|
Olivier Testa
Olivier Testa (born April 1, 1977) is a French caver, known for his discovery of the orange cave-dwelling crocodiles of Gabon, the Iroungou burial cave in Gabon, the discovery of unexpected caves in the volcanic Bamboutos mountains in Cameroon and several discoveries in Haiti. He has led or participated in over 40 caving expeditions in Africa, Asia and in the Caribbean. Early life Testa was born in Marseille, France, and grew up in the Alps, in Annecy, where he learnt mountain sports. After obtaining an engineer's degree at École Centrale Paris in 2000, Testa tried different jobs and worked 2 years at French Institute for Research in Computer Science and Automation (INRIA) ( Real-Time Scheduling), near Grenoble, France, from 2001 to 2003. Meanwhile, he was an active caver at the La Tronche caving club (FLT). He explored and practiced in many deep caves in Chartreuse Mountains and Vercors Massif, and started cave diving. Testa discovered Africa volunteering for a 2-year ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marseille
Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the Provence region, it is located on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, near the mouth of the Rhône river. Marseille is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, second-most populous city proper in France, after Paris, with 873,076 inhabitants in 2021. Marseille with its suburbs and exurbs create the Aix-Marseille-Provence Metropolis, with a population of 1,911,311 at the 2021 census. Founded by Greek settlers from Phocaea, Marseille is the oldest city in France, as well as one of Europe's List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited settlements. It was known to the ancient Greeks as ''Massalia'' and to ancient Romans, Romans as ''Massilia''. Marseille has been a trading port since ancient ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Voluntary Service Overseas
VSO is a not-for-profit international development organization charity with a vision for "a fair world for everyone" and a mission to "create lasting change through volunteering". VSO delivers development impact through a blended volunteer model consisting of international, national, and community volunteers working together to develop the systems and conditions for positive social change. In 2022–23, VSO worked in 35 countries in Africa and Asia. VSO currently works in the following core programme areas: * Inclusive Education * Health * Livelihoods And through three core approaches that are relevant to all the areas: * Social Inclusion and Gender * Social Accountability * Resilience In addition, VSO has a youth focus in which young people are both the beneficiaries of social change outcomes as well as the primary actors in creating the change. Structure and governance VSO (formerly known as Voluntary Service Overseas) is a company limited by guarantee. VSO operates internatio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Artifact (archaeology)
An artifact or artefact (British English) is a general term for an item made or given shape by humans, such as a tool or a work of art, especially an object of archaeological interest. In archaeology, the word has become a term of particular nuance; it is defined as an object recovered by archaeological endeavor, including cultural artifacts (of archaeological culture, cultural interest). "Artifact" is the general term used in archaeology, while in museums the equivalent general term is normally "object", and in art history perhaps artwork or a more specific term such as "carving". The same item may be called all or any of these in different contexts, and more specific terms will be used when talking about individual objects, or groups of similar ones. Artifacts exist in many different forms and can sometimes be confused with Biofact (archaeology), ecofacts and Feature (archaeology), features; all three of these can sometimes be found together at archaeological sites. They can a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Skull
The skull, or cranium, is typically a bony enclosure around the brain of a vertebrate. In some fish, and amphibians, the skull is of cartilage. The skull is at the head end of the vertebrate. In the human, the skull comprises two prominent parts: the neurocranium and the facial skeleton, which evolved from the first pharyngeal arch. The skull forms the frontmost portion of the axial skeleton and is a product of cephalization and vesicular enlargement of the brain, with several special senses structures such as the eyes, ears, nose, tongue and, in fish, specialized tactile organs such as barbels near the mouth. The skull is composed of three types of bone: cranial bones, facial bones and ossicles, which is made up of a number of fused flat and irregular bones. The cranial bones are joined at firm fibrous junctions called sutures and contains many foramina, fossae, processes, and sinuses. In zoology, the openings in the skull are called fenestrae, the most ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mouila
Mouila is the capital of Ngounié Province in Gabon. It lies on the Ngounié River and the N1 road (Gabon), N1 road and has a population of about 20,000 people. Its main sight is Lac Bleu, Gabon, Lac Bleu, a lake known for its bright blue water. Mouila is very spread out and has several markets and commercial centers. The city is home to a large number of ethnic groups and is a major hub of commerce and travel. It is served by Mouila Airport. Climate Mouila has a tropical savanna climate (Köppen climate classification ''Aw''). Notable people * François Bozizé a former president of the Central African Republic * Joseph Owondault Berre, vice president of Gabon * Pierre Mamboundou, a politician * André Raponda Walker, an anthropologist and priest who worked near here, at a place called Sainte-Martin.Biography of R ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Iron Metallurgy In Africa
Iron metallurgy in Africa concerns the origin and development of ferrous metallurgy on the Africa, African continent. Whereas the development of iron metallurgy in North Africa and the Horn of Africa, Horn closely mirrors that of the Ancient Near East and History of the Mediterranean region, Mediterranean region, the three-age system is ill-suited to Sub-Saharan Africa, where Copper metallurgy in Africa, copper metallurgy generally does not precede iron working. Whether iron metallurgy in Sub-Saharan Africa originated as an independent innovation or a product of technological diffusion remains a point of contention between scholars. Following the beginning of iron metallurgy in Western Africa, Western and Central Africa by Hallstatt plateau, 800 BC - 400 BC, and possibly earlier, agriculturalists of the Bantu expansion, Chifumbaze Complex would ultimately introduce the technology to Eastern Africa, Eastern and Southern Africa by the end of the 1st millennium, first millennium AD. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lastoursville
Lastoursville or Mandji is a city in east-central Gabon, lying on the Ogooué River, the Trans-Gabon Railway and the N3 road (Gabon), N3 road. It was founded as a slavery, slave depot named ''Mandji'', renamed ''Maadiville'' in 1883 before being named for :fr:François Rigail de Lastours, François Rigail de Lastours in 1886. It grew around palm oil production and as an administrative centre, and soon became a major missionary centre. The town is also known for its caves. The town lies at an elevation of 206 m. Caves Occupying a 90-sq-km site, there are more than 40 caves identified, located in dense primary rainforest close to town. Traces of human activity dates back 7000 years, when the caves were used in rituals. World Heritage Status The caves were added to the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List on October 20, 2005 in the Mixed (Cultural + Natural) category. Climate Notes References Grottes de Lastourville - UNESCO World Heritage CentreRetrieved 2009- ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rhaphidophoridae
The orthopteran family Rhaphidophoridae of the suborder Ensifera has a worldwide distribution. Common names for these insects include cave crickets, camel crickets, spider crickets (sometimes shortened to "criders" or "sprickets"), and sand treaders. Those occurring in New Zealand are typically referred to as jumping or cave wētā. Most are found in forest environments or within caves, animal burrows, cellars, under stones, or in wood or similar environments. All species are flightless and nocturnal, usually with long antenna (biology), antennae and legs. More than 500 species of Rhaphidophoridae are described. The well-known Gryllidae, field crickets are from a different superfamily (Grylloidea) and only look vaguely similar, while members of the family Tettigoniidae may look superficially similar in body form. Description Most cave crickets have very large hind legs with "drumstick-shaped" femora and equally long, thin tibiae, and long, slender antennae. The antennae arise ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dwarf Crocodile
The dwarf crocodile (''Osteolaemus tetraspis''), also known as the African dwarf crocodile, broad-snouted crocodile (a name more often used for the Asian mugger crocodile) or bony crocodile, is an African crocodile that is also the smallest extant (living) species of crocodile. Description Dwarf crocodiles attain an adult length of . Adult specimens typically weigh between . This makes it the smallest living crocodile species, although the Cuvier's dwarf caiman (''Paleosuchus palpebrosus''), a member of the family Alligatoridae, is smaller at up to about . If the Congo dwarf crocodile (''O. osborni'') is recognized as a valid species, it would be both the smallest crocodile and the smallest crocodilian since it does not surpass . Adults are all dark above and on their sides, while the underside is yellowish with black patches. Some individuals living in the caves of Abanda, Gabon, displayed orange patches, apparently due to alkaline bat guano that erodes the skin of the croco ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Abanda Caves
The Abanda Caves are a cave complex in Gabon, located in the upstream of Fernan Vaz Lagoon. They were first mentioned by Dr. Marco Marti and Claude Werotte in the early 2000s, and fully explored during several caving expeditions by Oslisly, Olivier Testa, Testa, Sebag and Shirley. There are two independent cave networks: the Dinguembou cave (350m) and the Mugumbi cave (400m). Access to the horizontal passages is possible through vertical shafts of about 7m deep. They host large colonies of bats (Egyptian fruit bat, Sundevall's roundleaf bat, Giant roundleaf bat) estimated to more than 100,000 individuals. Picathartes nests have been observed at the entrances of the caves. The Caves of Abanda are known to host an endemic population of orange-colored cave-dwelling dwarf crocodiles. They were described by herpetologist Matthew H. Shirley after the first scientific expedition in the caves in 2010. These crocodiles live in complete darkness, they feed mostly on bats and cave crickets ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fernan Vaz Lagoon
Fernan Vaz Lagoon is a large lagoon on the Atlantic coast of Gabon. It is named for Fernão Vaz, the first European to reach it, and is known its wildlife and for the church at Mission Saint Anne, built in 1889 by Gustav Eiffel Alexandre Gustave Eiffel ( , ; Bonickhausen dit Eiffel; 15 December 1832 – 27 December 1923) was a French civil engineer. A graduate of École Centrale des Arts et Manufactures, he made his name with various bridges for the French railway net .... The main settlement on the lagoon's shore is Omboué. References Lagoons of Gabon {{Gabon-geo-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nyanga Province
Nyanga is the southernmost of Gabon's nine provinces. The provincial capital is Tchibanga, which had a total of 31294 inhabitants in 2013 (more than the half of the province population). Nyanga is the least populated province of the nine and the other least developed, besides Ogooué-Ivindo. It is bordered by Ogooué-Maritime in the northwest, Ngounié in the north, and the Congo to the south ( Kouilou Region) and east ( Niari Region). The Atlantic Ocean—the lowest point in both Gabon and Nyanga Province—borders it in the west. Departments Nyanga is divided into 6 departments: * Basse-Banio Department ( Mayumba) * Douigni Department ( Moabi) * Doutsila Department (Mabanda) * Haute-Banio Department (Ndindi) * Mongo Department (Moulengui-Binza) * Mougoutsi Department ( Tchibanga) Statistics *Area: 21,285 km² *2-letter abbreviation/HASC: GA-NY *ISO 3166-2 ISO 3166-2 is part of the ISO 3166 standard published by the International Organization for Standardizati ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
