A villager in Kenya was herding animals one day recently when he came upon a head-turning sight. A ghostly creature with a mighty long neck was grazing off in the distance.

Upon closer inspection, the vision was revealed to be a female reticulated giraffe — tall, majestic and preternaturally white — and she was accompanied by a smaller apparition: a pale baby giraffe.

The sightings in June, in Garissa County near the Ishaqbini Hirola Conservancy, sent the villager scurrying off to tell rangers,the founder of the Hirola Conservation Program said on Thursday. The news has been ricocheting across continents and making headlines ever since.

Conservationists who hurried to the site managed to capture what is believed to be the first known video footage of white giraffes, said Abdullahi H. Ali, who founded Hirola and has been working to conserve the critically endangered hirola antelope in the eastern part of the country.

mainland Europe and North America, Iceland has always taken it's own unique path. Icelandic architecture and fashion is a reflection of it's unusual geography, the Icelandic palette is most comfortable when quality local ingredients are cured, cultured, fermented, or pickled, and the Icelandic people revel in self sufficiency and environmental sustainability. Iceland has always been deeply rooted in nordic liberal sensibilities, but unlike any other nation, they refused to bail out their banks after the 2008 recession, in 2009 they elected the world's first openly gay female prime minister and in 2010, Reykjavik elected John Gnarr, punk rock singer, comedian, and self proclaimed anarchist as their mayor. The physical landscape is as striking and unique as the culture itself; an island covered in black volcanic rock, lush green fields, geothermal vents and dramatic volcanoes. It was with this in mind, that Dennie, Henry and I boarded a plane for Reykjavik over Easter holidays, where we would spend 9 days swimming in hot pools, driving through fjords, and eating delicious Skyr (Icelandic yogurt).

Iceland

Sergio Esposito preparing a panino all’allesso.

When the new Mercato di Testaccio opened in July 2012, vendors and shoppers did not universally rejoice. Higher rents, a less convenient location, a sterile atmosphere and a competing weekend farmers’ market nearby were among the complaints. But in the two and a half years since the structure’s inauguration, the market has proven to be a success on many counts, especially for the new opportunities it has created for vendors: Da Aretnio (Box 90) sells biodynamic wines selected by Jonathan Nossiter and wood fired baked goods from Lariano; Dess’art (Box 66) sells Sicilian sweets and savory snacks, including cannoli filled to order and panelle, generously salted. But the single most important innovation can be found at Mordi e Vai (Box 15), where Sergio Esposito, a retired butcher, serves sandwiches and side dishes made from family recipes.



Panino con l’allesso alla picchiapò

Visit Sergio in the Testaccio Market from Monday through Friday from 8:00am until 2:30pm. Get all the meaty things and whatever you do, don’t wear whit

A very pricey cocktail in progress on the roof of the new-ish DOM Hotel.

The DOM Hotel, a five-star luxury retreat, opened on Via Giulia in central Rome a little less than a year ago. The place is a good value, in relation to its category, and the location is hard to beat. I weigh DOM’s pros and cons in this Sunday’s NYT Travel section (or read online here).

Jaap’s tyre was not only down to the canvas, but through a couple of layers. As a result the 120km ride to Springbok was a rather tentative one. We did however arrive safely around lunchtime, and were hopeful of being able to track down a tyre for Jaap. However it was a Sunday and the day of Nelson Mandela’s funeral, and the tyre outfit was of course closed. Miraculously we met someone who knew the owner and called him for us, but less miraculously he did not hold the tyre size we needed. We spent that afternoon and the Monday phoning around trying to find some way to get a tyre to Springbok urgently. I was running out of time before my flight to NZ, and was keen to explore the back roads on the way to Cape Town, rather than having to rush down. Unfortunately locating a tyre proved difficult, and it looked as if Jaap would get his tyre on Wednesday at the earliest. As Jaap was staying longer than me in South Africa and would have time to explore after Christmas, I decided to head off for an explore with him catching up so we could hit Cape
Terminal tyreTerminal tyre
Terminal tyre
Agulhas together