West Africa gives front-row seat to 'ring of fire'

By Francis Maingaila and Godfrey Olukya

LUSAKA, Zambia and ARU, Democratic Republic of Congo (AA) - Spectators in the West African nation of the Democratic Republic of Congo were lucky enough to see an annular solar eclipse Sunday, but Zambia got rained out.

Lucky but careful, people enjoyed seeing the eclipse using simple but effective methods meant to protect their eyes. Watching an eclipse with the naked eye results in permanent damage to the eyesight.

Solar eclipses occur when the Moon passes between the Earth and the Sun, but in the annular eclipses the Moon is too far away to completely block the Sun, leaving a “ring of fire”.

The eclipse started at around 4.30 pm (1530GMT) and ended about an hour later.

''Locally people in the DRC refer to the eclipse as the war between the Sun and the Moon. Because they were warned that it is dangerous to look at the eclipse with the naked eye, they used several methods to look at it,'' said Aggrey Mumbire, a meteorologist in Maniema province.

Mumbire said that most people watched the eclipse through its reflection in basins filled with water, while others used camera negatives to cover their eyes.

In eastern DRC, however, most of the villages were covered with heavy clouds while in other parts it was raining heavily so the view was unfortunately blocked.

''It was raining in the village where I live so I didn’t have the chance to look at the eclipse,'' said John Kilini, a businessman in Ituri.

In Zambia, similarly, heavy rains prevented millions from viewing the eclipse.

In Lusaka, hundreds of people, including tourists, had gathered at Manda Hills to view the rare astronomical phenomenon but the rain changed their plans.

“We expected the rain would ease up in good time to allow people to view this partial eclipse but our expectation was in vain because nature could not permit it," Dr. Gabriel Zulu, a lecturer at University of Zambia’s School of Natural Sciences, told Anadolu Agency.

He said he regretted that the young generation missed an exciting moment to learn the science behind a fascinating rare natural event.

“Sad for us, we have lost an opportunity to view the eclipse today. We have to wait for another opportunity,” would-be spectator George Mulenga told Anadolu Agency.

The most recent African eclipse occurred last September, when an annular eclipse swept across the continent from Gabon to Madagascar.