Trophy hunting is OK - but don't kill icons like Cecil

Once mighty  Cecil - the darling of tourists succumbs to trophy hunters

Trophy hunting has been taking place since many centuries and specially by the British royalties and the colonial rulers who could find nothing but rabbits in their prairies and turned towards prized animals in the wilderness of Africa and Indian sub-continent.

even when the colonial rulers went back, hunters continue to pour in from all over the world into Africa and hunt wild animals, specially big cats and antelopes to take back their skins and heads for decorating their homes or even selling these at exorbitant prices to the rich and famous.

While hunting is one of the most loved and adopted hobbies around the world, it draws criticism from the animal lovers who want the wild animals to be preserved for the future generations.

Recently, the killing of a majestic and mighty lion named Cecil in Zimbabwe by an American hunter, Dr Walter Palmer, a dentist from Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S., has drawn sharp reaction and response from across the globe. Cecil has over a period of time has almost become a darling of tourists visiting the Hwange National Park of Zimbabwe.

Reacting to the sharp outcry from the public, the White House said it would review the public petition to extradite the dentist after it exceeded the required 100,000 signatures. White House spokesman Josh Earnest said it is up to the Justice Department to respond to an extradition order. In the meanwhile the killer doctor is facing the threat of prosecution in the U.S. and his international hunting organisation membership has been suspended.

Watch the video of once mighty Cecil roaming in the Zimbabwean wilderness:

The majestic Cecil that once roamed the Hwange National Park of Zimbabwe is now no more. But time has come that strict hunting ethics are enforced and icons and landmarks like Cecil are not hunted away just for the sake of love of hunting of cold blooded individuals Dr Walter Palmer. We must safeguard the living rights of these animals and hunters must not be allowed to hunt them just because these reside in poor African countries where hunters from world dominating countries roam free, without fear of being caught and taken to justice.

Read more about Cecil and public outcry and reaction at: The Mail Online

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Postal history and old stamps of South Africa

The Republic of South Africa, previously The Union of South Africa, is a country located at the southern tip of Africa, with a coastline on the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. To the north lie Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe; to the east are Mozambique and Swaziland; while Lesotho is an independent country wholly surrounded by South African territory.

The first stamp of the Union of South Africa was a 2 1/2d stamp issued on 4 November 1910. However my collection starts with the stamps of South Africa (top left column) was issued in 1926 with SUIDAFRIKA written on top of it.

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History and postage stamps of the United Arab Republic (UAR)

Many would not know now that there once existed a union between the Egypt and Syria known as the United Arab Republic for a brief period between 1958 to 1961. Syria quit the UAR in 1961, while Egypt continued to be officially part of UAR until 1971, when the union finally ceased to exist.

The UAR adopted a flag based on the Arab Liberation Flag of the Egyptian Revolution of 1952, but with two stars to represent the two parts. This continues to be the flag of Syria. In 1963, Iraq adopted a flag that was similar but with three stars, representing the hope that Iraq would join the UAR. The current flags of Egypt, Sudan, and Yemen are also based on Arab Liberation Flag of horizontal red, white, and black bands.

The need to form a union between Egypt and Syria stemmed from the vulnerabilities of the communist uprising in Syria and Syria sought help from Egypt to curb the communist rise in the country and offered to form a union with Syria. Although the then Egyptian president Gemal Abdul Nasser resisted formation of such a union, Nasser opted for a total merger in early 1958. Nasser became UAR’s first president (and the last too as the union died its own death after three years).

The union never ran smoothly for many reasons, and Nasser was unable to run it efficiently and carry the Syrians along with him. On September 28^th 1961, a group of military officers staged a coup and announced Syria’s independence from the UAR. Although Nasser did not vocally objected to the Syrian exodus from the union, he continued to talk of unity among Arab countries till UAR finally came to its logical abolishment in 1971 and Egypt became Arab Republic of Egypt.

From 1958 till 1971, the UAR stamps were used by both Syria and Egypt (though Syria reverted to Syrian stamps in 1961 after it quit the union). The above stamps of UAR from my collection are from this period.

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My collection of very old stamps of Egypt

The stamps of Egypt in my collection date back to 1884 - the two stamps in the left column from the bottom showing the Sphinx were issued in 1884 and onwards.This makes them one of the oldest stamps of my collection.

The stamps bearing head of King Fouad, called the Second Portrait Issue (above bottom right four stamps) were issued between 1927-1937. The top left stamp in this group of four stamps was issued in 1953 with the abolishing of the kingship with three three horizontal bars unceremoniously overprinted till new stamps were issued.

The stamps with head of Young King Farouk (Investiture) Issue, above left column two stamps, were issued between 1937-1946.

The second stamp from the left in top row is that of Farouk I, issued during the 1940s.

The Service Stamp, second from the left in bottom row, was issued in 1951.

Related: The Kingdom of Egypt 122-1953

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Stamps of Rhodesia

There were many countries in the 50s and 60s that are no more now or they exist under different names. The present day Zimbabwe and Zambia are two of such countries that were once associated with the British and were called Rhodesia and referred to as Northern Rhodesia, that included the British protectorate of Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland, besides the Southern Rhodesia. The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland was also known as Central African Federation (CAF) that existed from 1953 to the end of 1963. The Rhodesia and Nyasaland issued its own stamps, while the Southern Rhodesia issued its separate stamps as shown above.

In 1964, the Northern Rhodesia proclaimed independence and renamed itself as Zambia. Since Northern Rhodesia became extinct, the Southern Rhodesia renamed itself simply Rhodesia. The following stamp of Rhodesia is of this period.

The status quo continued till 1979, when Rhodesia again fell back to the colonial rule in 1980 and was continued to be called Southern Rhodesia by the British, as for the British, they had never recognized the independent status of Rhodesia. However, the Rhodesian always wanted an independent status and in April 1980 became an independent state of Republic of Zimbabwe.

The above stamps are from my stamp collection and are just a memory of the bygone days now.

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Colonized stamps of Kenya, Tanganyika and Uganda

Kenya, Tanganyika and Uganda were once British colonies. At that time one stamp bore the name of all these three colonies on one stamp, Kenya and Uganda on the top and Tanganyika in the bottom. No one for sure knows the why of such arrangement, but this how the stamps of these three colonies fro as long they remained under the British control. The cumulative stamp serving needs of these three colonies started in 1935 and continued till 1963, when these colonies start to get independent to shed away the yoke of slavery they collared for all these years.

The last stamp in the first column from the right is the oldest that I have. it bears the head of King George V and this stamp dates back to a period between 1935-38, thus making it almost 75 years older.

In 1938 after King George VI became the new king of the Great Britain, his head started to appear on these stamps as can bee seen in the first two columns from the left. The stamps in the first column depicts the famous Lake Naivasha in the background. 

The stamps in those days generally bore the portrait of King George with Lake Naivasha in the background. Part of the Great Rift Valley, Lake Naivasha is a freshwater lake in Kenya, lying north west of Nairobi, outside the town of Naivasha. 

The stamps in the rest of the three columns ear the head of Queen Elizabeth II are of the period after her coronation, especially 1959. These stamps continued till the three courtiers became independent in 1963.

Tanganyika on independence split in to today's Rwanda, Burundi, and Tanzania. The two bigger colonies of Kenya and Uganda remained their entity intact and continue to be so till date.


Even after the independence, these stamps continued to be in use with the name of the country appearing as an overprint. The last stamp in the third columns from the left shows the earlier combined stamp used by Kenya with "KENYA" overprint. Since the same stamp was used for the revenue purpose, the word "REVENUE" also appears as an overprint.

Related Link:

Africa

Rhodesia, Zambia, Zimbabwe

My Philatelic World (my previous blog that focused on hobby of philately only)

Lake Naivasha (Wikipedia)

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My Nigerian stamps collection

Present day Nigeria was once divided into two portions – the Southern and the Northern Nigeria. The Southern portion became a British protectorate in 1900. Lagos was added to this protectorate in 1906 while the Southern Nigeria was also merged in the existing protectorate to form a single colony of Nigeria under the British patronage.

A set of nine stamps was issued in 1901 of the Nigerian protectorate, which initially bore the portraits of Queen Victoria followed by that of her son King Edward VII in 1903. In 1912, vignette was replaced with a portrait of George V.

The stamps (left column) from my album are of much later stage issued in the 1950s, bearing portrait of Queen Elizabeth II. The stamps in the other columns are of the era of independent Nigeria when it became an independent federation in 1960.

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Postage stamps of Dahomey (The Republic of)

Dahomey was a French colony on the west coast of Africa. The first stamp for Dahomey was issued in 1899. During the WW-II in 1944, Dahomey was incorporated into the French West Africa. The colony finally claimed its independence and became the Republic of Dahomey in 1960.

That’s how I knew it when I started collecting stamps in the late 60s, and I have just two stamps of this country. Both stamps were issued in 1970.

In 1975, the country changed its name and came to known as People’s Republic of Benin.

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Commemorative stamps - John Lennon

John Lennon – once a young lad from Liverpool, made headlines as long as he lived, and even when he was murdered by a person who wanted to have John’s last autographs and become famous. He was a musician, writer and a great performer. His fame rose to the highest when he founded the erstwhile world famous band “The Beatles.” He along with Sir Pau McCartney wrote and composed some of the most melodious melodies of all times. He married Yoko Ono and continued to sing solos when The Beatles finally dissolved in the 70s.

8th December 1980 was a bad day for the music as on that day this great musician was murdered by one Mark David Chapman. As he came out of the Dakota Building, Mark, standing close to the main door came forward and asked Lennon, “John, will you sign this”, holding an LP of Lennon. Lennon replied, “Sure, no problem,” signed and then asked Mark, “Is that all you want?”. Mark replied, “Yes, thank you John.” And then took out his pistol and fired five bullets from a point blank range.

So that was an end of a great musician. I adored him too as The Beatles was and still one of my favourite bands and on 8th December 1980, I was in a wilderness when I heard the sad news on my pocket radio from BBC.

Like many, John continues to live in my heart. And many a countries have been issuing commemorative stamps (issued by Chad, Nicaragua and Guyana) to honour the great musician from time to time. Some of the stamps above are for the glory of the man, called John Lennon.

More about John Lennon: The yellow submarine of John Lennon

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Postage stamps of Gold Coast (Ghana)

There are many countries in the world which were once called something else as these were rather colonized by different maritime powers of periods before the 20th century or changed their names to suit the aspirations of their people.

The African continent has been invaded and colonized by the Dutch, French, Portuguese and the British. Of the many such colonies, Gold Coast was one. Gold Coast refers to the region of the West Africa, est of Ivory Coast and west of Slav Coast (an area that now constitutes Togo, Benin and Western Nigeria).

Gold Coast had changed hands with many colonists since 1482 when the Portuguese colonized it and called it Portuguese Gold Coast. About two hundred years later in 1642 it became the Dutch Gold coast. Till 1871, it had also been temporarily under the domination of Prussia and Denmark and was called so. In 1871 came the British and took control of the area as the British Gold Coast.

The first stamp of the Gold Coast were issued on 1 July 1875 in times of the rein of Queen Victoria. Gold Coast then became member of the Universal Postal Union in January 1879.

In 1957, the British Gold Coast became the first colony to gain independence and became present day Ghana. The first stamp of Ghana was printed in March 1957.

The two stamps in the top left column are of the period of the British Gold Coast, issued in 1948. The remaining stamps were issued by the independent Ghana after 1957 and are part of my stamp album.

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Nigerian stamps in my stamp album

Present day Nigeria was once divided into two portions – the Southern and the Northern Nigeria. The Southern portion became a British protectorate in 1900. Lagos was added to this protectorate in 1906 while the Southern Nigeria was also merged in the existing protectorate to form a single colony of Nigeria under the British patronage.

A set of nine stamps was issued in 1901 of the Nigerian protectorate, which initially bore the portraits of Queen Victoria followed by that of her son King Edward VII in 1903. In 1912, vignette was replaced with a portrait of George V.

The stamps (left column) from my album are of much later stage issued in the 1950s, bearing portrait of Queen Elizabeth II. The stamps in the other columns are of the era of independent Nigeria when it became an independent federation in 1960.

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Remembering Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson, born August 29, 1958, was an American entertainer, singer and founder of innovative slow dancing. After Elvis Presley, no American singer got so much of popularity as Michael got. Though his personality was marred by scandals and other negative news, he remained a King of the Pop music and ruled the pop world all over the world. Not only music, he was a maestro of dance on the stage and innovative and appealing attire.

His music broke all records. His album Thriller (released 1982) remains the best-selling album ever (so far sold more than 110 million copies). His videos of Billie Jean, Beat It and Thriller will always be remembered for their aesthetic composition. Jackson is also credited to have been included into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice. His death on June 25, 2009 leaves behind many mysteries as some label his death as a well planned murder. 

No matter how controversial his life may have been, he will be remembered as an unbeaten music maestro for ever. Many countries have issued commemorative stamps in his memory that immortalize the great singer. The stamps shown above include countries like St Vincent, Guinea Bissau, Guinea, British Virgin Islands and Chad.

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Stamps of Upper Volta (Haute Volte) from my album

When I started collecting stamps, there were many countries that don’t exist now in the names then. Some have merged into other countries, some disintegrated and some assumed new names keeping in view the aspiration of their people. One such country was Upper Volta.

The history of postage stamps of Upper Volta dates back to 1890s, when the French colonized some of the African countries. Prior to the creation od the French Upper Volta in 1919, the postal service in the area was administered by Senegambia and Niger and the then Upper Senegal and Niger. The first stamps of the Upper Volta were those of the Upper Senegal and Niger with the overprint “Haute Volte” in 1920s. The dedicated stamp of Upper Volta surfaced in 1928.

Upper Volta continued to be under French influence till 1960. In 1958 the Republic of Upper Volta emerged and issued its first stamp in 1959 when it celebrated its first anniversary. However, the republic became an independent state on 5th August 1960. The country had history of turmoil and military coups. On August4, 1984, some 24 years after its independence, the republic changed its name to Burkina Faso (meaning “the country of honourable people”).

I have three stamps of Upper Volta as shown above. May be someday I also get a stamp of Burkina Faso.

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