Champagne breakfasts and drum beats marked southern Africa’s last eclipse of the sun for 28 years on Wednesday.
Parts of the Kruger National Park in northern South Africa were plunged into darkness at 8:20am local time for a little more than a minute.
Similar scenes played out at vantage points in other parts of the region as the moon moved between the sun and the earth turning day to night temporarily.
Tens of thousands of local and international visitors, among them astronomers, mathematicians and ”shadow chasers” from around the world travelled to the region.
More than 60 000 people were in South Africa’s Limpopo province that borders Zimbabwe and Botswana, tourism officials estimated Wednesday.
Heavy clouds and showers spoiled the celestial spectacle for many who viewed only snippets of the eclipse in many areas. Those who wanted to observe wild animals settle down for the night at the height of the eclipse at sites like the Kruger’s Shingwedzi camp expressed disappointed.
High traffic volumes and the presence of thousands of humans sent many of the park’s creatures into hiding well ahead of the brief dark spell.
The effects of the phenomenon began over the Atlantic Ocean in the early hours of Wednesday becoming apparent on land as the shadow reached land at the Angolan coastal town of Sumbe at 060 GMT.
The lunar shadow exited the region via southern Mozambique 25 minutes later, reaching its maximum totality of a little more than two minutes over the Indian Ocean as it headed towards Australia.
”I thought it was extraordinary. And it was wonderful to look at it without the eclipse glasses. The clouds were a natural filter,” said Judith Jackson, who travelled from Chicago, Illinois, to experience the eclipse.
”We were just so lucky. It is unbelievable that we got to see some of it.”
”We had about 10 seconds looking at it, I just clicked away happily,” said scientist Mike Gaylard.
An armed game ranger, deployed to protect the group from wild animals, remarked: ”I thought they would be disappointed, but these people seem very excited.” – Sapa-AFP