Morning TM and all, I was narrowing it down in my mind when DH popped up with a City, I think he nailed it. It's a city where a really old guy hangs out when he's not globe trotting.

Annette

Me again, now that I've given it some thought I'm thinking he's probably too old to travel far so just sends some of his household items of interest for your viewing pleasure :o)
Annette

Without looking, I'm guessing Durban, first one that popped into my mind.
My older son sailed to South Africa when he was at the USMMA. He visited Tanzania, but I can't think of a city there.

Nell

Oh Annette - you either gave me the answer, or completely confused me - lol. I was thinking Nairobi, then true to form I started thinking about Jo'burg. I'll go with my first answer!!!

Nancy.

I'm going with Johannesburg. I know so little about Africa. I recently looked at the continent on my old globe, because I met somebody from the Congo. I was shocked to see how MANY countries there are in Africa. And, as old as my globe is, a good many of those countries probably no longer exist, or have new names!

Hmmm, is South Africa a different country than Africa?! If so, my answer is incorrect.
Lorna

I've looked up the answer, and mine was 'way off.

There's a town near here by the same name. The football team is known as the Syrupmakers. Really.

Nell

Lorna, I was thinking Johannesburg or Cape Town till DH said it thought it might be this other place so I went with his choice. Good one Nell :o).
Annette

Lorna - South Africa is a country on the continent of Africa - that might help!!

Nancy - who loves maps and geography.

- the guy I was thinking of is waayyyyy older!! I never think of this city as part of Africa. In the airline world, the country is considered part of the Middle East - thats my story and Im sticking to it!!!

So, I say Cairo...thats my final answer!!

Nancy - whose keyboard is now francà ise!

Largest city -- in terms of population or land area?

I've been to North Africa (Morocco), but I don't think it's Casablanca nor Marrakesh. Neither of those cities seemed large enough to me.

Need to think some more about this.

Nancy, I was referring to my old guy being around for a long time but maybe I should referred to him as my old/young guy with the broken leg LOL
Annette

I'm going to say Khartoum because it's so much fun (to say).

I'll go with Cairo, too. Very sluggish to log-in this evening (T-storms?), several posts between reading and replying. Nell's 'syrupmakers' pun gives me confidence. As in corn syrup/Karo, right?

I'm geographically challenged, too. I had fun last winter with a great website for playing while learning: a link sent by a friend. Will see if I can find it.

That geography game must be popular, there are more ads than I remember ;-)

Here's Africa:

Here is a link that might be useful: Traveler IQ-Africa

I guess by now you know I've was hinting at Cairo. Cameron brought up a good point though about population or area, I'm thinking it's area.
Annette

I heard that Mexico City is the largest city in the world. I think it is spread over a large area, but it is the population which makes it the largest city. Albuquerque sprawls all over the place, but the population isn't all that large.

Lorna

I'm pretty sure that when speaking of the size of a city, it's common to be talking about population, but you probably know that I'm not above using a trick question, so it's good to be wary. :-) I should have clarified that the question was about population.

The answer is (very dramatic pause) Cairo, which is so barely-in-Africa-at-all that I thought I might stump you all yesterday. But, Hah! You were too smart for me.

for Annette, Nancy, and Ana.

Annette, I guess I am too ignorant to get your hint. Who is the old man in Cairo?

There's a link below to a map of Africa, in case any of you (not mentioning any names) need to refresh your geography knowledge .

Thank you all for a fun weekend.
ThinMan

Here is a link that might be useful: Map here

Good Morning TM, I was referring to King Tut who I think calls the museum in Cairo home. The old, born many years ago, died young, from complications of a broken leg. The old/young guy with the broken leg LOL ...sends some of his household items for your viewing pleasure, I was referring to the King Tut exhibit which is traveling around the world.
Might be wrong but think it's the museum in Cairo where his mummy is on display. Thanks for another fun weekend TM.
Annette

The main office of the agency for which I used to work was an hour's drive away. We had to go through Cairo (pronounced Karo in these parts of the South) to get there. We referred to the home office as East Egypt.

Incidentally, the work of the local Cairo 'plant ladies' is just wonderful. The banks, hospital, veterinarian's office, library; even the Dairy Queen has plant displays that are outstanding. Cairo, GA is where I learned about Pentas, and saw delphiniums blooming successfully in the South.

Nell

Big duh! I was thinking in terms of Africa being like the US. NOT! And, I have a really silly take on Egypt. I have a way of thinking that it was part of Africa during Cleopatra's time! I link modern Egypt in my mind with the Arab republics, thus erroneously lumping it in with Middle East countries. Gosh, the museum folks would have my head, if they heard such thoughtless nonsense from me.

Some of the paleobiolgoists who are/were part of the faculty of Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, where I used to work, study the origins of humans. They believe Ethiopa is the cradle of civilization, and have been exploring there for many years. They are credited with finding Austrailopithicus, one of the links in the evolutionary chain.

How nice for me that my love of Samoyeds and hedgehogs caused these guys to be very fond of me. Hedgehogs have been around for at least fifty million years. Sammis are one of the oldest dog breeds. There is evidence that Samoyeds originated in Iraq between 2,000-3,000 years ago. I brought up the subject of Samoyeds to the elder paleobiologist, telling him I believed Sams came from the Middle East. He was delighted to discuss the subject. He said he believed it was true. He told me he had done many digs in the Turkish highlands during his early studies on the origins of man. He found several ancient canine skeletons, which he identified as Samoyeds. He said Samoyeds have distinctive skeletal features, therefore they are easily identified. He also pointed out that the skeletal remains he found had been buried, which indicated the dogs were highly respected by the ancient people who owned them.

I took my hedgehogs to the museum for display at open house, and spent many hours educating people about hedgehogs. I was constantly amazed at the popularity of the hedgehogs. People were absolutely smitten with the little creatures. Three of my hedgehogs were of two species from Iran, very rare in this country. I also had a hybrid hedgehog from the European family, who looked quite different. Sadly, only one Iranian hedgehog remains. The others have passed away. The longest- lived was nine, when she passed.

This is Trill, one of the Iranian long-earred desert hedgehogs. The undignified position is because I was cutting his nails, when the photo was taken. As you can see, they have both fur and quills. His little stump of a tail is tucked under one hind foot.

{{gwi:607939}}
Lorna

I didn't have a chance to read this over the weekend, so I didn't answer "Cairo" immediately, but I had a lot of fun reading all your musings afterwards, which reminded me of a story. I had an English teacher at University who had been teaching at the University of Cairo before coming to Lisbon. He used to tell amazing stories about the cultural differences in that city, from an European (and a Brit) point of view. One of the stories was that the driver's license test in Cairo is taken the following way: if you can drive 100 meters in a straight line and do not cause an accident or suffer one in the process, then you're automatically approved! :-) I'm not too sure whether this is 100% truth, but that gives you an idea of what traffic is like in that metropolis!

Eduarda