed over the earth, the sun's corona stood out in a brilliant ring for several minutes and the sky turned dark as night.
Traditional dancers, acrobats and musicians mixed with scientists and tourists gathered from around the world to witness the event at Chisamba, 38 miles north of the Zambian capital Lusaka.
"This is absolutely amazing. We have had a thoroughly good time," said Edgar Strunz, a 23-year-old tourist from Austria.
Eclipse day was declared a national holiday. Hotels were fully booked in Lusaka, the only capital within the eclipse band. Farmers in the eclipse path rented out land for makeshift campsites.
"This is a big event for Zambia," said Agnes Seenka, head of the government's eclipse committee.
The government expected more than 20,000 tourists — the most ever in Zambia — and deployed 2,500 police to patrol the streets of Lusaka and other tourist areas.
More than 4,000 people traveled from as far as Japan, Israel and Ecuador to sway to trance music at a farm about 30 miles north of Lusaka during a 10-day eclipse rave.
"When something like a solar eclipse happens, vast energies, as far as I'm concerned, are moving around," James Johnson, a 25-year-old South African at the rave, said while rolling a large crystal around in his hand. "The world is moving toward a higher consciousness."
One pilot chartered a jet to fly people from South Africa to the Lusaka airport for an eclipse barbecue. As insurance against bad weather, he filed a contingency flight plan to take his guests above the clouds for the eclipse.
Zambians have been bombarded for months with front-page newspaper editorials, television commercials and special eclipse radio programs warning not to look directly at the sun without protective eyeglasses before it is fully eclipsed.
 The event was a fine excuse for a rave party. (AP)SIZE> |
In Zimbabwe, tribal healers warned the eclipse was a sign the ancestors were unhappy with a nation that had abandoned the traditional African values of peace and harmony. As retribution, they would bring further conflict to a country already suffering from political and economic turmoil and the crushing scourge of AIDS.
In Zambia, members of the Ngoni tribe recreated their 1835 crossing of the Zambezi River during their flight from the warriors of the Zlu king Shaka. The original crossing coincided with a total eclipse.
Mozambique has urged reporters, including community radio stations, to explain the science behind the eclipse to its impoverished people so it "should not cause fear or panic. Because it is a natural and predictable phenomenon, unlikely to cause any material or personal damage."
In Angola, police seized 5,000 pairs of phony protective glasses being sold by street kids after tests showed they would not protect people's eyes from being damaged during the partial phases of the eclipse as claimed.
Though the eclipse will be longest in Angola, many tourists shied away from a country still fighting a 25-year-old civil war and opted to come to Zambia instead.
The last total eclipse was in Europe in August 1999. The next one will sweep across southern Africa in December of 2002.
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