Sunday 18 August 2013

The London Zoo




Established on 27 April 1828 and ultimately opened to the public in 1847, the London Zoo is one of the world’s largest zoos. At current, the zoo houses 16.802 individual animals, which together make up 755 species. The London Zoo is managed under the auspices of the Zoological Society of London, which was established in 1826.

At the London Zoo can be found a Gorilla Kingdom, opened by His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh, in March 2007. The Kingdom is home to a group of western lowland gorillas, and consists of a large, moated island with an indoor gym for the gorillas to use. Currently, London Zoo owns three female gorillas named; Zaire, Mjukku and Effie, and Gorilla Kingdom also features small enclosures housing Diana monkeys, black and white colobus, soorty mangabeys and white-cheeked gibbons.

There is an area called Into Africa, which displays animals more commonly found in Africa, including Chapman’s zebra, warthogs, okapi, Rothschild’s giraffes and African wild dogs.
A rainforest area comprises a walk-through indoor rainforest exhibition area, which houses a variety of animal species, commonly available in the rainforest, including two-toed sloths, golden-headed lion, tamarins, sunbittern, red titi monkeys, emperor tamarins and trumpeter Birds. There is also an aquarium in the area that houses a variety of fish.
The Animal Adventure area of the zoo is essentially designed for children and is equipped with playgrounds and a water fountain. Mainly domestic animals can be found in this area, including sheep, IIamas, alpacas, donkeys and kunekune pigs. Other themes present at the zoo include the following: The Reptile House; Giants of the Galapagos ; Komodo Dragons;

Tiger Territory; B.U.G.S; Penguin Beach; Meet The Monkeys; Butterfly Paradise; African Bird Safari; The Snowdon Aviary and Blackburn Pavilion.

Monday 12 August 2013

Sea Life London Aquarium




Located on the ground floor of County Hall on the Southern bank of the River Thames in central London near the London Eye, the Sea Life Aquarium is the largest of its kind in Europe. It opened in March 1997 as the London Aquarium and hosts about one million visitors each year. It is the largest aquarium in London and in the United Kingdom.

It features 45 exhibits showcasing 30,000 specimens including over 350 species of fish, invertebrates and marine life, from different zones around the world.

The aquarium is also designed to conduct educational programs; for instance, it contains two classrooms themed around the Zoo’s cardinal conservation scheme. Every year, more than 40.000 school children benefit from the Zoo’s conservation educational program. Alongside pupils, members of the public can also make use of its educational program activities, especially when not in use by schools.

In May 2001, 10 gentoo penguins from the Edinburgh Zoo were introduced into the Zoo, pioneering a penguin exhibition in the aquatic setup.

The aquarium is also well known for its breeding program, including the Cuban crocodile, seahorses, butterfly goodeids and jellyfish. More so, the Zoo works in collaboration with numerous other conservation organisations; including Whales and Dolphin Conservation Society, Save Our Seas, Shark Trust, Rainforest Concern, Earth Sea Sky and South Pacific Projects.
In the aquarium is displayed an extensive variety of fish and sea life from all over the world, including stingrays, sharks, piranhas and sea scorpions. Visitors to the park are privileged to engage in a Shark Walk experience, during which they walk over a floating glass platform, with sharks swimming just below their feet.


Californian cownose rays which swim in synchronised formation are another recent feature, as is a tunnel constructed from a 25-metre-long whale skeleton, beneath which visitors can view a tropical ocean of fish, coral and green turtles. New for Easter 2013 is the Ocean of Stars display, showcasing six different species of starfish, with a central pop-up display, enabling visitors to get a close-up view in the tentacle tunnel. The Rainforests of the World area, complete with exotic vegetation, a tropical waterfall, is home to a pair of six-foot dwarf crocodiles. 

Thursday 8 August 2013

Mobile Phones in London




The mobile phone sector in the UK is vast, with London constituting the nucleus of its commercial yields. There are a number of key players in the mobile sector in the UK, each occupying a certain position on the production and supply chain. These cardinal players in the UK mobile sector comprise the following: Manufacturers of handsets and accessories; Network operators; Service providers and mobile virtual network operators; and dealers.

Manufacturers

Manufacturers of handsets and accessories, such as Apple, Samsung, Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Motorola and so on, supply phones to network operators, mobile virtual network providers, indirect service providers and dealers.

Network operators

The network operators; O2, Vodafone, Three and Everything Everywhere, own the airtime. They trade in different ways, such as: distributing their airtime to tied service providers,
selling airtime to indirect service providers and mobile virtual network operators, selling a complete package to the customer etc.

Service providers and mobile virtual network operators

Initially, the first mobile phone networks, BT Cellnet (later to become O2) and Vodafone, were obliged to use service providers. These are responsible for network connection, customer billing and managing dealers. These are referred to as tied service providers – i.e., they are only responsible to the network they are affiliated to.
There are also independent service providers who sell phones, accessories and rental contracts to dealers and direct to the customer. Independent service providers generally operate over the phone or via the internet rather than from a retail outlet. Independent service providers purchase airtime from the network operators and handsets and accessories from manufacturers. Because they have purchased the airtime from the networks, they are free to set their tariffs; and these will not always be the same as what the networks themselves would offer. The service provider is responsible for billing the customer and for providing customer care.
Mobile virtual network operators work in a similar way to service providers, but on a larger scale. Unlike service providers, mobile virtual network operators usually have their own SIM cards - it may appear to the customer that the mobile virtual network operator is the network operator. Examples of mobile virtual network operators include giffgaff and Virgin Mobile.

Dealers


Dealers operate out of retail outlets and sell mobile phones and accessories to retail customers. A dealer may have a variety of suppliers, including indirect service providers, network operators, wholesalers and manufacturers. In many cases, dealers organise connections through service providers, rather than directly through one of the networks.

Saturday 3 August 2013

Festivals in London




Each year, London is graced and enlivened by an extensive spectrum of colourful and elating festivals, exhibitions, major events, shows, parades and carnivals. Below are some of the breathing events and festivals that usually occur in London:

The City of London Festival is a formidable fair held in June and July, which celebrates music, art, architecture and film. The Festival promotes a broad array of musical styles performed by some of the world’s leading artists. World music, jazz, classical, contemporary music all blossom during this vivacious festival.

London Art Fair is held each year in January at the Business Design Centre, Islington. Provides an opportunity to see and buy the best in modern and contemporary British art. Comprising 100 galleries and over 1,500 artists, works on display are priced between £100 and £500,000. The fair also offers a stimulating series of events, talks and discussions.

London parade is the greatest street festival in Europe on New Year’s Day, featuring more than 10,000 performers, representing over a dozen countries worldwide, who assemble in the heart of London, bringing music, merriment and laughter to the waiting crowds. The Parade starts as Big Ben strikes 12 Noon on New Year's Day in Parliament Square, and finishes on Piccadilly, Berkeley Street, at approximately 3pm.

Lord Mayor’s Show - In 1215, when King John granted a Charter allowing the city's citizens to elect their own mayor, the Lord Mayor's Show came into being. The Charter stipulated that the new Mayor must be presented to the Sovereign for approval and to swear fealty to the Crown. Therefore, each year, the newly elected Mayor had to travel from the City to Westminster to pledge allegiance. Today, the Lord Mayor's Show winds through nearly 800 years of London's history with a wonderful mixture of past, present and future. The procession takes place annually on the second Saturday in November, watched by half a million people with approximately 5,500 participants, 2,000 military personnel, 200 horses, 220 motor vehicles, 65 floats, 20 marching bands, 22 carriages and the glorious State Coach.

Rise Festival-London United is an annual open-air free event. Rise is for all Londoners, celebrating our great multicultural city and making a stand against racism. The day-long festival features rock, pop and world music, as well as a range of family entertainment. Following the London bombings, the Rise festival was renamed London United.

The Great River Race - The race is a 22 mile course down the Thames from Ham to the Isle of Dogs, with the finish line opposite the Cutty Sark at Greenwich. The Great River Race attracts both the true racer and the leisure rower with usually around 300 boats taking part, carrying approximately 2,000 competitors.


Carnaval del Pueblo - The largest Latin American Festival in the UK, which features the very best in Latin American music, held in Burgess Park, SE5 in August. With artists flown in from South America, this massive event is attended by over 60,000 people.

Thursday 1 August 2013

UK Visa Experts- www.ukvisaplusimmigration.co.uk




If you are seeking a visa to the UK or are held up in immigration matters in the UK, then make use of the services of UK visa and UK Immigration specialists in London.
They are experts in UK visa and Uk Immigration applications and appeals. They have specialist UK Immigration advisors who can take care of all your UK Visa and UK Immigration matters; with no hassles for you, as their specialists will conduct your case with diligence and care, and get you the UK visa you want!

Their services are tailored to the needs of their clients, as they appreciate that there may be times when their clients have UK Visa expiry deadlines to meet and/or deadlines to lodge UK visa and UK Immigration appeals.  UK visa specialists will offer you freedom from stress and make sure you never miss an urgent deadline.

They also liaise with the UK Immigration Services for clients who have been arrested or detained due to an immigration issue. To assist their clients in situations where the UK Immigration Service is involved, they put forward strong legal representations, giving reasons why enforcement action must not be taken against their clients. They have found that the UK Immigration Service responds favourably to their carefully prepared legal representations, giving them the result they desire.

Professional UK Immigration Service
UK visa and UK Immigration specialists are dedicated in providing you the best service possible and will do their utmost to ensure that you receive a flawless UK visa service. They take their work very seriously, and appreciate the importance of succinct and persuasive legal arguments, which are an essential pre-requisite when submitting a UK Visa application.
Their client are given a dedicated caseworker who they can contact via email, telephone, or via a meeting in person at their city centre based offices just minutes away from the world famous Bull Ring Shopping Centre.

Specialist UK Visa and Immigration Advice

Their specialists have years of expertise in the field of UK visa and Immigration. Further, UK Visa Plus Immigration is registered and regulated by the OISC Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner, and has been granted regulation to advise clients up to specialist level; which is Level 3, the highest level of advice and representation authorised by the OISC.