a land that is fairer than day

You've got to check this out. Apparently, the okapis are still alive in the eastern Congo. In Virunga National Park, which surrounds Goma and borders Uganda. If the rare species has survived fifteen years of war, that's really something.

If you've never seen a picture of an okapi, it's so bizarre. It looks like a cross between a giraffe and a zebra. I'd never heard of them until my first visit to Congo last summer. But, wouldn't you know it, it just happened that I sat next to the world expert on okapis on a flight from Mbuji-Mayi to Goma in March. He and his wife came out to Congo to do their dissertation research on the okapi and basically never left. I'm sure they're glad to hear this news.