Thank you for those links, Nyamera.:-)

Sandiii...

Oldupai = MAA language (spoken by Maasai, Samburu IlChamus ...) not kiSwahili
'ol' & 'ole' are common prefixes in Maa
Originally it was Oldupai or Oltupai
{"t" and "d" r interchangable because of similar sound).
i'm sure u know that Oldupai is the Maa name of the wild Sansiviera plant, abundant in that area

<i>&quot;Swahili and Hebrew, have many similar words.&quot; </i>
Hebrew &amp; Arabic share a lot of words
(Semitic, sister languages) &amp; kiSwahili contains a lot of Arabic...

aby

P.S. i know i sound like that 2nd grade teacher &amp; u were kind o'kiddin'
(Tomato...)

So... because Arabic speakers often pronounce &quot;B&quot; instead of &quot;P&quot; (Arabic has no &quot;p&quot;)
Oldupai--&gt; Oldubai
&amp; since &quot;B&quot; --&gt; &quot;V&quot;
Oldubai --&gt; <font color="gray"> Olduvai </font> (GORGE) ;-)

aby -

yes, teach!
good lesson.
kiddin' - but couldn't resist (tomato/oe)

knew it was Maa (though my reference to Olupai was Swahili... oops)

I saw Constant Gardener about a month ago on DVD and it was very very intense.

Am looking forward to seeing Blood Diamond. Don't have to worry about bad fake accents because in Italy all movies are dubbed!

Good news from the Central Kalahari court case!
http://www.survival-international.org/news.php?id=2128

Maybe Botswana will return to being “exemplary”.

Nyamera: thank you for posting that news! I have been so impressed with the Botswana government and country in general but really did not understand how they can typically be enlightened and yet treat the bushmen so poorly. Hopefully the few remaining bushmen still living the traditional lifestyle will return without persecution and the oldest human culture in the world will survive for more generations.

Just watched this on cable...what an eye opener. I think out of the 2.5 hour movie, I was breathing 1.5 hrs.

Well, at least I have no desire to spend my money on diamonds and can stay focused on my travel back to
Africa.