June 2001 (Zimbabwe) Expedition Final Report

Our 2001 June 14-22 Eclipse Edge Expedition to Botswana, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, Africa was fully successful. All 94 participants viewed a magnificent eclipse in cloudless skies from farmland near Chirundu, Zimbabwe, a few kilometers inside the southern edge of the eclipse path. All expected totality/edge phenomena put in an appearance: shadow bands (before and after); two 15-second diamond rings (the before-totality one with a triple diamond!); one minute of red chromosphere visibility, adding color to the photos of the corona; numerous Baily's beads; a major solar prominence; and coronal streamers. Reports and pictures will be posted or linked here as they come in.

The Africa/Eclipse video of our expedition is now finished, thanks to Phil Schupp. Phil writes: "The video lasts 1hr, 20 min. It has many scenes from Africa, the Mowana-safari/game drives and river cruises (many animals and birds), Victoria Falls and the Kingdom Hotel (the falls bungee jump, animals, and the falls from a helicopter). I tried to get as many participants as possible into the video too. Then there is the beautiful eclipse showing the partial and total phases along with the surroundings during the eclipse from Dave Schaer. See how dark it really got. And there is also a time lapse clip of the eclipse shadow crossing the surface of the earth from the South Atlantic through the African continent taken from the Meteosat-6 satellite. You can even see Lake Kariba from space in this sequence. There is also the charging elephant scene at the end, courtesy of Paula Foggo. All in all it is a pretty neat video. The cost for the video is $25 each, which includes everything; tape in a case, labeling, packaging, postage & handling. If you would like a copy, please mail a check and mailing instructions to the Westside Production House, 10257 Powderhorn Rd., Ft. Worth, TX 76108. Check out their website at: www.wphvideo.com. Their phone number is (817) 246-1793 and ask for Larry or Sharon, mention the eclipse video if you have any questions. They will get you fixed up in a hurry. If you have a question about the video, e-mail me, Phil Schupp, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it."

Contributed pictures and reports:

1. Expedition report and 46 photos by Robert and Tahleen Nabors
2. Eclipse photos by Richard Bareford, including his eclipse video
3. Anthony Galvan III has a full expedition report and extensive set of eclipse and expedition photos. [Updated 2001 September 1.]
4. 4 eclipse photos by Ian Blumgart
5. Phil Schupp has provided his 2 MB video of the 2 minutes 52 seconds containing totality. Among other features, it shows how much more slowly the eclipse begins and ends near the edge than near the centerline. Don't miss the sounds of the other excited watchers. Click here for the Windows Media Player version, or here for the RealVideo Player version.
6. Michael Durst offers the following eclipse photos: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
7. Tom Van Flandern captured these five expedition overview shots: elephant sunset Falls-mist wedding-couple group
8. John Hopkins has an extensive photo album. Follow the links in the left column to images for the entire expedition, including the Cape Town extension.