Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/814533
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 23 APRIL 2017 40 MARC CASOLANI HAVE you ever wondered how wonderful it would be to be sprawled on a practically deserted sandy beach on a Caribbean Is- land, but then you realise its sim- ply out of your budget. That's a typical Monday morning for you. The great news is that not all of the world's best beaches are in fancy resorts in the Caribbean and some destinations really are in any backpacker's budget. The island of Lamu in Kenya is one such beach holiday destination. Lamu island is a UNESCO World Heritage site and is about 6,273 km2. Ok, so getting there was not the most comfortable of bus rides I will admit. Eight hours north of the city of Mombasa, only six of which are on a surfaced road. The bumpy dirt track which follows leaves you feeling like you've en- dured a two hour sand storm. On exiting the bus, it feels like you've just dug your way out of a sand dune, you then have to hop on a 45-minute ferry from the fishing village of Mokowe to the island of Lamu. That is when you realise that the commuting ordeal was well worth it. Viewing the village from the sea at sunset is exquisite, the beautiful colours gently refelecting off the white walls of the seaside colonial styled villas. As you hop off onto Travel As the days start to warm up, the reptiles start creeping out. Among these will be our four lovely species of snakes. Snakes don't really hibernate, and a warm sunny day even in mid-winter may draw them out to snatch a refreshing bask in the sun. But now as spring starts to seriously advance, they wake up true and proper. One of these is the cat snake (M: qattus) – no relation to our feline furballs and no it doesn't specialise in catching cats for dinner! It's so called because of its vertical cat-like pupils. It's a grey snake with dark brown patches, and can grow to about a metre, though never thicker than your thumb. Unlike the other three species, the cat snake is active even at night, hunting mice and even other reptiles like geckoes. Like all our other reptiles, the cat snake is harmless to humans and it's protected by law, our way of saying thanks for the pest control service that it provides by conveniently snacking on rodents! Visit Friends of the Earth's website for more information about our work, as well as for information about how to join us. You can also support us by sending us a donation - www.foemalta.org/donate Text and photo Victor Falzon Climate change is a severe threat to cocoa production. Not only is the cocoa tree sensitive to changes in precipitation, it is also a crop that requires long term investment and cannot be easily changed on a short term basis. Although there are many attempts to develop so-called climate-smart agriculture, careful attention should be paid to the fact that adaptation is not only centred on technical solutions that do not consider the local socio-economic situations. Systems that require high inputs, for instance, will not help farmers who cannot afford them on a regular basis. It should be ensured that these schemes really benefit the farmers and the environment in the long run, and not the agro- tech-industry. Often, basic low-tech solutions, knowledge exchange and consideration of current best practice can increase yields and build up resilience without requiring the introduction of new varieties, along with new chemicals and fertilizers. Bittersweet Chocolate Climate Change 554. CAT SNAKE GREEN IDEA OF THE WEEK 457 RIPEN TOMATOES: Wrap green tomatoes in sheets of newspaper, layer them in a box and put a lid on top – they will eventually ripen up to a lovely red colour. Lamu, an African beach