4 Min Read
FENEKPUSZTA, Hungary (Reuters) - Imre Vida descends from the ancient people who once fished Hungary’s Balaton, one of Europe’s largest lakes, in boats hewn from oak trunks and who crafted simple shelters from the wetland’s reeds.
A worker ties freshly cut bundles of reed near Keszthely, Hungary, February 23, 2021. REUTERS/Bernadett Szabo
The reeds lining the shores of the lake are still used today to thatch roofs or are burned for fuel. But conservations says the reeds, which act as a barometer for the health of the water are declining fast, as authorities eye the lake for tourism and the vegetation is sacrificed to give tourists a view.
2 Min Read
NAIROBI (Reuters) - Bella Gwada picks purple-tipped tea leaves at a farm in central Kenya early on a Saturday morning before moving to process, brew and taste the produce which had been harvested earlier.
Gwada, who travelled 42 kilometres from Nairobi for the experience, is one of a rapidly growing base of consumers in the East African nation who are flocking to speciality teas, including purple tea, due to their health benefits.
“You don’t even need to add sugar. Its easily digestible, milder than black tea,” she said.
Kenya is the world’s biggest exporter of black tea and the crop is one of the country’s top hard currency earners, along with tourism and cash sent home by citizens living abroad.
3 Min Read
PRAGUE (Reuters) - Jakub Ricica’s traditional Czech pub ‘Deminka’, located just behind the National Museum and a short stroll from dozens of hotels, is a magnet for the flocks of tourists who descend on Prague every year for the Easter break.
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But for a second year running, the wooden chairs sit atop the tables, the beer mugs are stacked on the bar and the Pilsner taps remain dry ahead of what would normally be one of the biggest money-making weekends of the year.
“Easter is usually the first weekend in Prague where things start to get really busy, and then it just keeps going,” said Ricica, who estimates that tourists generate about 60 percent of the revenue for his pub, which was founded in 1882.
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HONG KONG (Reuters) - The growl of a chainsaw fills the air as a dead longan tree is felled under the watchful eye of Ricci Wong, founder of a Hong Kong non-profit to turn tree waste into furniture and other household products.
Farmers and arborists working with private enterprises or government departments call the group to collect the wood whenever they spot fallen or dying trees that need to be removed.
Wong established HK Timberbank after Typhoon Mangkhut in September 2018, an intense storm that uprooted tens of thousands of trees in the territory, when he saw what was being sent to the landfill was usable.
3 Min Read
SAMAWA DESERT, Iraq (Reuters) - “Here it is, the truffle, a blessing from God!” Zahra Buheir carefully digs out a desert truffle from the sandy earth and shows it off between her calloused fingers.
A truffle seller sits at a market in the city of Samawa, Iraq, February 22, 2021. REUTERS/Alaa Al-Marjani
“Rain came, and then thunder, bringing truffles up to the surface,” the 72-year-old said.
Braving the harsh weather of Iraq’s southern desert, as well as left-behind land mines, Buheir and her family of seven have spent weeks hunting for the seasonal truffles that have provided them with an income for generations.